The Internet and Its Influences on BDSM

[wannabeXopsed]

Well, thank you TG, for the your insight to this dilema. I know for me, I started out o/l and have had few r/t experiences(2 be excact). So it all seems to make sense to me. I for one needed this sight to learn if this was something I wanted, and haven't yet proceeded to the next level of real time, because I wanted to make sure that BDSM was what I had been seeking. Yep it is, and I have learned a great deal, and of course without the dungeon, I certainly wouldn't of known anything about where to start. Now, of all the sites I have been to, to learn and get knowledge, this is absoulutly the best for me. I have no doubt I will be here for a long time. I will always be looking for the eternal questions for why, and of course how to be the best I can be. It is my hopes that when it comes time for r/t that I will take from what I have learned here, and be able to understand and apply this knowledge without using poor o/l judgement, you know getting it right and not having it all backwards.

Thanks again, great post!
T

[AndrewBlack]

What e.b. said. Good place to hang out with people from around the world and exchange ideas.

I understand your concerns of misrepresentation, but I think you are focusing on the crap internet BDSM experience rather than the more positive one that can be had.

The internet is a means to a end, a process that can realize a lot of different goals, but of itself doesn't amount to much. It's the people behind it, and if they are creating an experience that is essentially shallow and superficial then it's a shame that it's held up as being 'real BDSM' and yes it's a shame if that happens to be someones first exposure to the scene. There are, I'm sure, similar people who acheive this in the real world though. You meet some guy who spouts a load of crap to an impressionable novice, he will misrepresent the whole thing too, but perhaps on a different scale.

For me it's a matter of weeding out the good from the bad. There are positive and negative r/l and o/l experiences to be had. I think this site achieves a good balance, focuses on what really matters and encourages relevant intelligent discussion in favour of addressing each other in daft ways.
I get a lot out of my o/l experience, I like to think, through circumspect internet use and recognizing the good from the bad.

[BDSM_Tourguide]

I understand your concerns of misrepresentation, but I think you are focusing on the crap internet BDSM experience rather than the more positive one that can be had.

There are positive and negative r/l and o/l experiences to be had.

I wasn't actually intending to make the primary focus on the negative aspects. I was trying to point out differences is all.

I agree that there are bad experiences to be had in both communities. Worse one, in fact, to be had offline, because at least online you can close the window and turn off your comuter and the bad experience is over for you.

However, in offline communities, you can see demostrations of how certain activities are done by professionals that have spent their entire lives perfecting those skills. It's not a collections of text explaining how to do it, it's the real thing in living color right in front of your nose.

Just as an example: We used to know a couple in Houston that were members of both the online community and the offline one. The dominant partner's name was Master Whip and his submissive's names was vixen (not their real names, obviously). The reason he was called Master Whip is because he'd spent years and years of his life perfecting his skill with the bullwhip. FF had the opportunity to see him in person once. My understanding of the scene was the he used a blowgun and shot darts into vixen's ass and then used the whip, from fifteen feet away, to pluck them out one at a time.

I don't think that experience could be mimicked online.

[BDSM_Tourguide]

I know for me, I started out o/l and have had few r/t experiences(2 be excact)... and I have learned a great deal, and of course without the dungeon, I certainly wouldn't of known anything about where to start.

I appreciate your praise, especially about the dungeon. I have worked hard to make it obvious that the dungeon is not another typical internet BDSM area. I ask people to leave that type of thing out of the dungeon, just so everyone can have the same enjoyable experiences without having to wade through the unnecessary bits.