Online sex shops: Phenomenological, psychological, and ideological perspectives on Internet sexuality

Explosive growth in access to the Internet has created an unprecedented opp ortunity for the general public to acquire explicit erotic texts, images, s ervices, and merchandise, but psychological scientists have not conceptuali zed antecedents or consequences of contact with Internet sexuality or condu cted a significant amount of empirical research on these issues. The curren t analysis uses Internet sex shop sites as a case example of Internet sexua lity, and offers a phenomenological exploration of the world of Internet se x shop sites, conceptualizes antecedents and consequeces of use of Internet sex shop sites from the perspective of the Sexual Behavior Sequence, and s uggests a conceptually based agenda for future empirical research in this a rea. Discussion concludes with consideration of ideological aspects of rese arch on Internet sex shop sites and Internet sexuality broadly conceived.