Friday, January 11, 2008
Love on the CL
When I was doing some Christmas shopping last month, I noticed for the first time the personals section on Craig's List. Now, I'm not in the market for someone, but I've always found reading personals to be something of a guilty pleasure. It's voyeuristic, somehow, but fun.
And at Craig's List, since it's free, people let it all hang out. No having to consolidate to keep the ad from getting too expensive. And an apparent license to say what you really want.
I explored every category for a while, and it kind of reinforced some stereotypes in my head. To wit:
Women looking for men: Women want a good man, but, boy, is that ever apparently a tough search. There's plenty of men, but not very many good ones, I guess. And when it comes to relationships, women want it all. Sex, yeah, that's OK, but it's way beyond that. Mostly someone they can talk to, share their life, will be good to them, take them out and spend quality time with them.
Men for women: Yeah, they don't know what they want, but it should involve sex.
Women for women: It's amazing how many women want "a woman's touch." Very often they say they've been curious. But I think part of that curiousity must be they're tired of men's general clumsiness with them.
Men for men: If men are always horny, then two men together is horniness gone amuck. And a great number of them are willing to show their dicks for it. I think it must play into that visual stimulation thing somehow.
Casual encounters: Well, it's more of the same, amped up, particularly men looking for women, but one category is different. That would be women looking for men for a casual encounter. Almost all of these posts get flagged, I'm guessing because most women aren't looking for casual enounters -- unless they happen to do casual encounters professionally, as an escort.
There's also couples looking for a threesome, most often being driven by the man's desire and the woman's willingness. Apparently, this was a popular Christmas item to give your honey.
The other thing that cuts across all the labels -- an apparent lack of success while trolling on CL. The apparently experienced CL people complain often that they are tired of just exchanging e-mails and want something "real."
I guess we all have our fantasies, but most of us are reluctant to really act upon them.
And at Craig's List, since it's free, people let it all hang out. No having to consolidate to keep the ad from getting too expensive. And an apparent license to say what you really want.
I explored every category for a while, and it kind of reinforced some stereotypes in my head. To wit:
Women looking for men: Women want a good man, but, boy, is that ever apparently a tough search. There's plenty of men, but not very many good ones, I guess. And when it comes to relationships, women want it all. Sex, yeah, that's OK, but it's way beyond that. Mostly someone they can talk to, share their life, will be good to them, take them out and spend quality time with them.
Men for women: Yeah, they don't know what they want, but it should involve sex.
Women for women: It's amazing how many women want "a woman's touch." Very often they say they've been curious. But I think part of that curiousity must be they're tired of men's general clumsiness with them.
Men for men: If men are always horny, then two men together is horniness gone amuck. And a great number of them are willing to show their dicks for it. I think it must play into that visual stimulation thing somehow.
Casual encounters: Well, it's more of the same, amped up, particularly men looking for women, but one category is different. That would be women looking for men for a casual encounter. Almost all of these posts get flagged, I'm guessing because most women aren't looking for casual enounters -- unless they happen to do casual encounters professionally, as an escort.
There's also couples looking for a threesome, most often being driven by the man's desire and the woman's willingness. Apparently, this was a popular Christmas item to give your honey.
The other thing that cuts across all the labels -- an apparent lack of success while trolling on CL. The apparently experienced CL people complain often that they are tired of just exchanging e-mails and want something "real."
I guess we all have our fantasies, but most of us are reluctant to really act upon them.
# posted by Frankly Speaking @ 12:11 AM 
