A reader responds.

Dear Ask A Punk -
I haven't read all of your posts but I've read enough of them to know that you usually do a pretty good job of approaching a question & answer from nearly every possible angle, sometimes too many angles, but as a woman I can tell you that you reeeaally missed the boat with today's post about online sexual relationships [note: She is referring to the post I put up 2 weeks ago: re: Online Relationships and virtual sex ] especially what you said to "Wholesome-ish."

I'm a 36 year old woman. I'm still pretty good-looking if I do say so myself, and still get flirted with sometimes. I'm also a single mother of two who is working a full-time job and taking classes.  You can only imagine how busy and tightly-scheduled every day of my life is. Every hour is accounted for. There isn't any time to really meet guys, or date and even if there is, "dating" and scheduling dates, ie: sex, is nearly impossible, and that is if I can even find a guy who won't run screaming at the mention of "I have kids." And you really have to then be even MORE leery of the guys who are too happy to know you have kids. You have no idea. Also, I don't live in a huge city, so that also limits the pool of possible suitors.

But I'm only 36. I get horny. Sometimes very horny. I'm supposed to be at my sexual peak after all, right? So what am I going to do? I'll tell you what I'm going to do, like generations of single mothers before me: after the kids are asleep and the kitchen is cleaned and I can finally do something about it, I'm going to masturbate. Alone. Which is sometimes sadder than not cumming at all. What can I do now though? I can go online, find some guy and have some cam-to-cam fun with him and for a few minutes feel appreciated, feel sexy and feel a little bit less alone. All from the safety of home. And the guy will never know even what state that home is in, or even that I have kids. Can there be a better definition of "safe sex"?  I know for a fact that I'm not the only person who does this, and not only because I see the 1000s of others online, but because my friends and I have talked about it.  Some of my friends like the boost of self-esteem, some like to look at the guys, but they all admit to doing it sometimes.

And because it is online, and long-distance, it is much safer way for some women to experiment sexually with things that might be too risky or experimental to bring up with a real-world partner. and you can decide if the guy you were just online, naked with, is someone you want to see again or not and then just call on his screen name any time YOU feel like it. Think about it, finally there is a sexual realm, the online world, where being able to actually COMMUNICATE with your partner is a major part of the turn-on, of course women are going to flock to it. - Single Punk Mom.

Dear Single Punk Mom -
...I did indeed miss that boat. Thanks.