Nothing about the world wide web should come as a surprise anymore. Porn is abundant. You can shop for anything your heart desires, 24/7. There are infinite opinions on millions of topics, catering to every whim.

When it comes to online dating, a person whose online profile picture doesn’t match up in real life has become the norm. A polite, considerate first-time chat on the ‘net eventually leads to a rude person in the flesh. Men lie about their height. Women lie about their weight. Everyone lies about their financial status, past relationships, sexual history and whatnot. What you see is almost never what you get. And I say “almost never” only because I believe there’s an anomaly for everything. Consequently, I’m still waiting to find that anomaly. But until that day, I have to trust that every experience along the way is just one step closer to that person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I have no choice but to have full faith the next person will be nothing like the last. Even if my gut instinct warns me otherwise, at the very least, I’ve got to give the present guy at question a chance.

When “David’s” profile seemed to be a great match for me at face value, I sent him a little “poke” to pique his interest. Instantly, he replied, “I poke you back” and I smiled because we were off to a great flirtatious start. “I poke you harder”, I added fuel to the fire. “I’ll show you poking harder,” he replied. This was funny to me and I felt safe laughing behind the comfort of our invisible internet wall, separating us geographically. In real life I might have started getting a little nervous and looking over my shoulder to assure myself we were still in public, surrounded by witnesses should he attempt to “poke me” in any sort of physical capacity.

After a series of poking back and forth, “David” suggested we move over to Skype and have a webcam chat instead of typing incessantly. I’d never moved so quickly from conversing in a chat window to a face-to-face webcam meeting but I figured it would save me the stress of picking a first-date outfit and coming home disappointed if the date didn’t turn out as I’d hoped. “Let’s webcam chat,” I agreed.

I logged into Skype and immediately, within a millisecond, “David” was calling. I didn’t even have a chance to ensure that my hair was in place or whether I looked half-decent. Caught off guard, I had no choice but to click “ok” and accept his webcam call, all the while fumbling through my purse to find my compact mirror so I could fix myself up.

“Hello,” I heard a male voice say through the computer. Still not looking at my laptop screen, instead staring into my compact mirror coiffing my bangs I yelled over my shoulder, “Hold on, I’m just fixing my hair!” “Take your time,” he said in a droned-out, almost moaning voice.

I put my compact back in my purse and finally looked at the computer. Now, what do you think I saw? I can tell you exactly what he saw. A dropped jaw and look horror on my face. But me? Well, I was staring at a pair of cock and balls, close-up.

“Oh my God!” I thought aloud. “What are you doing?” I screamed. “What, you don’t like my dick?” He asked. I don’t know what shocked me more. The fact that I was staring at him stroking his penis or that he wanted to know if I liked it.

I instantly closed the webcam window, holding onto my dear beating heart to console it. And then, “David” had the further indecency to phone back. I didn’t answer, still trying to catch my breath and calm my pulse rate. Then I got a chat message pop up from him saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

Thinking clearly? I wondered if he had any premeditative thoughts at all. Thinking clearly. Clearly he didn’t even think twice about pulling that strip show on me beforehand when he went ahead with his naked plan.

And I was unforgiving and unwilling to converse with him any further. It’s not like he could use the old “drunk excuse” to excuse his behavior. It’s not like he could say, “Sorry I was drunk a minute ago when I acted impulsively. But now I’m normal.” Nothing could excuse what he did.

Sure, we live in a time where modern technology often overrides our senses of boundaries but there’s no excuse for acting like a criminal. Just because the inkling to flash someone online feels safer than doing so in real life doesn’t mean it’s okay for people like “David” to cross standard, ethical boundaries. Yet, people seem to cross them more freely and frequently than ever before. They do so because it’s easy to disappear into the enigmatic vortex of cyberspace and never be seen or thought of again by the person whom they just violated.

It’s precisely the “invisible internet wall” that allows us to say and do things we wouldn’t in normal, ordinary life. We get cockier, more confident and sometimes more reckless with our modes of conduct. It’s easy to forget the real world exists beyond the “invisible wall” and we act out of line. And some of us act more out of line than others.

Yes, “David”, I’m talking to you. Wherever you are, please reconsider your future actions. For the sake of other women you hope to meet online, please put your pants back on.