What with the rise of the internet, I'm going to guess that a lot of folks see these 'outings' as a safe form of straying. They can get a little thrill -- surely it's attention or variety they are looking for -- without worrying about the messiness or danger of real people. But it's like everything virtual and can go too far: video games, too much time on message boards, gambling, dating, whatever. (To be even creepier, I know that people looking for all sorts of [censored] have found the internet to be a gold mine).

In short, like gims says, if you are looking for it you can find it. It's a shame: so many people find virtual friends, but it goes both ways. Virtual friends or lovers can take you away from the real thing.

I saw a movie with Sylvester Stallone awhile back -- some goofy sci-fi action/comedy thing set in the future -- and there the folks had only virtual sex. Needless to say, his character is catapaulted into the future and has no idea what's going on. But the female character, who startles him with an offer of sex, explains that no one actually 'does' that anymore -- ewww -- not after all the diseases that occurred after AIDS. So they wear virtual reality headsets. Sometimes fiction creeps closer to truth than we imagine ....