Rate My Lover.com? Exploring the Concept of Public, Online Sexual Reputations

• In Event: 090 - Section on Sociology of Sexualities Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Sexual Identities

Abstract

In September 2010, Duke University graduate (class of 2010) Karen Owens’s ‘senior thesis,’ a sexually explicit PowerPoint slide show about her sexual hook ups with 13 Duke athletes, hit the Internet. Owens had sent it to three friends in May; one sent it along to others in September, and within days countless numbers of Duke alumni had received the PowerPoint. Using this PowerPoint, and nearly 500 public comments posted at three websites that hosted the slide show, I address the concept of public sexual reputations. Key questions include: How might we define a public, rate-able sexual reputation? What are the harms in such a rating, individually and socially? Is sexuality such a unique, private, personal thing that, ultimately, most of us would reject such a ranking system, preferring instead to explore sexual possibilities with some measure of insecurity, the unknown, and the mystery of discovery at the ready? What could or would need to change in human sexualities in order for this issue to be addressed differently in the future?

Author

• Rebecca F. Plante, Ithaca College