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ONCE UPON A TIME, PEOPLE KEPT SECRETS. TODAY'S TELL-ALL BLOGGERS AND MYSPACE DENIZENS HAVE MADE THE NOTION OF A GUARDED PERSONAL LIFE FEEL OBSOLETE. WHAT EFFECT DOES SUCH EXPOSURE HAVE ON THE PSYCHE? BY CARLIN FLORA
ON MAY 11, 2004, JESSICA CUTLER WROTE a handy guide to keeping her love life straight and posted it on The Washingtonienne, a blog about her sexual adventures as a young Hill staffer. Five days later, on Cutler's 26th birthday, Wonkette, a political gossip site that draws about 80,000 daily visitors, linked to the blog. Wily Internet users easily deduced the identities of her high-powered paramours, and Cutler was soon denounced in the press as a privileged young woman who was cynical, loose, and proud of it.
Prostitution maybe the world's oldest profession, but thinly disguised blogs about sex-for-cash are a new-and growing-phenomenon. Though she was fired from her job in the Senate, Cutler was rewarded generously for her extreme public disclosures with a centerfold in Playboy, a $300,000 book contract, and an HBO deal. Her most recent appearance in the papers was in January, as Robert Steinbuch, the former Capitol Hill lawyer she identified as "RS"-her "current favorite"-sued her for $20 million. (The court date isn't yet set.)
A leading lady of tell-all bloggers, Cutler came to fame just as online diaries began to proliferate. They're now a nation more than 65 million strong, collectively dishing a lot of personal dirt. Bookstores and talk shows have long trafficked in the confessions of not-necessarily-notables, but the Internet has democratized and amplified personal gut spilling. Web sites such as postsecret.com and mysecret.tv bring bathroom-wall-variety confessions, such as "I only love two of my children," "I had gay sex at church camp," and "I pee in the sink," to-and from-the masses. Meanwhile, teenagers telegraph their deep thoughts and petty observations for YouTube prowlers hungry for novelty and diversion.
Such waves of revelation are fast eroding our notions of private identity. People have always been inclined to share their secrets, to unburden their consciences, and to show off, but in times past these admissions were aimed at confidants-priests, soul mates, diaries. Telling secrets can be therapeutic, but when confession targets the masses, what's really being processed, and who benefits from the...