Without any actual thought as to what she was doing, or why, she repeatedly ended up visiting chat rooms about travel, spending hours in the ones where there was an ongoing conversation about Jamaica's many tourist locations or vacation resorts. That afternoon Denise ventured into her favorite chat room, one specifically about Jamaica's tourist locations. Travel to locations around the world, but especially within Jamaica, was one of her great passions, and at that time, her great distraction. Jamaica was the country where she had been born, the country where she had always lived, the country she had always loved. She'd often wished she could somehow show others Jamaica's true beauties. She wanted the visitors and tourists to know that there was more to Jamaica than spectacular beach resorts, easily climbed waterfalls, and bamboo river rafts.
To that end, she was mindlessly chatting in her favorite travel chat room, sharing her knowledge of the many beautiful locations in Jamaica that the average tourist never had an opportunity to see, when someone identifying himself as "Will" contacted her. Although she hadn't acknowledged him, he asked her several questions within the chat room and eventually asked her to join him in a private chat. Wanting everyone, especially men, to leave her alone in her sorrow and not knowing anything about the requestor or his motives, with little consideration and minimal kindness, Denise refused Will's request.
Over several subsequent evenings, whenever they were in the same chat room, which was more frequent than would normally be expected, Will persisted in his attempts to gain her attention. He continually addressed messages to her, asking her opinion of specific Jamaican tourist locations and occasionally about various Jamaican resorts. Denise continued to ignore his requests when she could. When she couldn't ignore him, she provided minimal, curt responses to his inquiries.
Denise soon suspected he might be stalking her. At least that was how it appeared to her, since he seemed to follow her whenever she moved between chat rooms. To her further dismay, he continued to send requests for her to join him in one-on-one chats. Although Denise would occasionally contribute to the group discussions in the various chat rooms, she had no desire to chat directly with anyone. Thus, she ignored his messages to her when they were in the same chat room and denied his requests for private chats.
Although she was normally quite interested in what other people thought about Jamaica, at that time Denise was heartbroken and merely looking for a distraction. She had little desire to chat with anyone, especially one-on-one. She had even less desire to chat with someone she hardly knew and whose motives she questioned. Furthermore, she wasn't sure if Will was someone with whom she would even care to chat, much less get to know.
However, out of curiosity as well as wonderment at his persistence, she eventually began paying attention to Will's discussions with the other chat room participants. His contributions to those discussions piqued her interest in him. She reviewed his profile and discovered he was an American Caucasian, claiming to be well to do, but she knew that was a common profile pretext. She concluded he was probably a sexist, an opinion based on numerous inappropriate, at least in her mind, chat room statements he'd made. She noted that he occasionally expressed an interest in meeting a woman of color and wondered why so many American men were enthralled with dark skinned women. Most intriguing to her, he claimed to have traveled extensively. Denise concluded that if it was true it was his one redeeming quality.
Eventually, Denise concluded that other than giving up visiting her favorite chat rooms or establishing a new online identity, she simply could not avoid Will. With that realization, she gave up trying, began responding to his chat room comments, and even answered questions he directed to her. However, she continued to ignore or dismiss his requests for one-on-one chats.
She was surprised to realize that when he was in the same chat room, she often agreed with his comments and observations about various locations in Jamaica. She frequently found herself caught up in his chat room conversations, constantly attempting to come up with polite and intelligent responses to his interesting questions, or trying to make witty retorts to his intriguing remarks.
When Denise reflected on their conversations, something about his chat room comments came to her attention: he had an obvious interest in, and knowledge of Jamaica. She was surprised one evening when she realized Will was the one person she looked forward to finding logged into the chat room. Based on his replies to several of her intentionally provocative comments, she agreed to Will's subsequent request for a one-on-one chat, although she insisted that chat be within a public chat room. During their chat, she determined that Will was, in fact, a knowledgeable, articulate, and, much to her surprise, considerate gentleman.
Over several public chat room encounters, numerous one-on-one discussions in public chat rooms, and several extensively detailed exchanges in private chats, she came to appreciate Will. She found him to be an intelligent, respectful, although sexually perverted, and outspoken gentleman who was genuinely interested in Jamaica, especially in what she often referred to as "the beauty of the undiscovered locations in Jamaica."
They were soon chatting nightly, at prearranged times, and privately. In those long, somewhat personal, and extremely detailed chats she discovered he frequently vacationed in Jamaica, although he'd spent most of his time at the many all-inclusive beach resorts on the North shore. However, unlike most Jamaican tourists she'd encountered in person and in various Internet chat rooms she frequented, he was familiar with the rest of the country, as well as the lives and attitudes of the Jamaican people.
* * * * *
Attitude Change
Denise and Will continued their daily chats. Slowly at first, then quickly and easily, they became acquaintances and then friends. By June, frequently at Will's instigation but with a willing curiosity on Denise's part, the topics of their chats changed. Initially, they discussed the beauty found throughout Jamaica that most tourists never see or enjoy. Eventually, their discussions moved to the history of Jamaica and the Jamaican people, and then to ever more detailed discussions about the lifestyles, mores, and sexual attitudes of Jamaican men and women.
The extent of Will's knowledge about the attitudes and mores of Jamaicans continually impressed Denise. She was surprised and pleased to learn he was fully aware, from his numerous conversations with resort staff and Jamaicans in the towns, clubs, and bars he frequented, that older Jamaicans were opposed to nudity, only tolerating it at the beaches and clubs because tourists liked, wanted, and expected it. It pleased her to learn he was aware that a large number of Jamaicans opposed homosexual behavior of any kind, despite the growing number of admitted homosexuals, especially among the younger generation. She was astonished when he explained that it was his understanding and personal experience that Jamaicans were generally very open and uninhibited regarding most sexual activities.
When she requested that he explain the basis of his understanding that Jamaicans were open towards sexual activities, Will wrote, "My antidotal studies, based on discussions with numerous Jamaican men and women, my review of several scientific research papers, and my own ad hoc studies and research indicate that the majority of Jamaican men and women have multiple sexual encounters prior to marriage. Furthermore, many of them continue to have sexual relationships outside their marriages."
As they became friendlier, their chats more frequently started with issues surrounding sexual attitudes and moved to sexual activities. Over several chats, Will asked Denise detailed questions about her thoughts and views on revealing clothing on beaches and in nightclubs, nudity on beaches and in resorts, homosexual relationships, and pre-marital and extra-marital sex. Generally, after Denise expressed her own views, Will would explain his understanding of the norms for Jamaicans. She generally found his knowledge matched her own experiences, if not her own predilections. However, heated conversations, ones that frequently pushed Denise to reassess her own opinions on the subject they were discussing, began whenever she asked Will to explain his opinion on the issue they had just discussed.
Much to Denise's dismay, Will's usually solid and logical explanations followed a theme similar to his response on premarital sex. When she asked him to give his opinion on the subject, he told her, "I favor open and unbiased sexual behavior. I believe God made sex pleasurable because he intended men and women to desire and enjoy sex. To my way of thinking, there is little two adults shouldn't feel free to do sexually. I believe that any sexual activity in which adults choose to participate, of their own free will, is acceptable behavior as long as it does not cause physical or mental harm and wouldn't result in unwanted reprisals, e.g., arrest, firing, ostracism, or ridicule."
Although she frequently didn't think she agreed with him, she was usually unable to articulate an argument that she honestly believed refuted his position on the subject. She often spent an evening after a chat with Will reassessing her beliefs and views on many issues, mostly issues regarding sex and sexual activities.
Their chats eventually focused on Jamaicans' sexual mores. Denise admitted that, unlike Will's, her attitudes were the same as many of her Jamaican friends—a dislike of public nudity and a bias against most homosexual activity or behavior. However, unlike many Jamaicans, she was opposed to the open display of sexual or sexually related activities. Denise's usual explanation was that she believed, "A genteel woman always dresses and behaves in a prim and proper manner," a belief she explained she learned from her father. She emphasized her position by adding, "I absolutely dislike and disdain individuals who employ overt sexual conversation or behavior."
Denise frequently expressed her belief that her mother's attitudes and behavior were undoubtedly similar to those touted by Will and occasionally referred to her mother as a "concupiscent wench." That reference sent Will to the dictionary where he verified that Denise was not just opposed to her mother's expressions of her strong sexual desires, but was also upset because sexual desire appeared to be the driving force behind her mother's behavior.
Denise was not just surprised, but also upset, when Will began teasing her, telling her, "It seems to me that you are excessively concerned with sexual propriety and easily shocked by anything related to nudity or sex. It is evident that you are very much a PRUDE!"
"I'm not a prude. I believe a woman needs to behave with propriety and decorum. Whilst I'm opposed to overtly sexual displays, I'm not overly modest," Denise protested.
