Unwanted Exposure: The Digital Flashing Epidemic

My first up-close encounter with an unsolicited dick occurred when I was in university. To give you some context, this was when dating websites were new and regarded with more than a bit of side-eye. Yes, I said dating websites, which we accessed on our hulking desktop computers because there were no smart phones. Do you remember logging into Facebook in its early days but not, you know, really understanding what you were supposed to do there? Signing up for a dating app offered the same experience.

Early dating sites did offer an archaic messaging option, though it was treated more as an e-mail chain than texting; that is, the messages tended not to occur in real time. Because of that, I remember being distinctly startled when I clicked on one and found myself in a live chat with a man who was furiously masturbating, webcam an inch from his dick.

What is that? I remember shrieking, which brought my roommate running. Once fortified by the presence of another human, I managed to cautiously regard the screen again. The two of us watched the unwanted demonstration of this stranger’s boner with horror and disgust and yet also a sense of grim fascination.

We’d both seen dicks before. We both liked dick. What we couldn’t understand, though, was why on earth that this man thought a strange woman would enjoy seeing…