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Digital sexuality: the Internet as an intermediary and mediator of sex

   Published: 21st July 2017
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   As part of the WISERD Cardiff lunchtime seminar series, Dr Ian Thomas
   reported recent findings from his exploration into the Internet’s
   effects on sexuality. He questions whether the Internet is an
   intermediary and/or a mediator, and whether it is altering our
   understanding of sexuality.

   In my WISERD lunchtime seminar, I began by drawing on the distinction
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   (sexual) practices, where fantasies and tastes are played with,
   illustrate the potential for the Internet and digital media to
   intrinsically alter sexuality, and become an active element in shaping
   sexual encounters (Race 2015).

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   worker’ and ‘client’ (ie, another pathway to this encounter),
   Craigslist was also found to mediate sex seeking, enabling men to
   proposition others for sexual services, or to sell their sexuality
   without having to adopt a ‘sex worker’ identity.

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   An attention to the virtual aspects of technology use mark a shift from
   thinking about the extent of the Internet’s effects on sexuality (ie,
   are more people using the internet for sexual purposes), to consider
   the more intensive affects and what media do or do not enable a person
   to do. There is an important difference between whether sexuality is
   being changed or not by media, and whether these changes mean that a
   person can feel and experience sexuality in different ways, or ways
   they were not capable of before. Taking this position further, by
   considering whether new sexual capabilities increase or hinder a