of sexting and 'selfies' by women

NYT Wonders Why Millions of Women Enjoy Having Virtual Sex—Here's Why

That's the question posed this week by a judgmental New York Times Op-Ed. We set out to answer it.

--But a New York Times Op-Ed this week failed to appreciate that. Susan Jacoby, who is typically a brilliant writer and thinker, argued that when it comes to the Weiner scandal not enough attention has been paid to “the role of women in a coarse and creepy Internet culture dedicated to the fulfillment of both male and female desires for virtual carnal knowledge.” (I guess the unabashed slut-shaming directed at these women doesn’t count as attention?) In addition, she wondered “why hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of women apparently derive gratification from exchanging sexual talk and pictures with strangers.”

It struck me as a classic example of defensive sexuality in which any desires that are not one’s own are seen as a threat that needs to be neutralized. Most people engage in this to a degree, including myself. (See: Polo judgments.) But, more important, it occurred to me that her piece presented an opportunity for education. Sure, I could hammer out a snarky takedown of her piece, and that might be fun, but why not instead make an earnest attempt at actually answering her question. Why do some women (::puts on robot voice::) “derive gratification from exchanging sexual talk and pictures with strangers”?

Well, here’s the short answer: “For the same reason men do, do,” says Anna Pulley, 30, an Oakland-based writer and a friend of mine. That is perhaps the most important point to be made here — but she adds, obligingly, “It’s risk-free, titillating, provides masturbation fodder and you can control the terms of exchange.”

You might wonder, though: Why not just look at porn? “A lot of the draw comes from the knowledge, or at least illusion, that someone out there is creating this photo expressly for you,” says Lux Alptraum, CEO of the sex blog Fleshbot. “Sexted photos might be blurry or poorly lit, but there’s something appealing about knowing that they were taken just for you.” Jacoby denigrates this as “just a form of one-on-one pornography,” but Alptraum sees this as “actually a pretty awesome concept.” Why wouldn’t you want sexual content that is, as she puts it, “being created for, and transmitted directly to, you”? That’s why she has occasionally sexted with people she knows, as well as “people who I don’t know but am flirting with,” she says.

Of course, sexy selfies don’t just excite the recipient — they can also be validating for the sender. “Jacoby couched this in really negative terms,” says Alptraum, “but for me, if you’re approaching it with an awareness of what the extent of the relationship is, I don’t really see why there’s any problem with having fun sending and receiving naked photos.”

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http://www.alternet.org/sex-amp-relationships/nyt-wonders-why-millions-women-enjoy-having-virtual-sex-heres-why?paging=off