The Cyber-Age is Upon Us

[Pandora's Box]

I wanted to comment on the state of chatrooms today. Especially as my time on the internet began approximately a week after the last reply to this topic. Even in the year and a half to now, there is a noticeable drop in the quality of chatrooms. Sure, occasionally you run into a decent person to talk to... but mostly you run into bots and those lovely fellows that start a conversation with "hey baby, make me cum". I wish I were kidding on that last one, but I experienced that first hand. For some reason he didn't respond when I laughed at him. Go fig.

Recently I went through the nightmare of trying to find some kind of emotional support in a chatroom. That didn't work out too well. The one room I did find had some poor gal who was dealing with her master of 3 years that had suddenly become distant and a bit emotionally abusive to her. Yet, when faced with the idea that her master might just need some support from her as he was facing a job loss, she became nonplussed at actually having to do something for the relationship.

*sigh*

Idiots are everywhere. I digress.

Anyway, my point in that mini-rant was that chatrooms are nothing more than quick hookup opportunities. And honestly, some of them are mighty weird. I try not to be judgemental and I don't hold it against people for enjoying different things than I... but to put it nicely, there are some real characters out there.

Another interesting thing I've noticed is how many guys with no experience try to play the dom. I've ending up turning it around on several of them. At first I was a bit surprised by how many guys actually liked having their bravado deflated and "made" to submit. But they're actually pretty easy to spot now.

Like you TG, I have the same issues with the capital and lower case alphabet shlock. I've actually gotten into heated exchanges with a few "gentlemen" that tried to tell me I was wrong not to care. I figure I have a capital letter on my birth certificate. It's good enough for the law then it's good enough for the dom. And beyond that, if he needs a frickin' lower case letter in my name to feel dominant, then he ain't too bright to begin with.

With all that said, it is no surprise why I am so glad to have found this website and its accompanying chatroom. I haven't met a member I've disliked, even made a friend or two and been actually able to discuss issues. Pretty damn cool if you ask me.

[ValKyrie]

I think that the end result of the cyber age on BDSM will be a more mainstream acceptance of it and us! People are exploring and learning things every day that they would otherwise never have had teh ability or means to investigate.

Further, if not for the internet, I would have still been fumbling around in the nilla world, wondering what was missing. I am certain, I am not alone in that thought.

As for cyber play, as Mistress Steele suggests, I do believe that for some, they may never leave their computer screens and explore in real time. And that is okay!!!!! Cyber BDSM is a another means of BDSM practice, another "kink" if you will.

Just my two cents

[BDSM_Tourguide]

I think that the end result of the cyber age on BDSM will be a more mainstream acceptance of it and us!

Cyber BDSM is a another means of BDSM practice, another "kink" if you will.

Perhaps the internet will make more people aware of the SM community, but it what way?

If the lurkers and watchers and people that really want to know see a bunch of nitwits, trolls and wannabes, then the image the internet is creating of the online SM community is one that say we have no idea what we're doing.

Cyber-BDSM might be another kink, but since most of the cyber-BDSM I see can be labeled as cyber-kinky-sex, I don't think a viewer can really appreciate the difference between real-world SM and cyber-BDSM.

Real-world SM hurts a lot more than cyber-BDSM does. It's more dangerous, more tactile, more pleasant and more intense. Peopl that don't recognize that this is true before making the leap from online to real-life can easily get hurt or frightened away from BDSM altogether. And that is a bad thing.

So, as long as the image being put out by the popular pornography industry and the clueless-about-SM majority is one of cyber-sexing, cyber-bullwhip cracking, Tarn-riding cyber-Goreans, then I will continue to try to make people more aware of the differences between the cyber world and the real one.