Decrying the communication evils of the Internet long ago became a dead horse, flayed to the bone. Largely overlooked are the positive aspects of cyber-communication.
A couple of years ago, Andrew Holleran, the author of gay-themed novels, published in The Gay & Lesbian Review, the esteemed bimonthly, an essay deriding the negative influence of computers on gay and lesbian life, arguing that they contribute to personal isolation and a decline in social interaction. In my letter responding to Holleran's essay, I pointed out that, in many ways, the effects are no different from those on heterosexual life.
Laptops can and do assuage loneliness and isolation. In 1950, David Riesman published The Lonely Crowd, an influential sociological study, in which he poined out that it is possible to be lonely among groups of people. Because of the way gay men treat those whom they find unattractive—especially the disabled, older men and the ethnically different—loneliness and feelings of rejection are exacerbated. With access to the cyber world, these men can and do find friendship and solace.
I am a gayriatric who has made friends with men in widely dispersed cities—a professor in Texas, a contractor in Italy. Our correspondence as 'cyberpals' is not about getting laid. I also correspond ( sometimes daily ) about language and literature with a brilliant young friend in London, a translator in Moscow, a poet in Leningrad and, on occasion, a scholar in Siberia, all of whom I met personally in my travels. In addition, I often am in touch with old friends around the country. That being said, for some, especially the young, computers also are a convenient means of cruising.
It is lamentable that few people write letters anymore and those few of us who do are a dying breed. This trend, however, started when people became engrossed with television, which also is responsible for the sad state of newspapers, not to mention the English language ( the subject of another sermon ) . In the latter regard, it must be said, the Internet is a major culprit.
While there may be fewer venues for gay/lesbian interaction, as Holleran posits questionably, instant cyber-hookups often replace impersonal—and often dangerous—quickies in the bushes, backrooms and public toilets. These trysts are not without risk, especially when they encourage barebacking, but the danger of being assaulted or killed is greatly reduced. Also, sex in an instant acquaintance's apartment is far more comfortable and less anonymous than public sex and does create some degree of intimacy, however brief.
Holleran laments what he claims is a decline in GLBT social life, a development he blames on computers. That may be true in Manhattan, but in Chicago it is more vibrant than ever. I have been in this town for a very long time and in my long-ago younger days I could only have dreamed about the opportunities now available, without police harassment, to young and virile people of my sexual persuasion.
Out of necessity, I have been using computers for many years, but I still don't like them and feel uncomfortable with them. However, they are as essential to contemporary life as electricity, microwave ovens and indoor plumbing. And I would not want to go back to the stylus and clay tablet of my youth, or even to the manual typewriter.
Charles-Gene McDaniel worked for 16 years at Roosevelt University, retiring as head of faculty of journalism and communications and professor emeritus. He lives on the South Side of Chicago.