Webcams & other Cybersex Toys
One of the sites I visit every day is The Register. An online computer industry daily paper. "Biting the hand that feeds IT" (information technology) is their slogan. They are funny and irreverent, calling Intel "Chipzilla" and regularly mocking Amazon and Microsoft. One of today's stories is headlined "UK Net Pedo Jailed" jailed for eight years.
Just a guy who was stupid enough to try to inveigle a 14 year old to visit him. I don't argue with stopping him. Can't help but pity anyone whose sexuality is confined and dangerous.
A few days ago I read about a man who violated his parole by going to a kiddie porn website. The judge who'd sentenced him had something installed on the guy's computer that would send out a notification if an 'immoral' website were viewed. I don't remember the case clearly. But it is frightening to think of anyone's home invaded by the vested powers.
Child porn doesn't send me into a rage. But over the years my thinking about it has gotten much more confused. It is a given in my private ethics that anyone should be able to think, read, view whatever they want. Limited to those terms, photos of kids having sex is OK. Eventually it did occur to me that you can't make kiddie smut without the kids.
If there are immoral acts, distorting a person's childhood should certainly be on the list. But that isn't much guidance.
Social norms do more to warp youthful sexuality than anything else. Locking up the prudes would be good clean fun in my book.
Boys (and most likely girls) are charged with sexual appetite. I suspect one of the roots of sexism is the hypocrisy of youthful hetero dating culture. In my late teens and early twenties I met plenty of below age- of- consent guys filled with happy, healthy lust. I dimly recall a chilling story of a just over 18 year old who was sentenced to a very long jail sentence because he had a 16 year old boyfriend. A couple of months and he'd have faced a much less severe stay in a reformatory. (Obligatory Jimmy Somerville reference - his most moving song is about a 25 year old in prison because he had a younger lover.)
Law can only deals in the quantifiable. Life is full of gradations and quirks. In the land of repressed memories I can't imagine a young gay guy's sexual hunger being allowed to evince itself cleanly and sanely.
The American courts would've dealt harshly with the parents of The Brewer Twins. Homoerotic photos of the brothers, often together on a bed, have been appearing since they were kids. Materially they've become successful models. I couldn't guess about their mental health but it can't be worse than the average Jerry Springer guest.
What I'd originally meant to write about is virtual porn, which features no one who really has bodily existence is about to be judged by the Supreme Court. Doubtless they'll rule it illegal. Outside of legal wrangling it is hard to view it as wicked. No one is harmed in its making.
There is the old worry as to whether sinful images incite people to sexual violence. My own guess it that it gives people an outlet. Makes them less likely to lose control. But the Christians has their injunction against "lusting in the heart" and the left has the Thought Police, e.g., Andrea Dworkin.
I don't think the Northern Europeans (Swedes, Germans, Dutch, Danes) will worry about it much. Virtual sexual experiences might become one of their more successful exports. In the US 'healthy' fantasies might become the province of therapists who'll get to charge lots of money.
I wonder when someone will go to jail for the other kind of virtual sex - cybersex. I have a friend who does it a lot. Some folks just do dirty talk and typing. My friend does it with his webcam, so the two guys see each other. MG, as I'll call him, is pretty successful with guys in meat life. He cybers when he's not in the mood for the tribulations and hassles of bars. He has a number of steady dates around the world. I think he met one in the flesh when he went to Europe last Summer.
To use the AOLease(AOLish? AOLonian?) he also hooks up with folks on AOL from time to time. I owe him no small debt. It was his success on AOL that got me to bother using the account I'd established but let languish. And met AvgGuyNC4LTR aka Charles.
Some months back I read an article about cybersex toys that enrich the experience by letting the person on the other end stimulate some of their playmate's body parts.Since the ability to hold 600 megabytes of pornographic GIFs is credited with jumpstarting the consumer CD-ROM market there's got to be plenty of money to be had in developing the technology. (Pause for Googling ... aha!). "Vivid Entertainment, a leading player in the adult industry, has developed a full body "cybersex suit" with 36 sensation-delivering sensors. The sensors are able to deliver five different sensations - tickle, pinprick, vibration, hot, and cold."See the Stanford U. page on History of Pornography and Technology for more.
Masochists may be the least sexually satisfied men around. Modified models of the 'electric dog fences' are popular with some couples engaged in power exchange relationships.You can see a lucrative trade for cyber Mistresses. Some of them already get money just for sending abusive emails.