I don't see the educational interest in such an event. I still don't
understand why they're going to broadcast it. For those who saw the birth
event, I still am not sure what educational content it provided.
Wednesday July 15 12:41 PM EDT
Internet virgin site creator says event is for real
By Joe Nickell and Judy Bryan
SAN FRANCISCO (Wired) - The creator of a Web site that will purportedly
depict two teens losing their virginity online insists the venture is
neither a hoax nor a porn scam.
Early next month, Our First Time, promises to broadcast over the Internet
two alleged 18-year-old high school graduates having sex.
"We're going to do this as tastefully as possible," said Oscar Wells, a
Web designer based in Los Angeles who claims to have no experience with
pornography. "I know we're breaking a lot of eggs here."
Though Internet mailing lists and discussion groups are rife with
speculation about the site, the teens-known only as "Diane" and "Mike" --
and the creator's intentions, Wells said Our First Time
(http://www.ourfirsttime.com) is not a commercial venture. Rather, he
said, it is an exercise in free speech and a lesson in sex education.
"We're not accepting any kind of advertising, because that would really
denigrate what we're trying to do here. It's not a porn site," Wells said.
"Hopefully I'll get some design business out of it."
Wells said his wife is irritated that he's giving away his time and
spending their money on the project.
The name of a retail and online condom outlet appears alongside keywords
such as "teen" and "virgin" in the Web site's "meta" tags, which are
designed to snare search engines. But Adam Glickman, the president of the
Los Angeles-based Condomania, says there's no deal in place.
Wells said he contacted Condomania because Diane and Mike will go there to
shop for condoms before their big day, and he wanted permission to record
the transaction. He also wanted to link to their site.
In any case, Condomania's Glickman claims he isn't interested in
sponsoring Our First Time, anyway.
"These guys ... asked if they could link to us, and we said OK," said
Glickman. "We aren't prepared to get involved in any way with anything
like this, other than to permit links to our site, even though on the
surface it seemed like a noble association."
Meanwhile, Wells claims he's fielded "hundreds" of unsolicited offers from
people representing adult sites, but has turned them all down. He said
some day they may consider accepting ads or sponsorship from safe-sex
oriented companies such as condom manufacturers or family planning
clinics, but not at this time.
Wells says he conceived of the site when he met Diane in an online
discussion of the recent, controversial live cybercast of a Florida woman
giving birth.
"She thought that if having a child online could be educational and
beautiful, why not making love, which is the necessary precursor to giving
birth," Wells said, adding that Diane told him she would volunteer to lose
her virginity online to make her point, she would.
Adding fuel to the speculation about whether the whole site is a hoax,
however, is a forged e-mail that has been circulating the Net. The author
of that message, who is only identified as stopthis1(at sign)juno.com,
claims he saw his grandchildren giggling over the site, and wants to start
a petition drive to shut the site down.
The message, which appears to be signed by the Christian Coalition, has
many of the hallmarks of an online bulletin board "troll" -- a deceptive
message crafted to whip up controversy and attract predictable knee-jerk
responses.
A spokeswoman for the Christian Coalition said that she had not heard of
Our First Time.
"That e-mail is clearly not from us," said Molly Clatworthy. "Of course
it's not healthy and of course we don't condone such behavior. We think
it's a sad commentary on society when technology is used to the detriment
of young children. But ... we haven't taken a stance to take down Web
sites."
A spokeswoman for Juno Online Services, which supplies free Web-based
e-mail, confirmed that the return address of the message was faked and
that the "stopthis1" email account was terminated by Juno "some time ago."
Citing privacy policies, Junos' Becky Yeamans declined to name the former
owner of that account, or the reason why the account was terminated.
"Often times messages like this come from the site owners themselves,"
speculated Yeamans.
But Wells denied having any connection to the outraged e-mail message
which, rather than inciting a protest, only served to draw a good deal of
attention to Our First Time.
Wells also said he had no involvement with Our First Anal Sex and Our
First Lesbian Sex (link was not operational) -- two apparent parody sites
that have sprung up since the current Our First Time preview site went
live.
"We have absolutely nothing to do with them," he said. "Ours is out there
enough without all of that. Things already look cheesy."
Wells said that Our First Time, while explicit, will not be pornographic.
"This is not a how-to," Wells claims. "It's about decisions and living
with the consequences of your decisions."
Wells says that the build up to sex will begin to unfold on July 18. Over
upcoming weeks, the couple will be shown getting HIV tests, buying
condoms, and sharing their plans with their parents.
"They're doing things that are responsible. We just hope this message
comes through. People every day make this decision to have sex," he said.
The point of the webcast is to show people by example: "If you do make
this decision, do it responsibly."
According to at least one industry insider, Condomania isn't alone in its
reluctance to advertise on the site.
"The condom companies, not to mention most other companies, aren't going
to be interested in that," said Marc Kraft, president of the Adult Chamber
of Commerce, a Boca Raton-based organization that provides information and
online hosting for adult Web site developers.
"Professional organizations that want to sell products to the public are
not looking to get associated with references to recent high schoolers
having sex," Kraft said. Numerous commercial porn sites, including
Hustler's Barely Legal, and Just18.com, capitalize on the youth of their
models.
Kraft predicts that the site's owners will instead attempt to charge
visitors for access using one of the established "Adult Verification"
services at some strategic point in the coming weeks, once users have been
hooked.
(Reuters/Wired)
Wednesday July 15 1:47 AM EDT
U.S. teens to lose virginity live on Internet
By Mark Egan
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In what is being billed as yet another first for
the Internet, two 18-year-olds say they will lose their virginity on their
own Web site for all the wired world to see.
The couple, calling themselves Diane and Mike, will have sex for the first
time at 9 p.m. EDT on August 4 with a camera broadcasting the event free
over the Internet, their lawyer Mark Vega said Tuesday.
Vega said the plan was to "keep this as grass-roots and intimate as
possible. It just takes one camera and you can invite the entire web to
where you're at."
He declined to name the two or say where they live, but pictures of them
with their faces blacked out have been posted on the Web site
(www.ourfirsttime.com).
The site, which includes a discussion room providing net surfers a place
to offer their opinions, will follow the couple's preparations.
Vega said the idea for the event was Diane's, inspired by her beliefs in
freedom of speech and action. He added that she was also inspired by
seeing a birth on-line last month.
But some surfers visiting the slickly-packaged site were skeptical about
the couple's motives. Some posted messages suggesting they might charge
money later, or take sponsorship.
Web surfers were also concerned that the couple looked too perfect and
well developed to be average 18-year-olds.
Vega said the site was not about making money and that it was being funded
by free speech advocates whom he declined to name. He said no company was
sponsoring the event and declined to say how much the Web site cost to
construct.
Vega said the among the scheduled events would be the couple picking out
condoms. He said the site will likely offer a link to another site
(www.condomania.com) but that no money would change hands for the putting
the link on the site.
He said the couple were "free individuals" and so he could not rule out
the possibility that they may exploit their new-found fame by selling
their story but said "that's just not was this is about." The lawyer also
insisted the couple were 18 and "were virgins to the best of my
knowledge."
For years people have been sharing their most intimate moments on the
Internet, where taboos are few.
Last month a Florida woman gave birth to a boy in a live on-line delivery
before an audience of two million people. The broadcast was billed as an
educational event.
"We want to show that the act of making love, which is the first step that
brought that live birth about, is just as beautiful -- and nothing to be
ashamed about," the young couple wrote on their Web site.
An opinion poll included in the site showed 61 percent of respondents
agreed with their decision to go public with their private life while 38
percent disagreed.
Colin Derham offered this advice: "Good luck Mike ... your first time, I'd
be real worried. You could be blacklisting yourself as a bad shag for
life. Alternatively you might be great, but I'd stock up on Viagra just in
case."
The site describes the couple as recent high school graduates looking
forward to college in the fall. It adds that these "typical All-American
kids" are active churchgoers.
They have not yet told their parents of their plans, Vega said, adding
that Diane's parents are liberal but Mike's father is a minister.
The pictures of the cuddling couple on the Web site do not show their
faces because "it is anticipated that there will be some religious groups
and people who will try to stop Diane and Mike from completing their
statement."
Vega said hackers had already attempted to dismantle the site to stop net
surfers from tuning in. But the Web site promises -- "All names, faces and
locations will be disguised until the 18th day -- when everything will be
shown unobstructed."
The event was initially planned for Aug. 8 but Vega said the date was
moved up for security reasons and to make sure "that Mike and Diane could
get to the end of their journey uninterrupted."