The Panther Prints February 13, 1996 20 CyberSex By NetScoop Sex on the Internet has changed. You’ve probably all heard the horror stories of kids downloading porn from the internet . through FTP and newsgroups, and old unwashed pedophiles hiding in corners of sick newsgroups. Well, those articles were all pretty much out-dated when they were written. There are no public porno file sites on the internet anymore. They were too hot to handle; the massive surge of people trying to access the files would crash a server in hours of its birth. Yes, that does mean that an immense percentage of people on the internet are perverts. You see, on the internet, you don’t have to face the girl at the checkout counter who you might want to date later. There are still private file archives, I imagine, but you have to get permission to access them, and doing that is more difficult than joining a major biker gang. The famous newsgroups about sex are junk. Once forums for semi- serious conversation, and a lot of pretty good information, they have been reduced to fodder newsgroups. They feature phone sex ads, video tape ads, people begging for ‘‘porno filez’’, and guys either bragging about their imaginary penis size (with them around, the average penis size of all men in the world is about 12 inches.) Everyone insults each other and blame everyone else for the disgusting quality of the conversations. From what I understand, this turn for the worse came with America OnLine (AOL), Prodigy, CompuServe, and other commercial interests to the internet. The first three provided easy access to the internet for a huge number of idiots. AOL was the worst of them all. They brought in the advertising for phone sex and everything else. Any intellegent conversation is wiped out by the hundreds of garbage posts made to the sex- related newsgroups daily. This doesn’t mean that the internet has been cleaned up. The porn just migrated. Playboy, Penthouse, and a slew of other magazines now have homepages -- which charge experimental forms of electronic money to access. People set up personal homepages, and run immature ‘‘boobs of the week’’ campaigns, and turn up on the newsgroups to get people to come and look. As a whole, I lament these changes. In the early days of the Internet, the sex newsgroup -- it started out with only alt.sex, now there are over 60 different ones, none worth reading -- was for the Good Clean Fun or...? by Samantha Gallant Playgirl. It is time to debunk the myths. What myths? I am not sure, but there seems to be a mystery about the whole thing. I will admit that I do not have an extensive history with porn magazines, so even buying a copy of Playgirl was an interesting experience. But eventually I ended up at home with my Playgirl, ensconced in its brown paper bag, ready to read. The front cover looked promising, Jack Wagner from _ Melrose Place was gracing the magazine, but I soon found out not to judge a magazine by its saver. This is frightening magazine. While Playgirl’s cousin Playboy is renowned for its articles, you certainly can’t say the same for this magazine. There is an article uncovering which movies you can see Antonio Banderas’ bare butt and calling for some frontal nudity. A freelance writer tells us of her new career stripping at a peep show (like the one in the Madonna video) while people have sex on the other side of the glass. And we learn | mature discussion of items related to from Jack Wagner (who doesn’t sex. What condoms are best, ideas appear nude) that women who sleep for stimulating your lover, advice on around aren’t bad but actually his problems. Now it is all just a reflection of the top shelf in a heroes. Many pages are devoted to the magasine store, and arguments over magazine’s many “meeting the best centerfolds by drunk jerks. places”. Most people have seen the telephone mail box, leave messages, meet dates schemes run in the local paper. The ones in the this magazine have penis and breast sizes, couples looking for a third member, sexual preferences, and many guys who think they can go all night long. These ads are just beyond description. There is also a Fantasy Forum, where readers write in their sexual fantasies. The writer of the fantasy of the month earns one hundred dollars. This month it was about a woman who has sex with the two guys who came to clean the pool. Stories with six page picture spreads are also in the magazine. One mesmerizing story has a hitchhiker being picked up by a biker and then they have sex in the woods. Another is about a man who goes to a nude spa and has sex with a maid. Naked men. I guess that is the main point of this magazine, since they grace almost every page. Many of them I would rather see dressed. These are not the men of your dreams. Although, if you think so, most of them supply you with a 1-900 number so you can chat with them. Even the centrefold, Zoltan, has his own number. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish the men featured in the magazine from the ads. Actually the ads usually have a variety of 1-900 numbers with fascinating titles such as “Bold, Buff and Blonde”, “Erotic Escapades” or “Wet and Wild Role Play”. If you want to hook up with a lesbian and her bisexual big breasted lover, pay money to talk to a centrefold, see real men naked (pictures of everyday guys sent in by their significant others) or see the new penis shaped pasta, then go for it. Buy a Playgirl. Or if you want a good laugh. This is a magazine that I can’t call good clean fun. It might be sleazy, low grade funny but even that is a stretch. Just don’t bother.