Five Hard-Earned Rules For Effective Skype Sex
What I've learned from long hours of practice.
By Alisa MacKay
I'm a lucky woman. I've had a wealth of sexual experience, and learned
many wonderful and terrible things from many wonderful and terrible
people. But I recently started having semi-regular Skype sex, and
realized that I hadn't felt this sexually inept since I was a terrified
teenager. I'm seeing a person who a) is a photographer and b) lives in a
different country and c) is far more visual than me. So I've had to
shift my sex gears. I'm now relearning intimacy through a whole new
medium.Skype sex is a strange experience. It's not like being right there with someone, but it also doesn't let your imagination run wild like phone sex or sending dirty emails; it's some whole new thing, with its own drawbacks and its own distinct pleasures. I'm still figuring it all out, but here are a few tips I've learned from my foray into this brave new world of e-humping.
1. Be sure to vocalize.
Skype sex is like watching porn that stars a person who (hopefully) you know for real, who's aware that you're watching them. It's like porn you direct and co-star in, which is both exciting and nerve-wracking. Having an encouraging person on the other end is invaluable. If my partner weren't reassuring me I was hot, it would just make me feel weird. Like, do I need to be here? Or would YouPorn work just as well? (Am I just a set of naked pixels for you to put your sex feelings into?)
It's scary to be that vulnerable, so make sure you appreciate your partner out loud. Even though you might be thinking, "My God, those are the greatest pectoral muscles in the history of pectoral muscles," there's no way for your partner to know that unless you spit it out. You lose nothing by making someone feel good.
2. Screenshots are a privilege, not a right.
Since you're clearly not near your partner, a little keepsake for the lonely times is nice. But before you take a screenshot, make sure your boundaries are clear. Personally, I couldn't care less if there are naked pictures of me on the internet, since there already are naked pictures of me on the internet. But that's a minority experience.
Skype and most other video chat services include a little picture of you nested in the big picture of the person you're chatting with. That's nice, because it means that if you try to screengrab their bits, you're going to get your bits all up in the photo, too. (Granted, if you're really a criminal mastermind, you could crop it out, but let's call it a deterrent.) Mostly, don't be a dick. Someone is sharing something intimate with you. Respect that.
If it really makes you uncomfortable (remember: nothing dies on the internet. Hi, Mom!), maybe avoid Skype sex. The person you're all twitterpated over could turn out to be a jerk. If you're cool with that risk, know that you're in charge of what your partner sees. You can always opt out of including your face in the frame. That way, if anybody else sees it, you can deny it, because it's just a bunch of faceless body parts floating around on a screen. Famous people pull that denying-naked-photos trick all the time.
