THE INTERMINABLE GLITCH: AN

INVESTIGATION OF HUMAN SEXUAL

CAPACITY IN THE INFORMATION AGE
OLIVIA WILMORE
STUDENT NUMBER: 1300542
COURSE: RCGAFBAH
19/11/2015

Education and science may correct, restrain, and extend; but neither can annihilate
of create: they may turn and embellish the currents; but can neither stop nor enlarge
the springs, which, continuing to flow with a perpetual and equal tide, return to their
ancient channels, when the causes that perverted them are withdrawn (Knight,
Wright, 2006)

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: BRIEF HISTORY

OF SEXUAL LIBERATION AND
THE INFORMATION AGE

CHAPTER TWO: THE SUBCONCIOUS,

FETISH AND TABOO

17

CHAPTER THREE: HYPERREALISM

& ALIENATION AND SOCIETAL DISCONTENT

31

CHAPTER FOUR: CASE STUDIES

ONLINE DATING AND PERSONAS

39

CONCLUSION

43

BIBLIOGRAPHY

47

ILLUSTRATIONS

51

INTRODUCTION
Sex, as much as many people dont like to admit it, is one of the main, if not the main
driving force of humanity. It is also, arguably, one of the biggest sources of
discussion, or perhaps more accurately, none discussions generationally. This is not
always the case, it would seem in todays society, conversations about sex and
opinions on the circumstances and the ways in which it takes place, are opening back
up, with help no doubt from the bounteous amounts of knowledge at our feet thanks to
the internet and other technology. This surely, has not always been the case. Even
without any further research many people are already aware of the promiscuity of the
ancient ages, and the suppression of the Victorian ages, so my question is, why do our
views on sex keep changing, and what has led up to the point were at now?

Chapter one begins by investigating the history of our views on sexuality, what is
considered normal and what happens to change that, with specific regard to what
makes us feel sexually aroused and perhaps more importantly, sexually challenged.

Chapter one will then look at the traits of current day, The Information Age, in which
postmodern thought is both encouraged and implemented, to investigate how being
constantly challenged, with the aid of endless and often superfluous access to
information, has led us to the point of sexual liberation we are at now.

The investigation will continue by next looking at what leads us to fetishize and/or act
in ways which are outside the social norms, and why we do it. Chapter two will look
to Freud for information about the subconscious and unconscious mind, surely in
which lay the answers to the behaviours that generation after generation keep

reverting back to. Chapter two will then look at this in correlation with the web. The
place that out of anywhere, has provoked the most discussion around people
researching material outside the social norms, and perhaps not surprisingly, finding
others online doing exactly the same thing. This sparks debate over what is and isnt
normal or humane, looking specifically at some of the darker fetishes such as
Paedophilia and Necrophilia, to see what leads people to feel this way.

Chapter three will go on to look at the societal repercussions of living in an age in

which the line between reality, hyperreality and virtual reality is blurred. Investigating
the phenomenon worldwide that would imply that humans are beginning to isolate
themselves from one another, and looking at how such alienation has played through
at different eras in time.

Lastly, Chapter four will apply all this to the specific phenomenon of Online Dating
and creating Online Personas. How societies views on it have changed and how the
abolishment of fear around the use of the web have caused people to take a perhaps
too relaxed stance on their online personas and the real world repercussions of
absorbing oneself in the virtual reality.

The Conclusion will hopefully draw the investigation to a close, by discussing the
correlation between human sexual behaviour, and the unconscious and subconscious
mind. In specific regard of postmodernism, we will hopefully see what aspects of the
human brain have led us to our current point in sexual liberation, and how our current
condition is affecting us now, and looking to the future.

CHAPTER ONE: BRIEF HISTORY OF SEXUAL LIBERATION AND THE

INFORMATION AGE

Human sex drive is determined by a combination of hormonal, psychological and

social factors, and each of these factors is just as important as the other. Sex is the
function solely responsible for the continuation of humanity, so it makes sense its
influence would seep into different aspects of our being. For example, women often
experience heightened sexual desire in the days leading up to, and immediately, after
their period, when their testosterone levels are changing and their emotions
heightened [Bullivant et al, 2004]. By having a positive combination of these three
factors; we can carry on humanity in a positive and healthy manner. Denying at any
point the significance of either of these influences creates a glitch in the system, a
glitch society seeks to overwrite by changing taboos from generation by generation.
Arguably, our bodies know what is right for us and suppression of any of these factors
can stop us from functioning normally.

With each era of mankind it seems our view on sex changes. What is frowned upon
or illegal in one era is viewed as normal in another. In many ways, this derives from
the ignorance in the distinction between sexual arousal and sexual desire, sexual
arousal being the physical and uncontrollable act of becoming aroused, and sexual
desire being the psychological wish and driving force used to fulfil sexual fantasies
and embark on sexual relations. These two phenomena can operate independently
from each other. Contemporary philosopher James Giles warns that One can, for
example, run the risk of thinking that because a biological process is essential for,

say, sexual arousal or a physiological sexual event, it must consequently be essential

for sexual desire (Giles, 2008), meaning it is important for the harmonious running
of society to accept both phenomena independently.

Society goes in waves of when it decides to accept or

embrace this. If we look Roman and Greek times, we can
see both pros and cons of living in times of heightened
liberation. The Romans and Greeks are particularly
interesting in respects to sexual acceptance, as their
attitudes embody a more educated view on respecting both
physical desire and psychological fulfilment. Previous to
this, sexuality was almost entirely linked to the celebration
of fertility and phallic worship, with the majority of
religious cultures worshiping fertility gods. For Egypt this

(Figure 1) Statuette of Min,

Egyptian God of Fertility
(26th to 30th Dynasty, 6th4th cent. B.C)

would be god of fertility, Min, who came to prominence in 2050 BC, shown always
with an erect penis, and who was the central figure in the coronation of new Pharaohs.
(Figure 1) These gods, linked to the act of reproduction and the wide societal
acceptance of giving into animalistic instincts, would be classed mainly under the
bracket of worshipping sexual arousal. The worship of the phallus stems from the
animalistic self-assertion of men. In their book Sexual Symbolism, classic scholars
Richard Payne Knight and Thomas Wright point out Men think they know, because
they are sure they feel; and are firmly convinced, because they are strongly agitated
(Knight, Wright, 2006). In cultures where what men said went, the unrestricted ability
to make the rules meant that when there was nothing else to turn to, it would of course
make sense to follow innate and uncontrollable feelings.

The initial hierarchy of male power seems to stem from our prehistoric ancestors.
2,000000 or so years ago the first human tribes appeared in Africa. They were small
groups of hunter-gatherer tribes of around 15-20. Where the men did much of the
hunting and the women a lot of the gathering, both the male and female roles were
indispensable. Because of the equality between the men and the women these
communities were thought of as relatively egalitarian, with many anthropologists
believing that polygamy and promiscuity was not only practiced, but also encouraged.
Fast forward a few thousand years, Homo sapiens have spread across to other parts of
the world where climate and environment are more dangerous, and resources more
scarce. Mens strength and size would now become more valuable, making society
patriarchal, and putting men in charge of the safety of women, and by extension, sex
and polygamy [Devlin, 2015].

Sex was just as important in the running of Roman and Greek culture, but what made
it different was that their use of sex was alongside a pursuit for education and an
acknowledgment of different sexual desires. The word Pedastry, designates the
custom of older Greek men courting youths as not only objects of desire but also as
protgs. They referred to the relationship as erasts and eromenos meaning lover
and beloved. Although derogatory and frowned upon in modern society, for the
Greeks this was seen in some ways as a non-taboo (Figure 2) aspect of the
educational system, the joy coming from not only the sexual encounters but also the
implication that they were intellectually superior and educating the next generation.
The beloved himself develops a passion for truth; he begins to take an active part in
the philosophic quest, responding to his lovers eros (love) with a reciprocal anteros

(counter love) (Skinner, 2013) The implication is that these encounters were in some
way consensual and beneficial.

Although less conventional in their

attitudes towards homosexuality and the
implications of masculinity and femininity,
the roles of Greek & Roman women were
not too dissimilar from that of most cultures
of the time- as mother and housekeeper.
(Figure 2) Plate depicting man
attempting to fondle youth (530-430
BC)

There were no particular expectations of

women, rather they were not particularly thought of at all. It was with the rise of
Christianity that women were more expected to act a certain way through fear of God,
men and societal scrutiny. The bible pushed the idea that women were nothing
without a man. Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to
speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to enquire about
something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a
woman to speak in the church. (1 Corinthians 14:34-35)

In The Use of Pleasure, Michel Foucault divides reasons

people may deny

themselves pleasure into four main categories;

Fear- Foucault points out how from the 18th century onwards, Christian children are
taught to believe that allowing ones self to give into sexual temptation leads into the
realms of evil, death and hell.
An Ideal of Conduct- People are taught that remaining virtuous until marriage will
make you more honourable and be more beneficial for the marriage itself.

Image- Foucault points out how many people believe that embracing your sexuality
would make you act and hold yourself in a certain way, which would have negative
connotations. Not only are women therefore taught to act modestly, but also men,
especially in the 19th century, are not supposed to act camply or effeminately.
Model of Abstention- The idea that a person who can abstain from giving into
temptation is therefore stronger.

Looking at the Victorian era, we can see a combination of Foucaults Four categories
of Fear , especially within women of the upper classes. They not only lived with the
fear of God in a time when the idea of hell was pushed particularly, but also the
pressure of living a life of implied perfection through fear of judgment by friends and
by the public. Women were forced to live an illusion to please men, otherwise they
would never be married - the only real job for women; Innocence was what he
demanded from the girls of his class, and they must not only be innocent but also give
the outward impression of being innocent. White muslin, typical of virginal purity,
clothes many a heroine, with delicate shades of blue and pink next in popularity. The
stamp of masculine approval was placed upon ignorance of the world, meekness, lack
of opinions, general helplessness and weakness; in short, recognition of female
inferiority to the male (Petrie, 2000). Sex was being viewed in such a way that there
was not only pressure on women to retain the illusion that female sexuality was a
myth, but also a stigma that men were sexual predators who also had to hide and
supress their sexual desires. Women were thought to be characterized as
"passionlessness" and to be guided more by maternal instinct than sexual desire per
se. Hence, they were expected to dampen men's unnatural obsession with sex.
(Simmons, 1989), This is a classic example of society trying to override what is

10

natural and choosing to ignore the way our ancestors live, a heightened inflection
point of the sexual suppression wave.

This unnatural behaviour doesnt come without repercussions. The phenomena of

Hysteria was once commonly diagnosed in women as a result of female suppression
and a lack of acceptance of womens changing gender equality. Sufferers of the
disease displayed symptoms such as feeling faint, nervous, anxious and irritable as
well as fluid retention, sexual desire
and insomnia. Physician George
Miller Beard even listed a tendency
to cause trouble as a symptom in his
unfinished list of hysteria symptoms
in his publication Cases of Hysteria,
Neurasthenia, Spinal Irritation, or

(Figure 3) Manual of Gynaecology

Illustration of Medical Masseur (1891)

Allied

Affections

[Miller, 1874].

Hysteria was essentially, an extreme case of sexual frustration and the bodys refusal
to be supressed. Doctors did acknowledge the fact that at the very least the solution
was sexual, with doctors being ordered to give women orgasms as part of the
treatment (Figure 3), leading to the eventual invention of the vibrator by Dr. Joseph
Mortimer Granville in the 1880s. In the book The Technology of Orgasm, Author
Rachel Maines highlights The demand for the treatment had two sources: the
proscription on female masturbation as unchaste and possibly unhealthful, and the
failure of androcentrically defined sexuality to produce orgasm regularly in most
women (Maines, 1999). Not only were women taught to physically impede their

11

ability to orgasm, the only way in which women could help themselves had been
taken away through taboos, meaning they would have to rely entirely on men.

The Victorian standpoint on sexuality is widely deliberated, for while it would

appear men were in control, many argue that it was women who were also
maintaining this sexless faade. In Modern Sexuality and the myth of Victorian
Suppression, historian Christina Simmons argues; Women had been key figures in
the Victorian ideology of sexual control. Nineteenth-century middle class men and
women, whether feminists, free lovers, or conservative moralists, had all feared
sexual excess and called for moderation... Allowing women to set the pace in sexual
activity was commonly seen as a means to the ideal. (Simmons, 1989). In fear of
sexual excess, Victorians limited themselves to sex only after marriage and for purely
reproductive goals. This was ring-mastered by the women.

The idea of one gender having power over the other is a phenomena coined as The
Male and Female Control Theory. The Male Control Theory states that womens
sexuality became supressed because men wanted to assert their power over women,
while The Female Control Theory states that this came from women knowing they
have something that men want. A social exchange analysis of sex would begin from
the assumption that sex is a resource that men desire and women possess (e.g.,
Baumeister & Tice, 2000). To obtain sex, men must offer women other desired
resources in return, such as money, commitment, security, attention, or respect.
(Baumeister & Tenge, 2002). This theory not only implies that there is a large divide
between the two genders, one thinking they have power over the other, but also
women themselves are not the ones who want the sex, which we know is not true,

12

hence the changing hands in

control and different waves of
sexual liberation through time.
Taking things forward into the 20 th
and 21st centuries, it seems we have
arrived at, or at the very least are
(Figure 4) Map showing countries where gay
marriage is legal (2015)

itself difficult to describe.

pushing for, a more postmodern

society. Postmodern society, is

At its core it stands for abolishing straightforward

dictionary definition standards, and is primarily regarded as a more positive direction

for humanity to head in. Confusingly, this was also how Modernism characterised
itself.

Modernism sought to encourage people to take a more liberal approach

towards both art and day-to-day life, inspiring people to look to the future. With this
came a sense of elitism; people were encouraged to have faith in an inevitable
progression of social, scientific and human perfection, through what is described as
grand narratives. Grand narratives were social ideals depicted through art and
through stories to influence the way the public would live their lives. American
historian Hayden White suggested that there are four Western master narratives:
Greek fatalism, Christian redemptionism, bourgeois progressivism, and Marxist
utopianism, each of which has its own set of romanticised rules and stories from the
past set in place to influence the public in there own set time period of location. White
believes that "every history, even the most 'synchronic' of them, will be emplotted in
some way" (White, 1973), that is emplotted with implied morals and modes in which
the stories are supposed to be received. For Christians, the underlying implication
was that Jesus had died for their sins, so they forever had to act according to the rules

13

of the bible for the redemption of humanity. He who was delivered over because of
our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. (Romans 4:25)
whereas Marxists were/ are led to believe in a socialist utopia through propaganda and
current day examples of a good socialist (be it made up or not). (fig 5) depicts a
socialist poster used to illustrate the satisfaction a good citizen would feel after a good
days work.

Postmodernism on the other hand, encourages

people to look deeper into why we believe
certain ways of living are better than others.
One of the first to discuss post-modernism,
especially as a condition put in place to end the
grand narratives of modernism, was JeanFrancois

Lyotard

in

The

Post-Modern

Condition: A Report on Knowledge. He said, I

(Figure 5) May Day Nikolai

Kochergin (1920)

have decided to use the word postmodern to describe [that] condition. ..It designates
the state of our culture following the transformations which have changed the rules
for science, literature, and the arts (Lyotard, 1979). Lyotard believed
postmodernism gave opportunity for society to concentrate on individual human
development as opposed to humankind development. With this, society followed,
breaking down preconceptions and allowing rise to communities such as LGBT, (who
have since gained legal rights for same sex marriage in several countries such as the
USA and the UK (Figure 4)) as well as a huge boost for ever- progressing feminism.
Many critique the relationship between postmodernism and feminism claiming that
feminism constitutes a grand goal of reconstructing existing ideas which they believe
14

through history to be predominately male orientated. Postmodernists however believe

in each individual building their own conclusions based on no previous history. The
chapter Postmodernism and Feminism in Contemporary Feminist Theories, implies
that feminism, in the old sense, may find it difficult to exist in a postmodern society:
It seems unlikely that feminism can sustain itself as a political and emancipatory
movement unless it continues to acknowledge and to interrogate its relation to the
discourse of Enlightenment. We now have been taught to not look at the faults in
society in such a male vs female way, allowing feminism to move forward and help
other such previously unspoken communities such the transsexual and transgendered.
The recognition that there is no universal woman for whom feminism can speak,
also [now] resonate with the radical uncertainty of postmodernism (Waugh, 1998).
Although starting to work together, this still creates contradictions in society. Take
prostitution for example; some feminists may argue, or at least may have previously
argued against prostitution it for its perceived role in the ongoing objectification of
women,,whereas Postmodernists, and Postmodern Feminists would argue that it is the
womans choice, and the exchange of money for sex does not have to be about men
having control over women. Contradictions such as this arise often in postmodern
society, especially in regards to sexuality. In a society basing itself around dismissal of
prejudgment, this should surely mean the allowance for each individual to experiment
with whatever fetish of desire they are personally led to.

In On Postmodern uses of Sex Zygmunt Bauman states The postmodern

`deconstruction of immortality', the tendency to cut off the present from both past and
future is paralleled by tearing eroticism apart from both sexual reproduction and
love... Postmodern eroticism is free-floating; it can enter chemical reaction with

15

virtually any other substance, feed and draw juices from any other human emotion or
activity. (Bauman, 1999) It is therefore believed that in the deconstruction-based
postmodern society, love, sex and eroticism can all be separated and mean different
things. This is where the societal contradictions come in; it becomes a lot harder to
accept so unconditionally when peoples fetishes and desires lead them to places
considered taboo and/or illegal. How long can a self proclaimed postmodernist grin
and bare other peoples choices if they feel they are endangering themselves, their
children or people in their care?

Our current wave of postmodern sexual liberation is elevated further by mass

information we have access to, and the ease of its accessibility in the age we are
currently calling The Information Age. The Information Age (also commonly known
as the Computer Age or the Digital age) is defined as the change from traditional
Industry, brought to us by the Industrial Revolution, to an economy based in
Information Technology leading to a new Digital Revolution [Castells, 1999. The
Information Age is largely characterised by its newfound mass networking ability the ability to bring specific communities together no matter how small or how far
apart. The book The Rise of the Network Society: The Information age, speaks of
The shift from traditional mass media to a system of horizontal communication
networks organized around the Internet and wireless communication has introduced a
multiplicity of communication patterns at the source of cultural transformation
(Castells, 2011). Whereas previously the information we absorbed came entirely from
immediate peers or mass media, in recent years we have the ability to share
information with people on the same level as us, giving new smaller communities the
ability to form with ease without the feeling of conforming to one greater message or

16

judgment from immediate peers who may not see things the way they do. This, by
extension, means the way we share sex has transformed as well. Not only do we have
the ability to access sexual content at the click of a button, but we can do it
anonymously. The draw and temptation of anonymous viewing of specifically themed
erotic content is apparent with statistics proving that the percentage of 18-30 year old
men accessing erotic content online is 92%, and the percentage of 18-30 year old
women is 76%. (Ogassa & Gaddam,2011). The mass of information we now have
access to, taken alongside the new freedoms of speech is almost overwhelming. As a
society this creates an anxiety, an anxiety which causes us to be forever travelling
through these different waves of liberation.

CHAPTER TWO: THE SUBCONCIOUS, FETISH AND TABOO

The idea of living structurally and defining right and wrong has been a part of
human nature for as long as time. As our intelligence progressed from the dawn of our
species, we decidedly possessed the need to explain the unexplainable. Beyond this,
we also had a mutual desire to, for the most of the time, agree with one another in
such a way that would successfully aid the survival of our species. History professor
Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind argues that humans
have progressed successfully due to their ability to cooperate successfully with
infinite numbers of strangers. This ability spawns from our insatiable imaginations
and can work both positively and negatively. The human ability to fabricate ideas and
spread them among others is the reason for not only some of our greatest
achievements but also our shortcomings. Money, Religion, Law, The European Union,
Concentration camps..., all originating from humans convincing other humans that
some specific structure will help the progression of man. Harari continues This is

17

something only humans can do. You can never convince a chimpanzee to give you a
banana by promising that after he dies, he will go to Chimpanzee Heaven and there
receive countless bananas for his good deeds. No chimp will ever believe such a story.
Only humans believe such stories. This is why we rule the world, whereas chimps are
locked up in zoos and research laboratories. (Harari, 2015). Humans have generally
chosen the for the good of man route, but the human mind is not that simple. The
idea of different waves in sexual liberation and trying to ignore animalistic instincts
makes more sense if you think of our bodies subconsciously trying to fight a system.
Society is telling us one thing, and our unconscious something else.

Sigmund Freud, often coined as the father of psychoanalysis, was not the first to talk
of the unconscious and subconscious mind, but one of his most significant
contributions to psychology was the strengthening and mass distribution of this theory
of thinking. Using the metaphor of an iceberg (fig 6). Freud believes that most of the
minds workings happen beyond human conscious, as in behind the scenes or
under the water. On a basic level this can be defined as The Conscious, feelings
and thoughts we consciously bring to the forefront of our minds, The Preconscious,
material that can be easily recalled such as names and numbers, and The Unconscious,
thought processes we are unaware of and that are beyond our control. In his book The
Ego and the Id, Freud defines this further, describing the id as the part of ones self
ingrained since birth, containing Eros and Thantos, our basic sex and aggression
insticts. The Id is the impulsive part of the brain that requires immediate satisfaction.
The Ego, then, can be defined as the part of the id which has been modified by the
direct influence of the external world (Freud, 1923), and works on the reality
principle, figuring out a way of satisfying the ids demands, and due to societal

18

consequence, often finds itself

compromised. The Superego works
as a middleman between the Id and
the

Ego,

and

contains

the

conscience and the ideal self, the

way in which you morally see
yourself living your life. With
these definitions in mind, Freud

(Figure 6) Visual Representation of Freuds

Theories on Consciousness (2012)

describes the aforementioned phenomenon of inherited opinion and action as follows:

The experiences of the ego seem at first to be lost for inheritance, but when they
have been repeated often enough and with sufficient strength in many individuals in
successive generations, they transform themselves, so to say, into experiences of the
id...thus in the id which is capable of being inherited, are harboured residues of the
existences of countless egos (Freud, 1923), This means, not only does the human
consciousness have to contend with its own unconscious, but also the changing social
taboos through time still ingrained within their Id.

In terms of sexuality, our unconscious mind has both social taboos and personal
experience to consider. Fetishes and sexual behaviour stem from two main routes:
through our past experiences and through wanting to unleash our unconscious
animalistic instincts. In the Information Age it is easy to experiment with and satisfy
our fetishes, behind the safety and anonymity of a screen. Access to so many different
types of pornographic material is allowing people to become more creative and
specific in regards to their fetishes. It is widely accepted that fetishes are not just
based on instantaneous attraction and satisfaction, but from the persons past. In is

19

essay Fetishism, Freud writes of how the human ability to scotomize traumatic events,
that is turn a blind eye to them, is a prime factor in how fetishes come about later in
life. Freud argues that the conscious suppression of a traumatic event is no different to
the subconscious suppression and discovery of sexual needs that begin to come about
as a child. Of the psychosis we try and avoid, Freud says The essential difference
between neurosis and psychosis was that in the former ego, in the service of reality,
suppresses a piece of the id, whereas in a psychosis it lets itself be induced by the id
to detach itself from a piece of reality (Freud, 1927), meaning that, in psychosis, we
indulge our subconscious traumas and desires. A healthier way to avoid psychosis,
Freud posits, is to indulge our fetishes, which our minds create to make good out of
traumatic situations. Indulging our inner urges formed from our past through
consensual fetishism is surely better than succumbing to psychosis or using any other
unhealthy outlet. But what if someones fetish involves harming another being, which
is especially frowned upon in the emotionally conscious information age? This is
where Pornography comes in..

The porn industry is booming, with pornography accounting for 69% of the pay-perview Internet content market (Forgione, 2005). Taking this into consideration, its
clear to see the human significance of satisfying sexual desires and fetishes. In an
article for Psychology Tomorrow Magazine entitled What Your Favourite Porn Says
About You, the idea of fetishes stemming from past events is discussed,: Porn
intensely focuses our mental and physical attention, uncovering specific emotions
eroticized much earlier in life. Through our sexual fantasies, we attempt to master
feelings of powerlessness, shame, guilt, fear and loneliness that have followed us into
adulthood.... Situating ourselves in humiliating, romantic or risky scenes counteracts

20

painful feelings by turning them into pleasurable ones.(Siegel, 2012). As Freud

concluded, our fetishes stem from feelings we carry through from our past, wherein
we take control of those feelings by turning them from a negative to a positive. The
article

gives specific examples, such as fetishes centred around forbidden acts

stemming from being punished as children, and fetishes centred around being abused.
The most common feelings people eroticize are;

powerlessness and helplessness

detachment and emptiness
rejection and abandonment
anger and aggression
inadequacy, guilt and shame
insecurity, loneliness and vulnerability

According to the aforementioned survey taken by Ogi Ogassa and Sai Gaddam, 35 of
the top searched sexual interests account for 90% of all erotic searches meaning
that peoples search preferences are clustered together into a relatively small set of
common interests. (Ogassa & Gaddam,2011). People tend to follow the same
patterns and crave the same feelings. These feelings cause us to fetishize. Sex, even
for those who have not experienced it, in our minds is associated with feelings of
ecstasy. We can, unconsciously, take great strides to reach these feelings by not only
turning negative feelings into positive ones, but also normally innocent feelings or
situations. Many fetishes formed are based on objects or situations in which may have
been present during previous states of arousal. For example, an experiment took place
(Rachman & Hodgson, 1968) in which men were shown black boots, followed by

21

arousing photographs of naked women. This was repeated over a number of trials
until eventually the original stimulus, the naked women, was taken away. Their
hypothesis was proven correct, as most of the men were then aroused by the sight of
the boots, with some men reporting they were aroused by the sight of other types of
shoes.. Although this situation was set up, it demonstrates what our mind can do to
preserve sexual pleasure. Fetishes can be safe and non-harmful, but what happens
when a fetish crosses the barrier over to harmful and taboo?

The Complete Dictionary of Sexology defines Paraphilia as compulsively

responding in a sexual way to an unusual or socially unacceptable stimulus
(Francouer, 1995) making it different from a usual fetish. Paraphilia is only
dangerous, or considered a psychiatric disorder, once it is defined as causing
distress to the individual or others. What is considered harmful and what isnt, is
categorised in documents such, as The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM). This particular edition currently features obvious paraphilia such
as paedophilia and frotteurism (the compulsive sexual rubbing of non-consensual
strangers), but the discussion of what is, and what isnt considered a mental illness is
on-going. The removal of homosexuality from the list in 1974 was seen as a turning
point, with even fetishes such as sadomasochism now removed. People are beginning
to accept what others do behind closed doors, allowing the boundaries of the taboos to
be pushed still further.

Humanity has always thrived on the idea of right and wrong, whether it being the
satisfaction of living by the rules or the satisfaction of breaking them. The most
recognised example of this, beyond societal structures and law, would be living by a

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religion to give ones life structure, and to make sense out of things seemingly
unfathomable. Taboos are forged through time, quicker in eras of higher emotive
repression, but without law, order, and often, sense. Through social pressures and fear
of both offence and judgment, we decide what is acceptable to do and say. In his 1919
collection of essays Totem and Taboo, Freud points out the contradictions in the word
taboo by looking at its opposite. In Polynesian the world Noa is thought of as the
opposite of taboo, and defined as something ordinary and easily accessible. This
would mean taboo was something out of the ordinary and difficult to get hold of- a
general human recipe for something desirable! Freud says For us the meaning of
taboo branches off into two opposite directions. On the one hand it means to us
sacred, consecrated: but on the other hand it means, uncanny, dangerous, forbidden,
and unclean (Freud, 1919) meaning there is a constant moral push and pull
surrounding taboo, and the frowned upon.

So then why now, knowing of the past repercussions of repression and judgment, can
we not shake the stigma behind peoples sexual preferences and fetishes? And why,
alongside this, are people discovering wilder fetishes and exploring a wider range of
sex? Slavoj Zisek argues that without taboo, fetishes can become ideologies, which
could possibly do more harm to society than good. In an essay discussing Zizeks
ideas on ideology, and in specific reference to his book, Mapping Ideology (1995),
Professors at the University of Costa Rica note: iek points out that the critique of
ideology must occur from a place which is empty and not defined positively; giving a
positive place to critique is falling into ideology. The only way of not falling into
ideological thought is, then, to maintain the tension between ideology and reality.
(Garcia and Sanchez,2008). They have summarised Zizeks thoughts on how, without

23

the fear of taboo and wrong doing, people will begin to take their deep fetishized
thoughts into viable realities. Alongside this, deeper they delve, people live in hope
that someone will tell them theyre wrong. It would be hypocritical of us to ignore our
subconscious in an era where we are learning to consciously accept everyones views
and ways of living.

There are many sexual taboos that even in our postmodernist era are considered
highly controversial. The biggest of these taboos is paedophilia, the sexual attraction
to children. This is by many considered The Last Taboo. Despite its striving for all
encompassing acceptance, society cannot and perhaps are not willing to, view the
sexualisation of children, even unconsciously, as anything less than evil. People, hold
the innocence of children sacred, especially now. This is maybe because as adults, we
see children as unspoiled and unweathered versions of ourselves. These points are
discussed in a debate for IAI (Institute of Art and Ideas) called The Last Taboo . Liz
Kelly, proffessor of Sexualised Violence argues that the anxiety around paedophilia
comes from the postmodern society itself. Kelly suggests the more we learn about
human nature and the more we deconstruct how we were initially taught - especially
around child abuse and child sexualisation - the more, as a society, we fear the truth
that such crimes are not so binary: the fear of paedophilia came back to manage the
discomfort of not wanting to engage with the fact that the people who are most
dangerous to children, are those who are closest to them. (Kelly, 2014) .
Accordingly, people seek to de-humanise the word paedophilia (which Kelly refers to
as a weasel word), and thus class paedophiles as monsters outside of their own lives.
This would begin to explain why people would feel such shame in admitting to these

24

urges. As for why such fetishes or such crimes can come about, it comes down to
what is at the core of all fetishes and urges - power.

Society has a complicated view of sexualising youth. The idea of innocence and
corruptibility comes with the often exciting, implication of being able to take control
and being the holder of innocence forever, as Kelly summarises: girls in particular,
are encouraged to be adultified, and adult women encouraged to be childified
(Kelly,2014). Paedophile remains taboo because of our human contradiction between
wanting to remain childlike and innocent while experiencing urges and uncontrollable
thoughts. We have a cultural anxiety around child sexuality because in many ways we
are relating it to our own contradictions around wanting to be cared for, and wanting
to be in control.

Necrophilia is another interesting addition to the list of certified Paraphilia, as

necrophilia itself is not classed as a mental disorder. In Sexual Attraction to Corpses:
A Psychiatric Review of Necrophilia (Rosman, Resnick, 1989), the authors split
necrophilia into two categories; Genuine-Necrophilia, a persistent sexual attraction to
corpses and Pseudo-Necrophilia, for whom the attraction comes not from the corpse
itself but occurs in transient bursts, if it so fits their sadistic or opportunistic agenda.
Genuine- Necrophilia is further subdivided into three categories;

Necrophilic Homicide-murder to
obtain a corpse for sexual purposes

Regular Necrophilia-the use of already

25

dead bodies for sexual pleasure

Necrophilic Fantasy-fantasizing
about sexual activity with a corpse, without
carrying out any necrophilic acts

With each case study discussed, we can see a difference in reasoning. For example,
necrophilic homicide often involves people who have very high sex drives and who
may be experiencing hyper sexuality. They thrive on the adrenalin of hyper and
extreme sexual scenarios. By contrast, regular necrophiles are extremely depressed.
They have usually had sex with multiple dead bodies, usually in a situation where
their job involves corpses, because they a) believe this is the only way they can be
close to someone and b) consider themselves as dead inside already, and relate to the
corpse. This is an interesting example of directly seeing how a paraphilia or fetish can
exist both because of its taboo nature (especially for Pseudo-Necrophiles) and in spite
of it (those with a genuine attraction for other reasons).

Below the surface of the internet exists the The Deep Web and The Dark Web.
The Deep Web, cannot be found by surface level web surfers, and does not appear on
conventional search engines. Deeper inside the Deep Web, The Dark Web can only be
accessed by downloadable browsers such as Tor and contains taboo and often illegal
content. Web browsers like Tor pride themselves on anonymity and preach of the
importance of privacy, a place where the government cannot track their location, and
where confidential business can take place without fear of outside influence. The Tor
website states that

Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a

26

distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents
somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it
prevents

the

sites

you

visit

from

learning

your

physical

location.

(https://www.torproject.org/index.html.en) This is considered important in many lines

of work such as journalism, and important for individuals whose identity need to be
protected.

The Deep Web rose into the public eye in 2011 when the anonymous market place
Silk Road, used primarily for the distribution of drugs, was exposed in viral article on
Gawker (Chen, 2011). The public seemed shocked to discover the secrets stashed in
hidden web links. Other than drug dealing, the anonymity of these websites is a
perfect hub for other criminal activity such as hiring anyone from hackers to hit men
to doctors performing illegal surgeries under the radar. Allowing members of the
public access to underground worlds usually far out of their reach allows for the
exciting and addictive thrill or being a part of something that you shouldnt be. Its
difficult to tell what parts of the Dark Web are for real and which parts of products of
curious people hidden behind screens with not only a sense of disbelief but also the
sense of numbness that comes with blurred lines between reality and virtual reality.
There is a lot of speculation around what is real and what isnt. The claims of these
sites started becoming more and more farfetched, and people became more and more
sceptical. One of the most infamous fake deep web websites was a site claiming to be
providing information about human experiments currently being taken place in secret
warehouses. It is unknown whether or not this website even existed, but screenshots
of the site were quickly spread around (fig 7), provoking shock and, more
predominantly, excitement to whoever saw them.

27

28

The people who create these websites, have the same thing in common as those who
access the Deep Web, and arguably the rest of humanity- The joy of voyeurism.
Humanity is weak in that we lead ourselves to believe that the anonymity of the web
can absolve us from the guilt of watching things weve been told are wrong, or private
to someone else. Studies have shown that perhaps one of the reasons why we have a
morbid fascination is that we are preparing ourselves for the worst, whilst also
enjoying the feeling of anything that allows for introspection (Rubenking, Lang,
2014). We are essentially, for our own good desensitizing ourselves while also
revelling in the feeling of sudden intense emotion. In an article for Wired, on the topic
of gory and illegal footage outside the deep web, it is written how much teasing of a
bad thing can you do before your audience wants all of the bad thing and more?

29

(Figure 7) Screenshot of Human Experiment Site (2011)

Images can be stark and terrifying, but they also naturally provide a kind of curiosity
gap (Snyder, 2015). The human phenomenon of not wanting to be told what is right
and wrong props back up again, and with the extra layer of anonymity the deep web
can provide, people will then begin to not look at gory material that they may come
across, but also seek out specific phenomena to research.

Beyond curious members of the mainstream public, the Dark Web is also a place for
those specifically seeking joy out of the taboo and illegal content it can provide.
Studies have found that 80% of the contents of the Dark Web is linked to paedophilia
(study by Gareth Owen reported by Wired (2014)) which makes sense when paralleled
with paedophilias stigma of being the last taboo. The Information Era has become
30

one of the first in which those who are societally shunned have a place to
anonymously seek solace. Like most things associated with the era, this has both
negative and positive connotations. A teenager seeking solace online if theyre being
bullied online is perhaps not so different than an adult seeking solace online if they
are mocked for their sexual preferences. What is dangerous is the anonymous mob
mentally this may create for either parties. The deference of responsibility in a group
of not only likeminded, but anonymously likeminded group of individuals is perhaps
what way lead such dark web sites, hoax or not, to exist.

31

An interesting thing to think about is that the same metaphor used to describe Freuds
theories on consciousness, an
iceberg,

is

often

used

to

describe the different layers of

the web. (fig 8). Our conscious
and subconscious mind and
behaviour can be compared to
the different layers of the web.
The surface web, our conscious

(Figure 8) Visual Representation Of The Layers

Of The Web (2015)

mind, is a place we allow people to see and live in on a day to day surface level. We
interact with others and go about our day to day queries in the same way me would in
real life. Once we get into the anonymous dark web, we can explore the things we
may be too afraid to allow to bring to the surface in normal life. Our subconscious
mind, like the deep web, is infinitely larger than the surface level conscious. The dark
web, much like the space deep inside our minds, is occupied by content that although
within human capacity, we would usually try and keep in our unconscious, or hide
from the eyes of society. Online we have a chance to explore both the desires, and the
human curiosities that we are too afraid to explore in real life.

CHAPTER THREE: HYPERREALISM & ALIENATION AND SOCIETAL

DISCONTENT
The postmodern age and the information era has given light to a new phenomenonHyperreality. First discussed first by sociologist Jean Baudrillard, Hyperreality can be
defined as

the blurred line between reality and simulated reality, a confusion

associated with technology, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.

32

In Simulacra and Simulation, Baudrillard identifies what constitutes a Simulacra and

what leads us to create a Simulation. Baudrillard believes that what we percieve as
reality is entirely reminiscent, and choose what we want to believe about the past,
based on what is, at its core, the most emotionally responsive. What we choose to
simulate, improve or maintain, is pieced together with our perfect view of reality.
When the real is no longer what it was, nostalgia assumes its full meaning. There is
a plethora of myths of origin and of signs of reality - a plethora of truth, of secondary
objectivity, and authenticity. (Baudrillard, 1981). In our postmodern era, wherein we
have been taught to look at the past and recombine it in a way that suits each
individual, we have created ideals of perfection beyond what could have ever been
real, in order to stimulate ourselves in the most effective way possible; perfect
bodies now being defined as the most polished and instantly sexually stimulating,
perfect paradises being places that in an oxymoronic way, provide you with a fauxauthentic experience in the way that reality cannot.. Disneyland is given as a perfect
example of a place where imitation, parody and new technology can create a false
wonderland that can tantalise every sense; "where the wild animals don't have to be
coaxed. Disneyland tells us that technology can give us more reality than nature can."
(Eco, 1967).

Umberto Eco posits how people create a hyperreality, not only to create specifically
tailored hyperreal sensations, but also to imitate feelings and situations they cannot
have or experience in real life. This can range anywhere between watching videos or
Google Earth to experience places we otherwise may not be able to travel to, to
watching pornography, or even experiencing pornified sex thats otherwise

33

unachievable to the viewer through virtual reality glasses such as Oculus Rift.

In

reference again to Disneyland, Eco says consumers want to be thrilled not only by
the guarantee of the Good but also by the shudder of the Bad. And so at Disneyland,
along with Mickey Mouse and the kindly Bears, there must also be, in tactile
evidence, Metaphysical Evil (the Haunted Mansion) and Historical Evil (The
Pirates) (Eco, 1967). Eco sums up well the various reasons we may want to be
stimulated through hyperreality - for pure sensory satisfaction, as well of the joy of
doing things were not supposed to. Ecos Metaphysical Evil (engaging in experiences
thought of as bad or evil, and Historical Evil, (allowing ourselves to experience the
evil our ancestors experienced), link perfectly with the reasoning behind the origins
of fetish discussed previously. Hyperreality is opening up doors to, or rather easing
the processes of achieving intense fulfilment, and society is addicted.

This want for the hyperreal is surely reaching a climax with the spread of Virtual
Reality. Through products such as Oculus Rift and Google Glass, users can
completely submerge themselves in a different world.

With each of these

technologies, its sexual usage is investigated almost instantaneously. When Google

released Google Glass it was not long before porn company MiKandi developed a
porn app, allowing users to film and share their own homemade videos, giving the
effect of being able to have sex with their favourite porn stars and/or willing members
of the Google Glass community. Google quickly put a ban on the app saying its
against their policies, but the public fought back. People want the app, and MiKandi
are re-developing the app to operate around the policies. In an article for tech savvy
website Fast Company, one journalist writes Despite what Google may wish, porn
and technology have always gone hand in hand. Plate-glass negatives still exist from

34

porn pictures taken with cameras circa 1900. Same goes for film shot on celluloid:
Pornographic movies were being made side by side with the silent films of the 1920s.
In the 1980s, it was home video porn that in part helped to make VCRs so popular
(Grothaus, 2013). Arguably, this ability to fulfil ones wants, both sexually and none
sexually, through new technologies modifies peoples views on how they interact, and
how much they interact with other people. If hyperreality give us what we want - only
better - why would we bother interacting with one another at all?

Japan, one of the technology capitals of the world, is experiencing a decrease in

population. The government released statistics stating that 22% of the population is
65 or over and only 13% under 15. The government predict that by 2060 the
population

may

fall

from

127m

to

about

[http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/03/japans-demography].

87m.
It

would

seem the younger generation is just not interested in relationships or long lasting
sexual relations, a phenomena coined Celibacy Syndrome, with a survey revealing
that 45% of women aged 16-24 and more than a quarter of men "were not interested
in or despised sexual contact" (JFPA, 2013). This has been linked to a number of
technologic and self-sustainment related reasons. Since the 90s and the rise of female
equality, a new breed of men named soushoku danshi (Herbivore men), has been
identified -. None power-threatened men who arent interested in sex or much outside
of their own homes. 75% of 1000 men surveyed described themselves as a herbivore
man (Lifenet, 2009). This is not only linked to a transferral of power from men to
women, but also to the way this generation were raised. "Because they had TVs,
stereos and game consoles in their bedrooms, it became more common for them to
shut themselves in their rooms when they got home and communicate less with their

35

families, which left them with poor communication skills," (Sakai, 2009). A perfect
example of real life being compromised for a virtual reality. Although the Japanese
seem not to be interested with sex and relationships with one another, thats not to say
theyre not interested at all. 36% of Japanese people are masturbating weekly, which
is relatively high compared to other worldwide statistics [http://gadling.com/2007
/10/23/big-in-japan-japanese-people-dont-have-enough-sex/], and games such as
Love Plus, in which users can embark on relationships with virtual women and men,
are becoming increasingly popular. Why is this? It seems Japanese men find Japanese
women daunting and are afraid to commit. In an interview with men who play this
game, (interestingly most players choose to play 17-18 year olds, and act out
childhood scenarios such as meeting one another after school), they were asked why
they opt for virtual girlfriends. One man said At high school you can have
relationships without having to think about marriage, with real girlfriends you have
to consider marriage. So I dont think twice about going out with a 3D woman."
(Rani, 2013). Japanese men appear to be getting all their no strings attached pleasure
through virtual means, and more interestingly, seem to be reverting back to childhood
to do so.

Its not just the Eastern world experiencing relationship issues because of technology.
Described as technoference, the phenomena of technology becoming distracting or
more important to us than the real people around us is becoming more and more
apparent. In a study of more that 140 women in relationships, over two thirds agreed
phones were detracting from their ability to connect with their partner. (Coyne,
McDaniel, 2016). Many companies, including condom giants Durex, have launched
campaigns to combat this. In 2015, Durex launched the #Connect campaign to

36

encourage people to engage more with their partners than

with their phones. They launched an app to which couples
could both connect, which stops both parties from using
their phones. (Fig 9).

The irony of society using

technology to control or inhibit technology is self-evident.

The change in definition of the term Alienation is a good

way to describe the change in experience of what we

(Figure 9) Still from

the Durex Connect App

believe technology can do for us, and what its actually

done. In ancient times, the phenomena of Alienation was defined as reaching a higher
metaphysical state, being alienated from the lesser limited existence of the material
world, essentially, the highest form of being we could hope to achieve. This definition
came primarily from the collection of ancient religions that shunned the material
world known as Gnosticism (from the ancient Greek gnostikos, having knowledge).
Through the experience of transcendence, what Gnostics regard as the true
original sin, namely, alienation and separation of the human from the Divine, can
be undone (Hoeller, 2002). Through the study of self-reflection, self-study and selfimprovement, it was believed you would be untouchable and thus transcend to a
greater being.

In the 17th Century influential jurist Hugo Grotius posited the idea of man having
sovereign authority over himself, that everyone has the ability to alienate themselves
from having to live for the purpose of one greater good, which has since been highly
influential on how the justice system works as based on each individual case [Grotius,

37

Neff, 2012]. Grotius drew on the individualistic aspect of alienation, as opposed to

cynicism regarding the rest of the world.

Karl Marx, arguably the most influential force on the definition of alienation, uses
the word primarily to describe the experience of man losing himself, mostly in terms
of the worker and his work. Marx talks of the mindlessness of the worker and the
disconnect this creates from the reasoning behind the work, and from the other
workers. "This is the relationship of the worker to his own activity as something alien,
not belonging to him activity as suffering (passivity), strength as powerlessness,
creation as emasculation, the personal physical and mental energy of the worker, his
personal life. . . . as an activity which is directed against himself, independent of him
and not belonging to him." (Marx, 1964). Essentially, Marx talks of the numbness of
disassociating ones brain and allowing it to relax into being part of a system.

In terms of technology, these theories can be linked to both the addiction and safety
of continuous stimulation and entertainment, and also the loneliness implied by
entirely internal self-preservation and study. As a society we have grown comfortable
with the promise of constant stimulation, to the extent it is no longer what we are
striving for. This can be seen both positively and negatively, as we may have
progressed as much as a species to live comfortably without too much effort, but this
may lead us to strive for a divine experience which does not exist and that we have
fabricated ourselves, causing us, like the Gnostics, to be disassociated from anything
else.

38

Many believe the idea of a social discontent stems from this idea of the internal
human struggle between wanting to work together as a unit whilst also striving for an
individual path. In his book Civilisation and its Discontents, Freud describes the
feeling of being a part of a system as oceanic, It is a feeling, then, of being
indissolubly bound up with and belonging to the whole of the world outside oneself
(Freud, 1930). The feeling of the joy of individual fulfilment is therefore contrasting
in its very nature, as it implies a step away from comfort and into unknown. The
combination of postmodern society, pushing us to constantly to think outside the
box, and the information age, in which we have food for thought streamed at us at all
times, seems to result in the perfect recipe for societal discontent. The numbness we
feel from this is aided, not only by our ability to hide behind screens but also our
ability to virtually live lives outside our own. If Freud is to be believed, this may also
mean the current curve in sexual liberation could be caused, not simply by the
acceptances of postmodern society, but also the acceptance OF postmodern society.
Freud argues sex is the only place wherein we can fully feel equilibrium between
internal and external influence. At the height of erotic passion the borderline
between ego and object is in danger of becoming blurred. Against all the evidence of
the senses, the person in love asserts that I and you are one (Freud, 1930). If this
is true then no wonder our human progression in thought and acceptance runs parallel
with the progression of technologies we can use to both hide behind and fulfil our
fantasies.

CHAPTER FOUR: CASE STUDIES

ONLINE DATING AND PERSONAS

39

The idea of meeting strangers online, whether it be innocently or with romantic or

sexual intentions, has always been a widely discussed phenomenon. The stigma
behind resorting to technology to help find a partner, has changed dramatically in a
relatively short amount of time. If we look back to the origins of searching beyond our
day to day encounters to find a partner, we can perhaps see where the stigma
originated from. The first dating services were matrimonial agencies, set up in
1700, barely even a decade after the invention of the modern newspaper. Not too
dissimilarly to the invention of the vibrator being one of the first inventions to adopt
newly discovered electrical power, these matrimonial services further prove the point
that love and sex are never too far behind in the thoughts of society. Whether love and
sex were the main reason behind these ads though, is another thing entirely. In this era
(18th century), being single past 21 was a big stigma, and through societal pressure,
many saw this as the only option. "Advertising for a husband or wife has always
attracted criticism and the people who did it were always thought of as failures in
some way. and even though many people from different classes used these services
"You probably wouldn't talk about it if you were very respectable" (Cocks, 2009). It
has taken a long time for this stigma to shake, with many still considering resorting to
the internet or local papers embarrassing. Even if you were not of this opinion, then
chances are, the fear of the unknown and the threat of strangers would have stopped
you from using such services. In Britain, the personal column was suspected (much
like the Internet is now) of harboring all sorts of scams, perversities and dangerous
individuals. (Cocks, 2009). The change in views on both use of technology, and selfpromotion are perhaps what has made online dating more socially acceptable.

40

People are most certainly coming to terms with the idea that technology and the web
is not, in itself, to be feared, and can be used by all ages and classes. Beyond this, the
postmodern individual is one who embraces investment and promotion, especially in
the era of online presence and profiles. The idea of writing a short paragraph about or
taking a photo of oneself is no longer seen as a daunting task, and in fact, people
enjoy the idea of being able to portray themselves in a certain light and see what
others think of them. Beyond this, the widespread acceptance of dating apps such as
Happn or most prominently Tinder, which boasts more that 50 million active
worldwide

users

[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/fashion/tinder-the-fast-

growing-dating-app-taps-an-age-old-truth.html?_r=0], Could partly boil down to the

ease, and absence of pressure of using these services. With a mainly 16-24
demographic [Figure 10], and in a postmodern society in which casual sex and
promiscuity is not frowned up, people are not pressured into using the services for
anything more than casual encounters, be that dating or sex. Though Tinder is an
initially aesthetics based dating app, with users choosing their partners based on their
profile photos, there is still an allowance for self-experimentation which you wouldnt
be able to in real life, and as is the way with anonymity of being behind the screen.
You can act in ways you may not be able to in your day to day life, due to either lack
of confidence, social taboo, or fear of scrutiny from peers. If we look at the website
Second Life for example, a website in which users can quite literally anonymously
live a second life, as an avatar in an online world, we can easily see how people can
use and abuse these services as a proxy for their offline lives. In the book Coming of
Age in Second Life, An interview is conducted with an elderly woman named Fran,
who is an active user on Second Life. She sees her online presence, in which she is
young and blonde, and an extension of herself. When asked about her online habits

41

she says ...When Im doing things like, I will dance... and Ill watch my legs, and
while Im sitting here [in
the physical world], my
legs will be doing what Im
doing there that I cannot do
here. You see, I dont think
of me sitting in this chair:
me is the person on the
computer.
(Figure 10) Demographics of Tinder Users (2015)

(Boellstorf,

2015). An important thing

to know about Fran is that she has Parkinsons disease, which prohibits her from using
her legs properly. She not only uses Second Life to distract from her illness, but also
within the game has set up a support group for people with the disease scattered
across the globe. The author of the book maintains this view of the physical and world
and the virtual world not having to be mutually exclusive throughout the book. He
says Note that I do not contrast Second Life (or other aspects of the Internet) with
the real world. Instead I talk about the physical world (or the actual world).
Why? Because things online can be real or unreal, and the same goes for things in the
physical world. (Boellstorf, 2015) This view, even by modern standards, is relatively
forward thinking. It is difficult to maintain such a perspective when the blur between
virtual reality and the physical world can be dangerous. There are many tales of
heartbreak prompted by virtual affairs, with the discussion about what counts as
cheating and what doesnt ongoing. Such is the discussion point of BBC documentary
Virtual Adultery and Cyperspace Love (2008). In which the lives of several Second

42

Life addicts are followed, documenting first-hand the long-suffering real life partners,
and sometimes children.

Whether or not you view pretending to be a different version of yourself online as

healthy or not, the unhealthy attitude that being able to hide behind a screen and not
deal with confrontation creates can lead people to do things which they not even
realise have questionable legality. The phenomenon of Catfishing, pretending to be
someone youre not, has been widely discussed ever since the phrase was coined in
2010 when the documentary Catfish was aired. The documentary follows the story
of Nev Schulman, meeting a family online through his photography, and later
discover the whole family was fabricated by one woman. This prompted a television
show by the same name following members of the public in similar situations. This
gave light to whole new set of struggles peoples were facing. Separate to the
dissociation from the severity of what lying to someone online can do, theres the
percussions on those whove been lied to, and often more severely, those whod
photos and identities have been stolen.

Many people, as we have discovered, take to the web when the pressures and taboos
of society become too much. Surely though, using the web in this way would change
the way we act in day to day life. Many people believe that by discovering things
about themselves online, it gives them the confidence to transfer this into real life. At
Stanford Universitys Virtual Human Interaction Lab, They researched the way selfperception changes behaviour. In an article about the research it is said that
Bailenson's [Head of Lab] research suggests that the qualities you acquire online
whether it's confidence or insecurity can spill over and change your conduct in the

43

real world, often without your awareness. Bailenson has found that even 90 seconds
spent chatting it up with avatars is enough to elicit behavioural changes
offline(Dell, 2008). This would imply that, even subconsciously, how we act online
would affect us day to day, away from the screen, but this could be both positively
and negatively. Someones confidence could be boosted by something theyve done or
said online, but at the same time, another person may read it and be as equally
effected, but negatively.

CONCLUSION
If one thing has become increasingly clearer throughout this investigation, it would be
that humans have a difficult time finding balance. Not just humans in themselves,
dealing with the difficulties of self-fulfilment whilst also trying to cater to outside
influences, but also humanity as a whole struggles with controlling the mass of
animalistic instincts, for the greater good of psychological and societal progression.

Looking at chapter one we can see the origin of the human struggle between mind
and body, through the roots of our most animalistic instinct, sex. We see that the only
way to full sexual fulfilment is through embracing both sexual arousal, our
uncontrollable physical feelings, and sexual desire, our individual thoughts and
feelings that lead us to embark on sexual relations. We see how in the roots of
humanity, we managed this quite well, but once threat and circumstance come into
play, and we begin relying on one another as a unit, the pressures of keeping to the
social norm through fears of being left behind are what lead us to supress our deep
thoughts and feelings. Weve tried many means, most namely religion, to help us put a

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blame to, or at the very least give us structure and guidance to our uncontrollable
thoughts and feelings. We see that these different curves happen when we as a society
can no longer contain our sexual frustrations, or when we become too anxiously
liberated that we want to return to our childhood roots of care and guidance from a
higher influence.

We see that our postmodern era has not only reversed the curve of liberation but
opened up doors, nay, grand marble arches of psychological and sexual investigation.
By being encouraged to not only look around us to help us see different points of
view, but also into our pasts, both personal and as a species, we have quickly been
exposed to many different ways of thinking. This process has not only been aided by,
but sped up and taken to a new level, by the Information Age. Not only do we have
access to information like we never have before, but also we can do such research
anonymously until we decide to share our thoughts and findings. This allows us,
individually to find our own versions of reality, right, and wrong.

In chapter two we see how our unconscious and subconscious minds are telling us
what we are repressing, and how it is important to stay in tune with them. We see also
how by looking at our sexual fantasies and fetishes, we can unlock the feelings we
have in our unconscious mind and address them. We see how most of our unconscious
feelings stem from our childhood, and how by sexualising them, it is our own
personal way of reaching equilibrium between childhood and adulthood- between
what is safe and what is best for our own fulfilment. We see how taboos are put in
place to not only protect what we deem innocent (as we see our past selves in these),
but also to stop our fantasies becoming ideologies. We seem to, if even unconsciously,

45

realise that too much internal reflection can lead us to the root our animalistic
instincts, and for the good of man adhere, to an extent, the taboos put in place, at least
for a short period of time.

In chapter three we see the full extent of what happens when we not only have a
whole ocean of resources and information at our feet, but also the addiction of being
able to fulfil our darkest fantasies, be it virtually or with the aid of the web. This may
lead us to lie and deceive others, protected entirely by the thrill of doing something
bad, and also the disassociation we feel from reality when hidden behind a screen/
online persona. The drug like feeling we have got used to in our current society, of
being able to recreate senses, feelings, and situation from all parts of the world and
our history in hyperreal situations, be them virtually or physically existing (such as
theme parks or holiday resorts), is entirely desensitizing us from reality, and the
ability to form connections outside ourselves or the comfort of these fabricated worlds
or situations. We are alienating ourselves from one another, but still at this point,
believe this is the best root to go down. It is easy to see how we could end up like the
Gnostics, shedding, instead of material wealth to reach a higher metaphysical state,
our concepts of real world reality. It is scary to think that teachings such as The
Gnostic, who in his or her soul and spirit has overcome this alienation from the
Divine, is a stranger to the world and to other humans. Meeting with a true Gnostic
means meeting a stranger (Hoeller, 2002) were seen positively, as if were not
careful, this is what we might begin to believe as well. We see this happening already
in Japan and other Eastern countries- population dropping due to people having no
interest in one another, seeing others as a hindrance to achieving greater success.
Maybe, just maybe, people may see this as evolutions way of controlling population

46

growth, either way without the curve swinging back round, we may all be destined to
the same fate.

The case study puts into practice many of the phenomenon we have seen happen in
the last and that the previous chapters predict for the future. We see how our
postmodern era has put to rest the stigma of online dating and how weve embraced
this by also removing the pressure of romance and commitment through a postmodern
view of unconventional relationships. We then begin to see how this may clash
generationally, or even person to person, depending on which each specific person
deems normal or their own version of reality. We see how this confusion from
person to person begins to isolate us and encourages us to exist in our own virtual
worlds in which our reality is correct.

We, of course, kid ourselves, into thinking our generation is different, Society has
it right this time. But we again forget to look back. The glitch in our human nature,
our inability to stay still, or content for that matter, because of contrast in priorities,
not only from generation to generation, but also in ourselves from childhood to
adulthood. Has the combination of the postmodern era and the information brought
us closer to the acceptance and short-lived equilibrium of our ancestors? Perhaps. Will
it remain this way? We will have to wait and see.

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