one at a time, please.

Ok Ok, you don't all have to welcome my homecoming at once!
(hmm, it's a little difficult to express sarcasm without any sort of voice inflection)

Well I'm back and school has already started once again for me. So there's not much fun to be had over on my end.
The trip itself was quite an experience. Before I left I had incidentally found a few sites that detailed fetish clubs/stores in Montreal. It seemed like the city was bursting with latex-related shops and venues, but upon getting there and spending hours driving around the city none were found. However, I wasn't actually looking for any, just hoping we may run across a couple by chance.

The central feature about the trip that I found interesting was spending the time with the 3 other guys that I went with. I've been friends with all of them for a few years now, but I have never been around any of them for more than a few hours at a time let alone 9 days.

I quickly realized that they were very much "normal guys" in the way they saw sexuality. Throughout our time together my friends were constantly talking about breasts, penises, and a variety of orifices. They all cracked extremely sexual jokes and made a point to call attention to attractive women whenever they saw them. They even pointed out every billboard with a 'hot chick' on them.

I found it all strange and alienating.
Because of my different views of women, sexuality, masculinity, and relationships it caused a number of heated discussions that never went anywhere. They all saw the ideal woman to be one of two things; a slave to their boyfriends/husbands or a sexual object. To them; a woman who was unattractive was as good as living garbage and only worthy of 'an easy fuck'.

It was truly appalling dealing with them, but at the same time gave me an enormous amount of perspective on how most guys operate. So in looking at this trip anthropologically I started to try to understand how they saw themselves as well as other men in the world.

Each of them saw sex as something that is purely sexual (which I guess doesn't sound weird when you say it, but seems like a foreign idea to me). They admitted that love and emotional attachment can co-exist with sex, but is rare and unnecessary. None of them had problems with the idea of prostitution and they all participated in the solicitation of it.
2 of them have long-term girlfriends and one of them is just starting to date someone new. They all spent the entire time saying how they'd 'love to fuck' about half of the girls we saw on the trip and one actually paid for oral sex on multiple occasions.

Every time I repelled female attention or didn't pay for some sexual favor they all flocked around me telling me that something was wrong with me. They all believed that after ending a relationship the best thing to do is... well, get under someone to get over someone. However, that just wasn't an option for me. If there was one person that I wanted to be with, it was my ex.. and even if I were over her, then the larger issue would be the fact that I don't just mess around with people physically. I went through a phase when I did do that years ago, but now I don't cross any physical boundaries unless there's love or at least the clear potential for it in the future.

I find it upsetting that their views are literally the norm as can be reflected in society.. I mean, strip clubs and pornography aren't booming businesses for no reason.. it's because the world is predominantly filled with guys like these friends of mine.

I hated feeling so much like an outsider and I hated even more that I've always and still hold the idea that women are equal to men in the sense that we are all human beings, that women are to be cherished and appreciated, not used and abused, that in relationships both parties should be liberated by the other and not controlled, but even in putting all these ideals to practice I was the one of the four men without someone waiting at home for me while away. I was the only one who let his girlfriend be free in the relationship, I was the only one who empathized with his partner, and I was the only one who didn't cheat on his girlfriend because he truly felt no desire to... and I was the only one who wasn't able to maintain what was sacred, I was the only one who was alone..

It almost made me question my beliefs, but the idea of merely abandoning what I truly feel to be right was just not an option.. I guess this experience will only make me stronger, it's just a matter of finding that silver lining and living it out.

P.S. -
Does anyone know of any digital cameras I can get that has a remote so I can take pictures without actually holding/touching the camera?