I fear for sex and love in the 21st century. I know those two things will exist as long as mammals do but they might continue to manifest in increasingly disturbing forms. The Internet has jumped on the sex train with reckless abandon, amplifying everything about human mating habits, from stimulation exaggeration to abject humiliation. Porn, IM dirty talk, frickin' sexting, shudder Chatroulette... the list grows every year. When it comes to the other side of the equation, love, the Internet is far behind the pursuit of flesh. It's not that it's not trying, just that the efforts are a little half-hearted compared to their sexual counterparts. Nowhere is this more prevalent than on craigslist.

Host a slubmer party get free stuff

Are you bored with the kids at home? Looking for a lady's night out? Are you looking to spice things up in the bedroom with your husband? Would you like to have a all girls slumber party with your friends? Wellllll Host a party a slumber party and receive free gifts and discounts on our adult toys. Invite ten friends and based on how much they spend you get free stuff. How cool is that. All sales are private. All sales are discreet. We have a great time and are Christian friendly.
If interested reply to ad and we can set up your party date. Extra incentives for weekday party.

Exhibit A: An utterly baffling service advertisement that confuses the very nature of marriage, friendship and sex. Do women actually do things like this? The whole thing just seems so creepy and awkward. I'm all in favor of women taking control of their sexuality and married people doing their best to have a happy sex life together, but this just doesn't seem like the right way to go about either of those things. Would you, oh female readers, actually be comfortable getting together with your friends and passing around dildos all night and then settling down to sleep, clutching your newly purchased vibrating pleasure instruments like battery-operated teddy bears of innocence lost? Also, how in the hell is this Christian friendly? I know there are umpteen sects of Christianity and some of them aren't scared silly of genitals, but even if all the participants of one of these parties are married, this still doesn't feel, um, kosher.

To all you f'ing jerks on CL & beyond

Ok, so I posted serious ad for LTR. Why must anyone answer who cannot be completely honest. Are all of you CL flakes??? I get responses from guys who are either engaged, bisexual, gay, married, into creepy sexual stuff or any or all of the above(?!). I mean really. Can't you just stick to the cas encounters section & leave us alone? PLEASE!!!! Not limited to CL I know, as one of these men is also on Match.com &  POF (looking for WOMEN, claiming to be a "normal" man). Really. Please just be honest. Is that too much to ask? There are PLENTY of desparate, horny people in the appropriate sections, they even have whole sites for these types of deviant behaviors!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the worst thing the Internet has ever done to human socialization is make everyone believe they are part of a large, like-minded community. Here we have a woman who is shocked, appalled, disgusted that there are creeps and sexual deviants on the Internet, apparently because this is her first week here. Beyond that, she has a definition of "deviant behaviors" that dates all the way back to the DSM II. I'm sure it's frustrating and confusing to be a straight woman who receives messages from gay men, if indeed that sort of thing ever happens (which I doubt it does), but this woman doesn't exactly sound like a prize herself. She seems conversant on the topic of online dating, so she should know better by now. The Internet and especially craigslist is not the place to find nice, heteronormative people.

To the Fair

I am a 78 year old man....looking for lady to take in the (place) State Fair with///it is coming up soon...I am 78 but can get around well enough to enjoy the fair.
contace me at .....(email address)

This. This is why the Internet is a bad place for dating. Long ago, in this man's youth, this is how people connected romantically. They politely invited others to unassuming social activities where they might get to know one another better without any obligation beyond that. This is why it's stupid to just post, to any dating tool, "I'm looking for a person with whom to have a romantic engagement". It sounds desperate, creepy and completely abstract. All you Internet dating people, take a lesson from this smooth, old gentleman. He's been around long enough to know what works.