Cyber Seduction

By Kristin Duncan

"Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life" is Lifetime’s attempt to stay current on today’s ‘issues’ and feed into the fears of the average mom. The story opens with sophomore, Justin Petersen, plunging into a pool and descend unconscious underwater. His bruised and bloody face have no explanation leaving the viewer wondering what underlying torment has led young Justin to this point. The movie then rewinds to 3 months ago at a swim meet where Justin shows a promising future as a competitive swimmer. Embrace yourself for the journey of Justin's decent from innocence. With the announcement that he has made all-state, the cool clique takes a new interest in the sophomore. Monica, the token high school slut, obviously has a ‘thing’ for Justin as the camera holds on her stare (goo goo eyes). One evening, he is on the computer and receives an instant message "Check this out @ Monica’s page". You guessed it… this is the beginning of all of your questions to the opening being answered. Justin unknowing of the content follows the link to find a soft-core porn site that shows the token slut clad in revealing clothes. To twist the plot a little more, Justin does have a demure girlfriend whom he has only…excuse the mom term…petted. The couple goes to a party where they find the cool kids watching what is in insinuated as a porno. At the party, Monica continues to woo Justin with long stares and smiles. Justin’s prudish girlfriend requests to leave the party and voices her distaste for the porn scene. Back to another computer surfing scene, he gets instant message that is loaded with TV grade explicit slogans. Justin digs deeper into the offerings of computer porn sites but sloppily leaves his door propped open. As mom wanders into Justin’s room she gets a glimpse of what he is viewing. BUSTED! She attempts to get her husband involved and demands that he talk to their son. He shakes it off as that is just what teenage boys do. There is an odd turn to where Justin has to view porn-like pictures prior to his swim competition. Even the cool kid that originally introduced porn to Justin thinks his ‘tastes’ are sick (the bad sick). His parents continue to argue as they see a decline in their son. A big turn in the story occurs as mom puts away some laundry and finds a DVD hidden in the back of a drawer. The title of the DVD is "VIRGIN VAGINAS" (yeah, you heard me). Justin and his girlfriend begin to have more issues as he begins to pressure her more and more. He eventually ends up going to visit Monica (token slut) and ends up in her parent’s bedroom. Justin is so confused by porn vs. reality; he is confused as to what he should do as Monica throws herself at him. When he turns her down, she goes psycho and chases him from the house. When he gets home, his parents are livid because of the sites and vulgar pop-ups they have found on the computers. Then there is a confusing turn where Justin is talking to his now ex-girlfriend wanting to go to church with her. Now that Justin has sought help, you ponder the movie opening. Wait, it’s not over. Justin gets jumped by the cool kids (leaving the viewer to think Monica ratted him out). Now, back to the beginning… As he floats in the pool, he has visions of his friends and family supporting him and cheering for him at swimming competitions. With a sudden clarity that he has so much going for him, he breaks from the water… The end. Are you confused? Me too!! However, this is a Lifetime must see for yourself.