$15.95
ISBN 1580052096
available through
Amazon
Reviewed by Gwen Masters
(06/13/07)
When I started reading Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration, I had no idea how little I knew about cyberspace. Audacia Ray's take on the Internet is delivered with the confidence of someone who has done the research, knows her stuff, and explains it very well. Throughout the pages is an air of camaraderie, of a woman opening wide the door and ushering you inside for a long, intimate chat over drinks of your choice. It is a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable time.
Naked on the Internet is filled with a mind-boggling and delightful array of topics, covering a great deal of ground while acknowledging that the Internet is such a vast, varied beast, it is impossible to cover it all. Ray starts out with detailing some of her personal experience in getting turned on to the Internet. What follows is a kaleidoscope of topics, a tour of the Internet that isn't afraid to discuss the dark taboos as well as the G-rated material. Ray is just as likely to discuss mainstream dating sites and the history of the Internet as virtual reality sex and the dark underbelly of a world where you can be anything you want to be -- whether that be innocent or evil.
The darker sides are there, and Ray's book doesn't sugar-coat them. Just as the Internet allows for confessional honesty, it also serves as a smoke screen. Anyone can be who they want to be, and the world they create can disappear at will with the flick of a modem. In the endless debate of "real life" versus "online," it's entirely possible to see someone as nothing more than words on a screen, and then treat them as such. On the other hand, the perceived anonymity of the Internet leads to a loosening of privacy, which could be bad at best, nightmarish at worst: Ray even includes a section on Identity Terrorism, making it clear just how easy it can be for someone with unsavory intentions to use your information against you.
But as Ray's book makes clear, the helpful sides of the Internet far outweigh the bad. Today the Internet is used for everything from catching the sports scores to following breaking news, reading differing opinions on current events, and taking care of the details of personal life. The Internet has become a place of support, a safe haven of exploration, and even a way to turn fun, exhibitionist tendencies into cold, hard cash. The sharing of like experiences on message boards and blogs has given women a key to open the doors of their own desires, and a place to share what they learn about themselves, and possibly put it into action through online dating and sex services.
For those who are tired of being pigeonholed or dismissed for their kinks, the Internet provides a medium for those who chafe against the rules. Taboos are broken -- or rendered nonexistent -- on the Internet. For example, sensual stories of menstruation might not make it into a print anthology of erotica thanks to the caveats of publishers, but do a little digging on the Internet, and such stories can be found by the hundreds.
Most of all, Naked on the Internet presents the stories of dozens of women who are discovering the Internet as a place to explore their sexuality, and thus become more comfortable with themselves. The rise of online sexuality, from steamy e-mails to sexy chat to camming, has moved the user away from the physical-based pleasures and forced them to recognize and use the biggest sex organ of all -- the brain. Through the power of their modems, women have unlocked a way to embrace their sexuality in their own time and in their own way -- and if that isn't empowerment, I don't know what is.
For those of us who started out in the world of manual typewriters and snail mail, it's hard to imagine where we will be sooner than later -- a world where the Internet will no longer be a luxury, but a necessity, a place where the lines between "online" and "real life" are lost forever, especially in the realm of human sexuality. Naked on the Internet serves as a very capable handbook for the dawning of that new age.
