The net’s ability to conduct the flow of seduction works because as a medium it has no mirrors. Where this produces solitude and isolation in the physical world, in the virtual it facilitates seduction. For what breaks seduction is not an encounter with the other, but an encounter with the self. It’s in the sudden and jarring shock or recognition that seduction falls apart. Those precious and tantalizing moments when we meet others online for play or seduction are protected by the absence of reflective surfaces—and enhanced by the empty and formless space into which we allow ourselves to fall.

Save This Page