One of the areas of life that the Internet has had the most impact on is human sexuality. Sex permeates nearly every corner of the Internet but its epicentre certainly has to be in the 'chat room'. It is in the chat rooms that people come together to engage in what has come to be known as cyber sex, or the impossible act of performing sexual intercourse with another human at the opposite end of a phone line.

It must be pointed out that actual sexual orientation and even gender have no meaning in chat rooms. Any 6ft 4", 320lb construction worker whose mother has lovingly named 'Bubba' can transform himself into 'TheLoveGoddess' once he enters the chat room and no one but he will know otherwise. This is interesting because one must totally suspend belief in any reality except for the one that is presented to us by a total stranger, certainly something no one would do in real life. Thus we prepare ourselves to allow 'Bubba' to transport us to sexual nirvana without having any idea who he really is. And while there are those who would enjoy having this happen in the real world, it is certainly not what most people go to the chat rooms for.

Any cursory inspection of a sex chat room will reveal that most of the participants are presented as heterosexual males by their chosen chat room names. 'Stud4U' or 'Big10' being examples of how male sexuality and prowess is conveyed. And while there are many participants of implied maleness there will be one or two of implied female sexuality such as 'WetandWild' or the aforementioned 'TheLoveGoddess'. These 'females' will be immediately verbally assaulted by their male counterparts upon their entry into the chat room as their typewritten affection is vied for.

Once the dominant male persona has won the female from the others, they will retire to a 'whisper room' away from the prying eyes of others where they assume their conversation will be private. Here they can convey their thoughts on sexual pleasure while imagining that physical contact is actually taking place when in fact all they are able to do is masturbate in solitude. While for many, this may not constitute sex, there is some sexual gratification involved as well.