Adult dating sites are ridiculously popular these days! I visited one recently and it boasted over 34 million members. How does that happen? I've never seen such numbers at normal dating sites. Why are they so popular? These numbers make adult dating sites look mainstream, while normal dating site with their relatively paltry numbers look positively "niche".
This popularity confounds me because adult dating sites are based on a concept of promiscuity. This behaviour does not reflect the real world. Society is much more conservative than the concept of "Adult Dating" So how did this part of the industry become so popular?
Clearly the internet removes to some extent, people's fear of rejection at the point of introduction. It is much easier to approach that seemingly impossible "babe" or "hunk" from behind an internet profile. In public on the other hand, (Ie. at a bar, social event or work) such an approach might result in open rejection and public humiliation. Does this reduction of consequence create a forum of greater courage, honesty and directness?
I wonder if this new honesty, which we find on adult dating sites, will spill over into society. Will people gradually become more direct and courageous in public, when searching for a "bedmate"? Or will this be courage forever require the protection of an internet profile.
I wonder if this will impact current dating and flirting behaviours. Will we become so desensitised to rejection that flirting and "getting to know" someone first, is replaced by a system of direct questions and answers? Will good manners themselves become redundant?
Or will it go the other way? Will we lose our social skills, only being forthright when we have the cover of an "internet alias" or the like.
These are questions I ponder, but have no answer for. Only time will tell. So I'm just going to have fun dating in the meantime, there are so many new people to meet at this site I just joined. - 15437
This popularity confounds me because adult dating sites are based on a concept of promiscuity. This behaviour does not reflect the real world. Society is much more conservative than the concept of "Adult Dating" So how did this part of the industry become so popular?
Clearly the internet removes to some extent, people's fear of rejection at the point of introduction. It is much easier to approach that seemingly impossible "babe" or "hunk" from behind an internet profile. In public on the other hand, (Ie. at a bar, social event or work) such an approach might result in open rejection and public humiliation. Does this reduction of consequence create a forum of greater courage, honesty and directness?
I wonder if this new honesty, which we find on adult dating sites, will spill over into society. Will people gradually become more direct and courageous in public, when searching for a "bedmate"? Or will this be courage forever require the protection of an internet profile.
I wonder if this will impact current dating and flirting behaviours. Will we become so desensitised to rejection that flirting and "getting to know" someone first, is replaced by a system of direct questions and answers? Will good manners themselves become redundant?
Or will it go the other way? Will we lose our social skills, only being forthright when we have the cover of an "internet alias" or the like.
These are questions I ponder, but have no answer for. Only time will tell. So I'm just going to have fun dating in the meantime, there are so many new people to meet at this site I just joined. - 15437
About the Author:
Jayde Johanssen, amazed by the cult following of adult dating sites, wonders whether the phenomena will change society itself
