Cards of Love
1. The Problem
We live in a unique time when reliable information on all aspects of existence is readily available through the internet almost instantly. You can search for a battle tank blueprint on a gaming forum, order parts on AliExpress, print missing pieces on a 3D printer and assemble a tank in your garage with the help of a YouTube tutorial.
However, there is one huge exception: interpersonal intimate activities, i.e. sex, love, and everything surrounding them. These topics are hidden behind a triple firewall: they are taboo in art, there are no easily accessible official guides, and unofficial - pornographic - information is almost entirely lies. Searching for any kind of kink on Wikipedia will create the impression that it is some kind of perversion for perverts. A subsequent visit to a pornhub will confirm these suspicions.
The overwhelming majority of people either engage in different intimate activities or would like to, but everyone have to learn on their own - or give up attempts and remain unhappy. All of this is simply because of how it has developed in modern culture, without any other rational reasons.
The problem is further exacerbated by the almost complete lack of ability to talk about these issues. We don't even have the appropriate vocabulary, half of the terms are borrowed from either vulgar or medical language. And the more complex the desire, the harder it is to convey, explain it, even to a partner with whom one has lived for many years - and sometimes it is exactly with him that it is the hardest.
2. Mind Framework
Two questions can be applied to any human activity: why and how. Intimate activities are no exception. The "how" of it is more or less understood by people. The "why", however, is much more complicated. Why do people make love? In the case of "vanilla" sex, the answer seems to be more or less intuitive. But any deviation from it, thanks to cultural norms, will feel "perverted."
People who are referred to as "sex-positive" often come to understand: as long as the basic rule of "safe, conscious, and with consent" is followed, there is nothing wrong or perverted. There is only sophistication in place of seeming perversion. Every activity has a reasonable and rational explanation for why it is done. Even the most unusual ones. Surprisingly, this is true! However, enlightened who have reached this understanding rarely share their insight or do so among those like them, behind the same cultural firewall.
Each new person must walk this path alone.
The list of basic kinks and fetishes, however, is not that extensive, it is quite feasible for one person (namely me) to compile it. We would end up with a small database of activities ("what"), the narratives ("why, for what") and practices ("how") associated with them. The need for such a database is clear. However, it currently does not exist and one must rely on misleading pornography to learn. There are various websites that attempt to provide something similar, but they are not very successful at it and are also behind a cultural firewall. To discover them, one must have a specific understanding of what they are looking for, even down to the terminology used.
3. Cards of Love
Imagine a website where all basic kinks and fetishes known to people are gathered in the form of cards from a deck-building card game, such as Magic the Gathering, Hearthstone, or Gwent. These cards range from romantic walks in the park to secret sex there, from light teasing to lifestyle, petting to pegging, and more. Each card comes with a detailed description of the activity, including the "what, why, and how," as well as the debunking of myths and list of FAQs. The cards are illustrated with pictures and even include a two-minute, absolutely 18+ video clip that shows what the activity looks like in reality, rather than in staged pornography. The cards are sorted by meaning and groups, and are linked to each other, with a pop-up hint on everything that is unclear, making for a convenient and user-friendly interface.
Users can add the cards that they like to their own personal collection, indicating their level of skill and degree of interest. They can also leave likes and dislikes on pieces of the description, as well as leave their own comments. The cards collected in one or several decks that describe the user's skills and desires. Later, someone may share such a profile during a tinder-date, while another may use his deck to tell their spouse about old fantasies. This eliminates the need to speak in words or explain what a certain activity is, eliminates the need to prove you are not pervert. All the information is there, correct, simple, and understandable, available to the recipient immediately with the card. As users navigate through this "Wikipedia of love and sex in a game form," they will be able to understand someone else's kinks a little better, and even discover new ones in themselves. Users can even create their own cards, either for personal use or for adding to the general database after moderation.
The website, however, does not provide social network functions: user profiles will only be seen by those with whom they share the link (and password), there is no general gallery of profiles, users are not tied to accounts from social networks. Furthermore, profiles do not have to be kept on the site, they can be downloaded as a file and shared directly: the recipient of the profile file will be able to view it on the site (again, with the presence of a password).
In simpler terms, the site informs, educates, and becomes a tool for any communication in which it is difficult or undesirable to speak. And it doesn't matter if it's the first date or an exchange between spouses on the topic of "today I want it like this".
4. Business plan.
A paid subscription, priced affordably at the cost of a cup of coffee, grants users the ability to enhance their profile with personalized touches. These include uploading pictures, customizing the cover of their cards and some more ways of standing out among others. Despite this premium feature, the basic functionality of the service remains free and ad-free.
As the website is the only place where profiles can be viewed, any clicked link to a profile leads to a potential new user. The traffic is moderate and the database is mostly static.
5. My Mission and Me.
The activities I am writing about offer the best opportunity to experience and express love and many other beautiful emotions. They allow you to be who you want to be, your true self. Where else can you do that? At work, you are "dear colleague", at the store "valued customer", "respected passenger" in the subway. Most social platforms not only don't help with this, but by their very nature divide and estrange people. And there isn't a single tool, not one, that helps build... love. Tinder and similar apps may help you meet people, but they don't help you get to know each other. And various types of kink and BDSM questionnaires are only useful among those who understand the context.
My primary fetish is organizing and structuring my personal experiences and information in general. Intimate activities are the only realm of human activity that remains unstructured (and it frustrates me!) I had to learn everything through trial and error, through mistakes and deception, first about myself and then about others. Now that I am on this side of the firewall, I want to share my knowledge. I want to help people find themselves and those who will make them happy. I want to save the world with love.
And earn a little something in the process, of course.
6. When?
As soon as I secure funding for my project, I will continue working on creating content, and will hand over the code to a programmer and illustrations to an artist (who will also need to be found). I currently have a partially developed, self-written prototype that uses images borrowed from the internet, but I am not able to finish it alone.
If you are interested in participating in the project, please reach out to me.