alt.sex is a Usenet newsgroup – a discussion group within the Usenet network – relating to human sexual activity. It was popular in the 1990s. An October 1993 survey by Brian Reid reported an estimated worldwide readership for the newsgroup of 3.3 million, that being 8% of the total Usenet readership, with 67% of all Usenet "nodes" (news servers users log in to access the system) carrying the group. At that time, had an estimated traffic of 2,300 messages per month.

The newsgroup hierarchy below comprises several newsgroups, including (which is the biggest newsgroup in the hierarchy after itself), , , , , and . The former four newsgroups generally feature text and images similar to the type that can be found in mainstream adult magazines, such as Playboy or Penthouse. The latter three newsgroups exemplify a set of sub-groups that deals in more "extreme" or less socially accepted topics. Other sub-groups include some with intentionally humorous names, such as , , and . In a 1993 analysis of the hierarchy, Maureen Furniss concluded that "sexually oriented boards act as a kind of support group for people who post notices to them, especially individuals whose sexual orientations are very marginalized (those who practice sadomasochism or bestiality, for example)." The term BDSM itself was first recorded on a post in alt.sex.bondage in 1991.

The University of Waterloo in 1994 ceased carrying , , , and upon the recommendation of its ethics committee, which had expressed concerns that the content of those newsgroups may have violated the Canadian Criminal Code.

References

Further reading

  • alt.sex Newsgroup FAQs
  • alt.sex.bondage group on Google