Welcome
After speaking with a colleague, it came to light that each of us had spent some time in our respective childhoods in online communication with older men. “Creepy older men,” more specifically. While I have long been aware of the effects these interactions with strange men who were sometimes three times my senior have had on me (and my relationships with-- surprise!-- men), I have not known many individuals who have shared in this same experience. My sister, for one, and a close childhood friend, but other than those women, who? Who else is out there, now in her twenties or thirties, reading these words and thinking, “This happened to me, too,”?
I’m seeking connection and healing. Maybe you are as well. I have intense unresolved feelings. Maybe we can help each other.
While I recognize (and grieve) the fact that this kind of interaction can and does still occur today, I am especially looking for women (and men, but particularly women, sheerly because I am one) who were using the internet in the late 1990s or early 2000s and were in semi-frequent or frequent contact with at least one older male (or female) in a way that was abusive or inappropriate. I am interested in those of us who were online back in the “Wild West” days, before the public (and our parents) had an accurate perception of the potential of the World Wide Web as a tool for communication and connection.
I will provide a template a-la those blog-style surveys generated and filled out in the late 90s/early 2000s. Feel free to fill it out and send it to me anonymously to be posted here. Or not. If you want to share your experiences, this is the place. I’ll probably also be posting stories that make me feel good, and pictures of stuff that I like.
If you do not meet the above criteria but have experienced a similar situation or are currently experiencing one-- I am here for advice, and I will post any “asks” to the blog if the asker requests. I will not post anything sent to me without the written permission of the writer/sender, so if you want or are OK with your story and/or questions being published here, please say so.