“Forty-one encounters, 39 penetrations,” stated an elegant Parisian art dealer when asked by a journalist from Marie Claire about his gallivanting on Meetic, the first European dating website.
This French company has, in only six years, spread its cupid wings to 17 countries, including China and Brazil; made online dating available in 12 different languages; boasted 22 million users; and is now No 2 in the world just behind the US match.com. Last January it bought DatingDirect, Britain’s No 1 dating website, and on Valentine’s Day announced a rise in profits of 70%, to £18m.
It’s a simple issue of supply and demand: pre-select candidates, test sales pitch, draw a shortlist, have a face-to-face interview, hire on the spot, dismiss without notice, voilà – a case of ultra-liberalism meets romance. And low-cost sex.
The irony is that Meetic’s founder, Marc Simoncini, insists that the site’s success lies in its being distinctively “European and Latin”. “People can meet freely on Meetic, they can talk to each other directly across Europe.”
Unlike Match.com, which does the matching for you. Americans would be horrified at the idea of married people dating freely, but making adultery and sex as easy as buying a croissant shouldn’t necessarily be France’s only gift to online dating.
Of course, if a website encouraging adultery became really popular in the U.S., Congress would try to make it illegal and every presidential candidate would include opposition in their platform.
Decadent, degenerate and animalistic (and that last not in a good sense). ‘Nuff said.
After clicking the link, I’d say they don’t encourage adultery – they just don’t discourage it, they don’t make value judgments about how folks spend their time trying to get into each others’ pants.
The same way I’d say monogamy works just fine and is an admirable goal – when it works – but, obviously most folks suck at it!
Actually, if you are looking for “true love” you should only use sites that are open to all including those who are decadent, degenerate and animalistic (and that last not in a good sense) applicants, otherwise you are in a mix of people who to participate must lie.
Virtue exists, bobbo – and I ain’t talkin’ about saints, just regular humans who lack the compulsion to act out every urge…
4–Yes, I agree. But sinners exist too, and I don’t want them dressing in sheeps clothing.
#1 – What a sad, introverted, tiny world you live in. ‘Nuff said.
#6 – Chris Evans
Sonny, I was living the sexual revolution long before you were a gleam in your daddy’s eye.
If you think that compulsive sexual sociopathy and those who pander to it for profit are wordly and sophisticated, you have – if Those Present will forgive me lapsing into arcane psychiatric jargon – a screw loose. Stay the fuck away from my daughter…
One time while I was staying in a U.S. hotel room I gave a female guest on her balcony across from my window a peek of me while I came out of the shower. When she noticed me she went back into her room and closed the shades (I suspect she was peaking through– WHAT A PRUDE). I did the same thing in a PARIS hotel and the woman on the balcony looked at me for a minute and then went back into her apartment. Another minute later she comes back out with a glass of red wine and continued to watch. NOW THAT’S CLASS!
#8, What is the attraction of exposing yourself to strangers from your hotel rooms?
To #8 (Leisure-Suit Larry): Maybe, only the Parisian was unfazed because she had been drinking earlier and recognized you simply as a pink elephant.
To users of the French hookup Web site:
Enjoy your new gift of *les herpès*!
What a wonderful way for carriers — of herpes, genital warts, and other incurable gifts that *keep on giving* — to facilitate quick hookups with willing idiots!
How special the rest of your life will be as you try not to burn with hot coffee the herpes blisters on your lips, nor abrade them with the croissant you are also trying to consume at the café that commemorates your childishness!
This sex Web site is nothing new, of course, so, the article is more offering it free promotion than informing the public.
Before (and still on alternative to) Web sites, the sad places casual hookups have always been the easy norm: gay bars / singles bars.
Am I the only person *creeped out* by Man of Leisure’s hotel antics?
Well, as his name suggests, he apparently has a lot of time on his hands…