Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex by Samantha Cole

4 reviews

lilybear3's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

The title is everything you need to know about this book. I was highly interested in the topic and I wasn't disappointed. Samantha Cole takes us from pre-internet times to where we're at now. I loved the layout with a neon + muted color scheme. There's photographs and side anecdotes that break up the text. There are chapters and then subsections within those. If you are not internet/tech savvy, the Cole adds quick definitions of important terms and phrases, like BBS: Bulletin Board System. There's a lot of ground covered: how pre and early internet users were using what they had for sex, censorship, buying & selling, deepfakes, gaming, and crime, just to name some. It seems like a lot of time and effort went into researching this book and Cole interviews a number of experts and sex workers to share their insights. Backmatter includes sources, further reading, index, and photo credits.

My top chapters were Webmasters of Their Own Domain, Porn 2.0 and the CamGirl Revolution, and Fuck the System: Crime and Legislation.

I had some thoughts about anecdotes or topics else could've been added:

-Westworld-robots (gyroids) can be used for sex
-Using reddit for porn-specific subreddits were mentioned but not in a broad sense. Spicy audios, hentai, etc.
-Hentai in general

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msoul13's review

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informative medium-paced

4.0

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katiemack's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.25

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is an accessible, visually appealing read. It feels like a (very) long magazine article in that it covers many topics briefly--I expected some more in-depth examination but appreciated the amount of facts--and is interspersed with glossary boxes and photos. Parts are technical and dry, but I enjoyed learning about the history of sex and its dissemination through technology (or an interpretation of technology)--my favorites are the description of sexual content in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and an examination of today's games and the Deepfake phenomenon.

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lcr16's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.5

This book was obviously very well researched and incredibly in-depth. I enjoyed how it was structured starting with the beginning of internet history, while still delving into specific topics. The history around JenniCam, live-streaming, and the continued technological improvements was fascinating in particular. The inclusion and length on FOSTA SESTA is so timely and necessary when talking about freedom of speech and the safety of sex workers. Cole’s narration throughout was incredibly empathetic to sex workers, people who’ve experienced sexual abuse, and people online in general. I highly recommend this book to anyone who spends time online.

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