Newsletter #95 Sex Online

Created on 30/03/05

Our last newsletter (21st February, 2005) was "Designing For Age".

Just a note for New Zealand residents that we are about to produce a Free Printed Newsletter. Produced just three times a year, it will summarise these newsletters plus have some great tips and Net news. Click on this link to receive this by post.

According to Internet filtering software firm BSafe, about US$10 billion a year is spent on online pornography a year - it is huge business.

Pornography is often thought of as the ‘killer application’ that accelerated the take-off of the video recorder in the early 1980s. In a similar manner, subscription adult web sites that required credit card verification were drivers of online payment, verification and encryption software from the late 1990s onward. These sites were also the first to achieve full streaming of video and audio over the Internet. You could say that, because of this financial and technological interdependence, the sex industry and the Internet industry have become partners of a sort.

The Internet has globalised pornography and made it far more available to anyone who wishes to partake. Bsafe calculates that there are two million Internet sex sites, with 2,500 being added each week. As Donna Hughes (PDF) points out "Formerly men used to have to remove themselves from their community by three levels [to find extreme, violent pornography]....The Web makes it very easy to get that far removed very quickly."

It's not hard to conclude that the Internet has provided a vehicle to easily spread pornography and has therefore created greater demand. This has lead to greater exploitation of women and children in particular. Also there is the effect on relationships: lawyers say men addicted to internet porn play a considerable role in the number of divorces filed each year.

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However the effect of the Net is not all negative.

• Many people have left relationships because of online romances, but also many have connected via the Net. "I know others who met online, fell in love through e-mail, got married and had kids. For them, online relating is "real," indeed." says Regina Lynn.
  
  
• The Net has been a source of income and independence for many women (in particular) who have set up Webcams and attracted paying clients. This is more risk-free way of entering the sex-industry and it also cuts out the 'middleman'. For newbies there is even a site called My Adult Site that makes it easy to quickly build an Adult Membership Site.

It would seem that the sex/pornography industry is like many other industries in that they too have been transformed by the Internet. The differences maybe that:

1. Porn appears to satisfy a basic human curiosity in all things sexual and it is addictive to many. The demand for online porn will therefore continue to accelerate for the foreseeable future due to more broadband, more people online and the relative anonymity that is afforded.
   
   
2. Extreme pornography hurts people in its production and is against the law in most jurisdictions. Those viewing such porn seem to be able to override or ignore any thoughts of how it was produced. There is also evidence that viewing such pornography can be psychologically damaging.
   
   
3. There is a line between hard (illegal) and soft porn (legal) that is difficult to draw.
   
   
4. Because viewing any type of porn is voyeuristic, it is extremely well suited to viewing on a private PC in a comfortable environment.

And the sex industry online will continue to evolve. One of the latest developments is the use of sex toys controlled via the Internet, where each partner can control the other's device. Gushes Adam Glasser, aka Seymore Butts, "Enhanced interactivity, high-tech sex toys ... obviously, it's the future...and I know that within a few years, someone's going figure out how to simulate sex close to 100 percent accuracy, and deliver it to consumers at a reasonable price."

Sometimes the future is scary.

Newbies

Power Users

The SendTo menu is a powerful one that can be accessed by right clicking on any file in Windows Explorer. All it is really is a shortcut menu, so you can add destinations and applications. To do so open Windows Explorer ("Windows"+"E") and navigate to the drive where Windows XP is installed. (If you're not using Windows XP just look for the Windows/SendTo folder). Expand the Documents and Settings folder. Expand the folder of the User whose Send To menu will be modified. Expand the SendTo folder.
(If the SendTo folder isn't visible, click "Tools", "Folder Options", "View" tab and check "Show Hidden Files and Folders") Right click any item you want to add, drag and drop it on the SendTo folder and click "Create Shortcuts Here". You may want to rename the shortcut, just right click and chose "Rename".

For previous tips visit the Power Hot Tips page.

39 Dollar Glasses.com offers prescription glasses with scratch-resistant polycarbonate lenses and fashion frames for just US$39; shipping costs look reasonable too. Another example of how the Internet is providing more options for consumers. http://www.39dollarglasses.com/index.html

Another great idea from Google currently beta testing: Google Personalized web search delivers search results that are based on a profile you create that describe your interests. For example, people with an interest in the outdoors will see different relevant sites for a search on "bass" than people who are interested in music. http://labs.google.com/personalized

"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner." Omar Nelson Bradley, US General.

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

To access previous newsletters visit our newsletter archive.

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Best wishes

Alex Garden

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