| Giving new meaning to the
term "flash mob," the British have invented a new sex craze called
"dogging" that mixes sex, exhibitionism, mobs and the Internet.
Dogging combines technology with swinging, cruising and
voyeurism. To wit: Crowds big and small watch exhibitionist couples who've met
on the Net have sex in cars, and sometimes join in.
"Dogging is the broad term used to cover all the sexual
outdoor activities that go on," says the dogging
FAQ at Melanies UK Swingers, a popular dogging site. "This can be
anything from putting on a show from your car, to a gangbang on a picnic
table."
Dogging appears to be popular and widespread, attracting
heterosexual couples and single men and women of all ages, income brackets and
backgrounds. Not surprisingly, however, dogging meets tend to attract more men
than women.
Dogging is most often practiced in cars at rural parks,
lover's lanes and superstore parking lots. The term dogging has a
number of suggested origins, but it probably refers to the "walking the
dog" excuse proffered to spouses for an evening's absence.
Dogging sessions are usually organized through the dozens of
dogging sites and message boards that have sprung up in the last couple of
years. Photos are exchanged and meetings arranged by e-mail or mobile phone
text message.
At the meet, cell phones and text messages are used to
confirm meeting places and, crucially, identities. Cameras and videophones are
increasingly used to record what goes on.
"Technology is vital and is the main driver (of the
dogging phenomenon)," said Richard Byrne, a lecturer at Harper Adams
University College in the United Kingdom who produced a survey
(PDF) last year that found dogging to be a widespread and growing problem in
Britain's country parks.
Dogging is so prevalent, 60 percent of U.K. country parks
are affected by it, Byrne's report estimated.
In addition, cases of sexually transmitted diseases in some
districts rose markedly last year, prompting health authorities to post
safe-sex warnings on dogging sites, according to the BBC.
One dogging group on Yahoo has 22,000 members.
Although dogging has been growing in popularity for the last
couple of years, it only reached the mainstream earlier this month when soccer
player Stan Collymore, one of Britain's most famous athletes, admitted
to attending numerous dogging meets. Naturally, Collymore's confession sparked
a storm of tabloid controversy.
Dogging is becoming so popular, or so notorious, that a trio
of music professionals this month released a single celebrating dogging -- and
an accompanying sexy video.
"Sex in public feels so right. Honk your horn. It's a
dogger's delight," go the lyrics to "Dogging," a new single
produced by URockers, a
"collective of sexual anarchists born of the Internet," according to
the group's site.
Members of the group claim to have met at a dogging meet.
The trio are all music professionals, including a nationally known DJ and a
high-profile producer who's worked with Kylie Minogue and Robert Plant.
The single is part of a forthcoming album called A
Momentary Lapse of Income, which will be released later this year in
the United Kingdom. The group is seeking a U.S. distributor.
"Last summer in England was one of the hottest summers
on record and there was a massive upsurge in interest (in dogging)," said
G.Rocker, one of the groups' members who declined to reveal his name and
consented only to an interview by e-mail.
According to G.Rocker, the dogging scene attracts people of
all ages and backgrounds, but mostly middle-class, middle-aged heterosexuals.
There is also a sizeable contingent of hot rodders involved, he said.
"The modified car scene has added to the interest
too," G.Rocker said. "Young people with custom cars meet in
countryside public spaces ... which inevitably leads to them fooling around
and having sex in public. So there's a strong relationship between kids with
cars and swingers/doggers."
The scene also attracts technophiles. "I think mobiles
and the Web have made a massive difference. Women I know feel much
safer," GRocker said. "(Technology makes) it easy to find out where
to go and what other folks are looking for. It's much easier to hook up with
the right people and check out if they are cool or not."
According to Byrne, meetings are organized through several
online exchanges, mainly half-a-dozen Yahoo groups, which form the backbone of
information exchange in the United Kingdom. He noted there are also several
dogging-oriented porn sites.
Byrne said video and camera phones are used to record
meetings. Byrne said he's seen people in the United States trying to set up
trans-Atlantic video links for "virtual dogging."
"(Doggers) appear to be from all age groups," said
Byrne. "We even came across someone who was 70. And they come from all
sorts of backgrounds: professional, manual, etc. I think the majority though
are in their late 30s to 50s age group."
But Byrne warned that dogging is not all fun and games. As
well as an increase in STDs, there are reports of sexual and physical
assaults, robberies and blackmail (as in Collymore's case: The footballer was
about to be the victim of a tabloid sting). There are also incompatibilities
between those who use country parks during the day -- usually families and
kids -- and those who use them after dark.
Nonetheless, dogging appears to be catching on in other
countries, Byrne noted.
"Up until now it's been really the U.K., but it has
spread to Germany, France, Ireland," he said. "I think it is growing
in (the) U.S. and Canada."
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