GENERAL TRENDS

GENERAL TRENDS

Sex on the Internet is, at once, a compendium of the good, the bad, the beau- tiful, and the ugly. As such, one could argue that it is refl ective of sex in real life, with the bad and the ugly often being the chief focal points for many people in the United States and elsewhere. Yet, the good and the beautiful are well represented in both arenas. The problem, of course, is distinguishing between the two groupings, because, for too many people, there simply are no such distinctions. As a result, on the Internet, as in real life, it is left to the individual to navigate her or his own way through the dizzying array of sex information and services available. As a result, too, there are those who seek to impose their own agendas and viewpoints on what others may view or the services to which others may have access. Therein lie the daunting qualities of the Internet and efforts to bring sanity to the sexual global village.

Sexuality is inextricably linked with the Internet, the World Wide Web, and the Usenet newsgroups in the minds of both many professionals and the general public. This should not be surprising, because sexuality is inextricably linked with virtually every imaginable discipline in some way, making it one of

Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Transpersonal Implications

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94 Raymond J. Noonan

the most interdisciplinary of subjects. These aspects, in turn, infl uence society’s attitudes—and hence, the directions of scientifi c research and public policy in those domains (Noonan, 1998a). Yet, sex-related Web sites and other areas of the Internet represent only a small portion of each part of the global computer net- work, as they have since its inception. Nevertheless, like the medium itself, the role that sexuality online plays in all of our lives has the potential to affect us as individuals and as a society in profound ways, both positive and negative. In fact, the Internet refl ects the sexuality of its users and the global society of which they are a part as much as, or perhaps more than, it has the potential to infl uence sexual attitudes and behavior. This chapter surveys the major segments of the Internet in which sexual content resides and conjectures about their psychological signifi - cance. Inherently, I also suggest avenues for further research to clarify some of the unknowns that remain since the fi rst iteration of this chapter (Noonan, 1998d), in contrast to the rapid and incredible technological advances and social changes that have occurred in the meantime.

For health professionals and students in sexuality, psychology, education, and other allied disciplines, this chapter uses the Web to enhance our teaching, learn- ing, and understanding by supplementing our writings, practice, and instruction via complementary Web sites. For example, The Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality by Francoeur and Noonan (2004) provides additional ave- nues at http://www.SexQuest.com/ccies/that readers might use in applying the concepts in this chapter to different cultures. This chapter also has its own com- panion Web site, The Psychology of Sex: A Mirror from the Internet Companion Page at http://www.SexQuest.com/SexualHealth/psychsexmirror.html (Noonan, 2006), with annotated links and updates to the Web resources cited in this chapter. I hope this site will extend the chapter’s usefulness by keeping its links up-to-date and in providing additional insights for our readers in the realm of sexual health and the role that the Internet can play therein.