Expose yourself
Sex columnist Dorothy Black poses in the buff (sort of) and thinks you should too
Image: Getty Images
I spent the better half of Saturday afternoon on the floor of my bedroom. I’d created a makeshift studio of bedspread and mirrors for a little project I’d been challenged to take on by one of my readers:
Hey dorothy, thought you might like this site: http://gonewild.reddit.com. Take a look, maybe take part. I'm on there...
Nudey pics for one of those anonymous online sex forums. I’d been toying with the idea for a while so the suggestion was a tickling reminder.
It didn’t take me long to settle on a pose or style. I’ve had a fondness for erotic images since the first time I took a mirror to my punani and my favourite Soho sex book helped me settle on a image. A few hours and some acrobatic camera/arm maneouvering later, my toosh was up on a forum to be viewed and commented on by all and sundry.
My anonymous reader had assured an ego boost in the whole venture. But I don’t need one so I didn’t really find the thrill in that (besides, when signing up, subscribers are implored to be polite and complementary when commenting). What I did get my kicks out of though was the simple delight of being an exhibitionist.
Here is my body. Look it. Adore it. Ah...the simple pleasures in life.
My first taste of online exhibitionism was in 2001 when SuicideGirls.com quietly crept onto the scene. It’s the anti-establishment punk chic(k) nudey site, where normal girls (albeit with a preference for tats, piercings and weird hair) get to post their erotic pics. They’re not the made-for-Hollywood cookie-cutter trout pout dolls the media feeds us as sexy. Their breasts are real, their lips are unbotoxed and some are even a size 16. The site now has a quarter million subscribers.
Real people, it seems, like looking at pictures of other real people. SuicideGirls isn’t the only site to do this, but it was a milestone and has arguably been the most successful in its genre.
Then came YouPorn.com in 2006, where real people can watch other real people fuck. Who needs to pay money to watch a ridiculous porno performance from a silicone shell from Eastern Europe when you can watch real women have real orgasms with real men - all for free. You can post yourself, and you and a million other people can watch you shag. Just like being an actor! Except, without all the money.
I suppose the difference between the site I posted on and sites like SuicideGirls and YouPorn is anonymity.
On reddit, users are advised not to reveal their faces or any identifying characteristics in case they, well, get into trouble. Like naughty children. I suppose that’s part of the thrill, but this point really niggles at the back of my head.
We’re a society of exhibitionists and voyeurs. We applaud and encourage narcissism in our celebrities, our jocks and cheerleaders, our self-styled walking brands – whether they’re on the catwalk or in the office.
We venerate the cult of personality, and if a little errant nipple, ball sack or vag gets thrown in, all the better. Nobody gave a shit about Joost and Amor until the sex tape. Ditto Paris Hilton.
So why should we care if the guy in the next cubicle gets his rocks off from splashing his genitals all over an adults only site.
Maybe because it’s a little too primal to fit comfortably in our suburban paradigm of being the esteemed ‘human’ (also there's no paparazzi to make it all worthwhile for us normal folk). But, really, flashing your genitals around – whether online or in a push-up bra or speedo – is akin to the mandrill flaunting its big crimson butt when it’s in heat.
Millions of years of evolution and we’re still just monkeys. It’s a thought that amuses me greatly.
Over the course of two days my photo was viewed a few hundred times and commented on graciously. It was fun, a little bit wicked and my floor will never quite be the same again. (Also it gave me a chance to really investigate what real women are doing with their pubes.)
I'll probably pop up some more monkeying around later. See you there?
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