Virtual Spaces: Sex and the Cyber Citizen [Paperback]

Cleo Odzer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1997

Cyberspace. The new frontier. Its pioneers bear names such as LoveSearch, Tomato, Hot Chick, and Satan. They explore an endless variety of virtual spaces like "The Den of Love," "The Ladies Orgy Room," "The Romance Chamber," and "The Dungeon." Their dialogue ranges from the sexually direct ("What are you wearing?", "Would you like to make love to another female?") to the self-reflective ("You don't seem interested in me," and "Will I ever have sex again with a real person?") These are the voices of a new sexual revolution, waged on the virtual frontier of the Internet, where personal anonymity and global access provide unlimited opportunities for sexual exploration. Who exactly are these explorers? What are they looking for? And what do they find? Cleo Odzer, an anthropologist and Internet pioneer, has spent years studying human sexuality, and has now applied her expertise and experience to unraveling the complex evolution of human relationships on the web. Dr. Odzer's engaging account of sex in cyberspace takes us from the on-line equivalent of playing footsie to private Internet rooms that only the most hardened sexual adventurer would dare enter. Through her own observation and participation on the net, Dr. Odzer shows us how personal history and fantasy interact and alter relationships on-line. By explicitly chronicling her own life and adventures on the web, she reveals our own deepest wishes, our darkest desires, and our universal need to connect. She tackles such controversial issues as net sex and pornography, ethics in cyberspace, digital obsessions and love affairs. In the end, she discovers a virtual community as rich and diverse as any real-life counterpart--a brave new world of e-mail, chat rooms, and video-conferencing that, despite its modern trappings, provides a direct line to the most basic of human desires: the need for intimacy, passion, a sense of belonging, and love. A brave and exiting voyage into the sexual cybersphere, Virtual Spaces offers not only a glimpse of our technological future but a timeless exploration of the human heart.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A lot of people have written about the phenomena of cybersex--some to tell their own adventures and others to provide social analysis. Author Cleo Odzer has the qualifications and talent to do both. As an anthropologist with a specialty in human sexuality issues and an unabashed cybersex enthusiast, she draws on both her own sexuality and her professional training to explore the worlds of cybersex in both personal and analytical manners within Virtual Spaces. She doesn't shrink from any aspect of online eroticism, providing replays of online events from the flirtatious to the explicit. However, this is not a romanticized portrayal of the cybererotic; it is instead a look at how real people sexually interact in fantasy environments and how the physical interaction is fictional, but psychological and emotional interactions are totally real.

As Odzer shares her experiences from a variety of online environments ranging from simple chat areas to complex MOOs and palaces, she explores the meaning of cybersex. She considers what cybersex means to individuals and what role it can play in both healthy and unhealthy sexuality, as well as how it can interact with the "face to face" world. Odzer doesn't ignore the ethical issues attached to sexuality--from gender discrimination to pornography--as they apply both online and off. Through it all, Virtual Spaces delivers a message about the reality of online eroticism in terms of emotional interaction among people and as a means of often surprising self-discovery.

About the Author

Cleo Odzer, Ph.D., spent her youth traveling throughout Europe, the Middle East, and India before settling in Goa, India in 1975. She earned her Ph.D. in anthropology in 1980. Her dissertation on prostitution in Thailand was the basis for her first book, Patpong Sisters: An American Woman's View of the Bangkok Sex World. Her second book was Goa Freaks, and her video "Cleo's Adventures on the MOO" has been aired on Public Access television.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (November 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425159868
• ISBN-13: 978-0425159866
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,853,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Personal and entertaining, a good geek read, February 8, 2001

By 

D. Hodgson (Cupertino, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Virtual Spaces: Sex and the Cyber Citizen (Paperback)

This book is best read as the third in Cleo's series of rich yet exotic life experiences. As with the other two books, here we have a woman whose looks and charm have allowed her to squeak through a whole host of interesting experiences that, by now, should have left her dead, diseased, or incapacitated. But fortunately for us, we have this MUD & VR-centric collection of experiences that are refreshing, fun and immersive from this woman's community-centric point of view - and a very honest take on the (intended and unintended) hypocricies of love online.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could not put it down until I read it cover to cover., March 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Virtual Spaces: Sex and the Cyber Citizen (Paperback)

It is very remarkable for you to write so frankly about something that is contrary to "our everyday lifestyle", and do it so well. Your books have been very interesting to read and Sex and the Cyber Citizen has proven your talent as a writer once again. Cleo keep em coming. Thanks.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So refreshingly frank!!!, April 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Virtual Spaces: Sex and the Cyber Citizen (Paperback)

It is remarkable and inspiring when an author can write with such honesty. Amusing and poignant, this book is ultimately a fascinating look into virtual worlds that few people understand the full extent of. She writes like an adult for other adults, unlike so many other books about the internet. A wonderful book...