Tuesday, December 5, 2006

(Not) Hooking Up


Written 30 November, 2006

Not Hooking Up

In my first days in Second Life, I was aggressively sexually pursued by a number of avatars, among them several women, a generic assortment of Spanish- and Italian- speaking guys, a man who always seemed to be typing one-handed (the friendship cooled when I made it clear he wasn’t going to get to second base), and an erratic and erotic furry who couldn’t seem to make up her (actually, his) mind about crossing the species line. My friendship with the furry ended when she TPd me into a nudist camp and then disappeared, leaving me behind to be verbally abused by someone who claimed to have Linden authority because I was wearing clothes (I reported it and the perpetrator was disciplined by the real authorities).

My initial experience with cybersex took place in the early 1980s on Comp-U-Serve’s CB simulator, using my Commodore VIC-20. I was seduced the first night, shortly after changing my handle from the generic name ROM to ** Sheri Baby**. That did it. The first time I was in private chat (what we now call Instant Message), I was asked “What are you wearing?” I was dressed for yard work but I typed “A white blouse and a gray skirt,” and it took off from there. I had a lot of fun until the $200 Comp-U-Serve bill arrived. That was the end of cyber for the girl who would one day become Cheyenne Palisades (see my separate blog entry about **Sheri Baby**’s tryst with a “reporter” from National Enquirer.)

SL offers animations that weren’t even imaginable at 300 baud, but my initial cybersex experiences made me realize that as in real life, I’m not really interested in having sex with someone unless I'm in love with or well on my way to being in love with them. So while I love to get compliments on my looks and I sometimes even fish for them, and while I’m flattered by those who show an erotic interest in me, sex isn’t what I’m looking for in Second Life.

I get hit on a lot less these days; I suspect it’s partially because of my profile, which makes it clear  I’m not interested in booty calls, and partially because of the way I’ve come to look. My avatar is-- I’ll just say it-- beautiful, and looks frighteningly real from some angles. I’m starting to realize my appearance intimidates some people. That can be a good thing if it stops unwanted advances, but I don’t want to scare people away, either, especially Mr.-- or Ms.-- Right.

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Photo: Chey with gentleman caller

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