Beyond Sexuality

A postscript...

I wrote that I was 'tolerant of the whole gay continuum', yet that leaves a blank space. It implies no place for heterosexuality, and no tolerance of it. Or feeling that the only good way to describe a close heterosexual friend is in terms of them being 'queer but not gay'.

The unexpected entrance of a friend from Life-Before-Email into the Eudora inbox recently , and the exchanging of emails over a few days has prompted some thoughts on what's more important than gender.

Who do you choose to trust, without question?

What could be more important in a relationship than sex, gender, sexuality?

When does friendship cross over into love?

Can you actually be closer to e-friends you've shared thoughts, feelings, ehugs, support with on a daily basis without meeting more than once than friends you've supposedly 'known ' face to face?

Close your eyes and think back to the days before we contacted friends by tapping away at the keyboard and pressing 'send'... re-read those diaries from fifteen years ago, the ones to which you entrusted your secrets,then picture the letters you wrote at the time to the best friends you shared your most intimate thoughts with, re-hear the late night phone calls you made. What unconscious criteria did you have for selecting who you trusted with those thoughts?

Now look at the most recent messages you've sent to e-friends....

I wonder just how much more trust plays a part in e-sharing. Counting how many e-friends I share freely my thoughts, feelings, e-hugs, support and love with, some of whom I've been emailing for 7 years without having met them in the physical universe more than once or twice, if at all. The number for me is many , many more than the number of people I would have trusted in the same way, or who I would have counted as friends before the Digital Age came upon us...

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