How Sex Changed the Internet (video)

Jen Bradford (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Bradford Theatres, March 15, 2011; Larry Mantle, AirTalk (scpr.org, 11/17/22)

Avenue Q: "The Internet is for Porn"

(Bradford Theatres) After nearly five years of mischief, bad behavior, and political incorrectness, London's funniest show by far hit the road and came to The Alhambra for one week only. "THE BEST MUSICAL OF THE DECADE" screams the Sunday Times. See bradford-theatres.co.uk for details and age suitability. See also Amanda Rodriguez.

• AUDIO: Karen Bass becomes first female LA mayor; FDA approves LAB grown flesh; How the Internet Changed Sex

How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex: An Unexpected History

Author Samantha Cole, Host Larry Mantle, AirTalk (KPCC.org/SCPR.org, 11/17/22)

Now Naga monsters are perverting earthlings

From the moment there was an “online,” there was sex online. The famous test image used by software engineers to develop formats like the jpeg was “Lena,” taken from Playboy’s November 1972 centerfold.

Early bulletin boards and multi-user domains quickly came to serve their members' sexual musings. Facebook started as a way to rate “hot or not” Harvard co-eds.

In fact, virtually every significant development that defines the Internet we know and love (and hate) today — privacy issues, government surveillance, corporate individual spying and mass data collection (to then hand that data over to government agencies for the asking), online payments and online banking, dating, social media, streaming technology, mass data collection — came out of the meeting of sexuality and technology.

The kicker is, not only did sexuality vastly influence the Internet, but the Internet arguably changed modern human sexuality by giving every imaginable non-heteronormative community a place to explore, fantasize, thrive, and be accepted and out.

Maria Louise Ciccone aka the future "Madonna"

A lively history, filled with broad themes and backstories, pioneering personalities and eureka-moments, How the Internet Changed Sex... is a short, serious, and highly entertaining look at the intertwining convergence of sex and the Internet.

Written by Samantha Cole, who’s been on this beat as a senior writer for Vice, How the Internet Changed Sex... covers everything from:

• Jennicam (remember her?) to the problem of “deep fakes”;
• “A Brief History of Online Dating” to how the government has been trying to reckon with NSFW content;
• cybersex to what VR (virtual reality) spaces like the Metaverse holds for future of human sexual interactions.

Porn is just one part of the story. Rather, this is a story about human nature during the digital gold rush of the last fifty years. More