John: Socially distanced, content at home...
Introduction:
John is a 68 year-old gay American male of Italian and Polish descent living in East Rutherford, New Jersey. As a telemarketer, he has been working at home since March 17th. In many other ways, however, his life has not been substantially affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. John describes himself as being private and solitary, characteristics which he says makes him “good at” dealing with pandemic related lockdowns. John enjoys the arts, reading, and cooking, all hobbies that can be explored at home. He does miss attending the opera, however. He looks forward to attending live performances again. In his interview, John said he doesn't feel burned out by the pandemic, but his sex life has been rendered practically non-existent. When it comes to social distancing and mask wearing, John is very careful. He has a number of underlying health conditions, so he is continuing to lay low, having had no sexual encounters since March. It would be silly, he said, to risk getting infected this close to having a vaccine. With a non-existent sex life, John has retreated to watching pornography, of which he is a long time fan. He is also just beginning to explore other virtual spaces in search of cam2cam encounters. He prefers seeking out real people, not models. He admits, however, that cam2cam encounters can become boring after a time.
Notable Quotes:
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOUR LIFE GENERALLY?
“It's been perfectly fine. The lockdown does not affect me in any really substantive way. I mean, I've been socially distancing for a number of years now, so I'm very good at this.”
“I can amuse myself any number of ways, you know, in terms of access to the arts, and reading, and, I cook, and my apartment has never been as organized.”
“I worked in the city until March 17th when they dispatched us to our homes.”
“I've been busy, it's, it's, the time has kinda flown. I mean, I'm not burnt out by it, or anything of that sort. And as far as the pandemic, I'm more afraid of other people than I am of the virus, cause you never know, you know how vigilant somebody has been about wearing their mask, social distancing, and that sort of thing.”
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOUR SEX LIFE?
“Well, I mean, it's rendered it non-existent, to a certain extent. Because as I said, you know, I'm very careful. I mean, I have a couple of underlying conditions, and there's my age. And I'm just very careful, so I have not had contact with anyone since last March.”
“I think that, you know, the smart thing to do is sort of like, after this amount of time, I mean continue to stay low. It would be silly to get infected this close to having a vaccine.”
HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT REACHING OUT TO PEOPLE?
“You know what, I don't know. [Seeking out cam2cam encounters] is just something that sort of occurred to me fairly recently, since I realized that, well, nothing's gonna happen until, you know, at least the spring at the earliest. So, I mean, I'm trying to find out how one connects, and I haven't really found that yet.”