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3.
THE SAFEST SEX OF ALL
Arriving at the perfect
bio-historical moment, the Internet presented sexually terrified
consumers with a virtual remedial outlet for safe polygamy. A
sanctuary of fetishes and pornographic media, it provided an escape
from AIDS hysteria by offering fantasy without physical repercussions.
Through online images and videos and interaction via chatrooms,
one was now able to experience some amount of sexual satisfaction
without leaving the home. Watching television news reports about
STD epidemics from the security of the bedroom, pushed the sexual
act to the office or computer room. The notoriety that the Internet
garnered on account of its plethora of porn, pervaded the minds
of the public and the producers of cyber-media to the extent that
other digital forms - namely video games - had to adapt to the
demands for simulated sex.
Enter
Lara Croft. Written about to some extent for her empowering position
as the medium's first lone female avenger, she more aptly prevails
as the sexual object of young male gamers' desires. With a non-existent
waistline and unreasonably disproportioned breasts, she signaled
an acceptance of the types of virtual stimulation gamers were
willing to take on. Her form was highly pixilated and hardly realistic
looking, yet the prospect that such a woman as she represented
could exist was enough to indulge male fantasies of control (patches
were quickly developed to allow gamers to play as Lara sans clothing).
More recently, a still animated yet much more fluid and realistic
sexual being has come onto the market. Porn star Jenna Jameson
stars in Virtually Jenna, her own game in which the only object
is to engage with her in sex acts. Options exist to take on the
position of a disembodied penis, or to "direct" a scene
with her and multiple partners. This game's emergence signals
the direction that cybersex is headed in, and to the unacquainted
it is certainly startling. Devices are already on the market which
function as physical sexual stimulators to be used in interfacing
with video games. One such apparatus, the Rez vibrator, adapts
a completely nonsexual game into a two-player exercise in foreplay.
This realm of sexually satisfying interaction which removes the
need for a connection online with another person, is only destined
to grow as the virtual equivalent of AIDS impedes cybersex: the
most harmful of Trojan and worm viruses are frequently
found in downloaded pornography.
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