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Is SW a faithful cross section of the world outside the app?

I was thinking ...
The people who come here are the same people we interact with, out there in our daily life.
They are the same people.
The difference is that in real life people don't go about handing out d pics, or telling everybody about what they had for breakfast.
It dawned on me the other day at work while talking to a coworker.

I thought,

This guy could be like one of those extreme SW members and he's wearing a full diaper right now! While talking to me about the Drivers schedules.

Who knows what people are into. And if I'm going to use the population here as a guide, he's probably into some strange thing and here I am shaking his hand not knowing where he's been.

So at least here, I know what the guy or woman I'm talking to is into because within the first five minutes, they'd let me know.

Then I wondered...Is the population of SW intrinsically different or unique. Which would leave large chunks of society not represented here.
Or, is SW a cross section of the real world.

Any thoughts?
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swirlie · 31-35
I have always known that SW was a cross-section of the real world out there, not a place where the different or the unique congregate after breakfast every morning, which by the way included blueberries, bananas, oatmeal and skim milk for me, proceeded by not one but two cups of coffee if you're taking notes.

I spearheaded an informal study on human behavior after I'd started my 2nd year of university when I was 19 years old. There was myself and 5 other girls conducting this study after I had hypothesized to my English Prof that people are exactly the same face to face with others, as they are when they're hiding behind a computer screen and largely unknown to the world.

He said no, I'm wrong.. so of course I had to prove it to him which was his ulterior motive in the first place to see what I would do about it!

I asserted that 'how' a person reacts to a question while face to face in the real world, he/she will react to exactly the same way while hiding behind their computer screen. That was the basis of my hypothesis.

The fact that we can hide doesn't change the fundamental core of our personality, nor does it change how we express ourselves about sex for example.

To keep this shorter than usual, what I proved in the end using random samplings from volunteers on campus, was that if you cannot tell someone face to face what you feel about some aspect of sex, you will not be able to speak your truth about sex while hiding behind a computer screen writing your reply instead of verbalizing it to someone. If you can't say it, you can't write it either.

When you hear people on SW talking openly about cross-dressing, about their diaper fetish, about their toileting issues and about what they want everyone in the world to know what they had for breakfast that day, they are showing you WHO they are and WHAT they're all about and how they actually talk or behave in the 'real world' offline, as well as online.

If they openly speak their mind here on SW, they will also openly speak their mind out there without hesitation. If they can't say it in here, they definitely won't say it out there either.
Infamous607 · 51-55, M
@swirlie I see what you did there with the breakfast thing. Clever.
Reading ...
Infamous607 · 51-55, M
You said...what you were able to prove...how did you prove it? How big was the sample.
Infamous607 · 51-55, M
I am inclined to agree with the thought of this place here being a sample of the world out there. But that comes with a problem.
Like someone else already mentioned, there are large chunks of the population that do not come here .
Besides that, I do believe that inasmuch as it can be a representation of the real world, it is .
But, how did you prove it?
swirlie · 31-35
@Infamous607
It was 400 students over an 8 week period, 200 male, 200 female ranging from their first year to their 4th year in university.

We would ask them a very specific question about sex face to face and then record their answer.

We then asked them a second question based on the same theme, but asked that they provide their answer to us via email or text.

How they answered our question in person was exactly the same way they answered a similar question using email or text... meaning to be very vague or guarded versus being very open-minded and sexually inquisitive.

The online personality did not change from the offline face to face experience we had with each of them. Their true persona remained intact from offline to online.
Infamous607 · 51-55, M
@swirlie Ok . Thank you
Spnk8 · 36-40, M
@swirlie well but see honestly for me I wouldn't say HALF the things I do on here about sexual stuff to just anyone in real life. But on here it's actually easier for me to say the things I say. Cause at least on here if people didn't like what you said then they can just block you. But in real life they can yell get mad maybe or if it's at your job you could possibly get fired even. Or if you say something sexual to someone at work and they don't like it they can report you and get in trouble.
And in today's world if you even joke about something and someone doesn't like the joke they can get mad and report you to HR and could get fired.

And you can't just show your privates in public or to anyone if they don't ask for it or you can get arrested and or become a sex offender.
So I'd say "for me at least" it's easier to say n do stuff on here then in real life. But that's me
Infamous607 · 51-55, M
@Spnk8
Those are all great points and I appreciate you taking the time to write all that.
I understand everything you are saying. And I think it's all valid.
But my point is different. I'm not asking if there's a difference between the things people say here and the things people say or do in real life. There is definitely a difference which is obvious because of the things you mentioned.

My question is this...

If we take inventory of all the member of SW and come out with I don't know,

1 percent teachers
4 percent military
8 percent young adults living with their parents
5 percent Lesbians without partners
15 percent super conservatives
9 percent immigrants

But also

The diaper wearers, the spankers, the show offs and the wankers, the mommies and pappies and sugar daddies...all those..

Would the percentage be the same in real life as the percentage on SW?
Spnk8 · 36-40, M
@Infamous607 it would probably be more in real life then on here honestly. Cause sex sells and the majority of the world has some kinda fetish whether sexual or not. And they have fantasies they don't tell everyone about. Trust me you'd be surprised the amount of people in real life that have a crazy fetish or fantasy that's sexual
Infamous607 · 51-55, M
@Spnk8
Yeah. Good point. Have to think about it. Thank you for that insight.