Monique, 28

What do you do for a living?
I'm a musician. I'm a singer. My group's name is Sappho's Journey.

Does that get you a lot of dates?
I don't know actually. To be honest with you, I don't know. Should I lie and say yes? Because I could lie. I've never really used it as a card. I mean, it did help me get this chick's number once, but I dunno.

Are you from around here?
Originally I'm from California, but I've been here for five years.

Is dating different in California?
Yes. Men in California are very superficial. I get more game here than I did in California. I gained thirty pounds when I came here, but when I was there, I lost thirty pounds, just to get more action.

What's your favorite hook-up story?
It would probably be this guy that lived in San Bernardino. We had the best chemistry. He'd come over and we'd smoke, we'd hang out, we'd have really great experimental, rough...

What kind of experimental?
He would choke me and stuff. I liked that. It wasn't like, "Oh, he's going to kill me." But when we were doing it, it was really intense. There are kinky things that are pleasurable and that was one I really enjoyed.

He was taking charge. That sounds hot.
It was different. When I have sex with someone, I'm there to please the other. I think if everyone was like that, each individual, sex would be good. If you go in there thinking, "I'm going to please that person," the other person is going to do the same. Naturally, if men were more like that — not trying to rag on every man — but that's why I date women too. Sometimes guys watch a lot of porn and they think that women are supposed to give head first, and that's the end of it. Or they like to hit it from the back and that's it. They don't ever think about how you pleasure that woman so she can come out of her shell.

Have you ever been offended in the bedroom?
It happens. There are more selfish men out there than you think.

Have you ever gotten up and walked out?
The sad thing is, as strong as I may seem, I don't just walk out. Sometimes I just play it cool. Because I don't want to hurt anybody's ego. But I've had some shit where I felt like I was like, "Why don't you just give me 500 dollars and we'll call it a day?" How about you just pay my rent and we can do this like once a month, and I'll just lie down for you.

What differences do you notice between dating men and women?
There's a big difference. A big, big difference.

Guys think that the penis is everything.
The penis... dude, loving a woman's body is very hard. My ex was like, "You've got to be slower and softer." She would get mad at me because I was so used to being with dudes. And when she would please me, man, it was fucking phenomenal.

Chad, 22

What do you do for a living?
I build signs.

You build signs?
Yeah.

Does that get you chicks?
It has.

It has? Really?
Yes.

What kind of girls does that bring in?
Artistic. Usually, artistic girls, or... I'll say, open-minded.

Do you have a favorite hookup story?
I went to Kmart once, with family. I saw one of the employees there and I'm like, "Wow, she's hot." So I'm trying to get her attention. And she just would not respond. No response whatsoever. But then this elderly woman needed help. So I stopped the girl, because now I had a reason to. I pointed out the old lady who needed help. And then I was like, "I needed help too, and you'd prefer to help an old woman versus my young, handsome self."

That's awesome.
We ended up in this lounge area, we started talking and she was like, "Yeah, I'm a nympho."

That's how she introduced herself?
Well, no. We'd started talking and it just came up in the story that she was a nympho. And I'm like, "So, what are you doing right now?" Then we ended up going to her car for something, and it was a car, so...

And she was a nympho.
Yeah, so I took advantage of the situation.

Was your family still shopping, while you're...
Yeah. I actually almost got left behind. I called my cousin like forty-five minutes after the initial conversation. And he's like, "Dude, we're leaving. Where are you?" And I'm like, "I'll be right there. I'll be right there." Twenty minutes after that, I get another phone call: "Dude, your mom's about to kill you. Where are you?" I go back to Kmart, they're not there anymore. They're in Best Buy now and I'm like, "Aw shit." Now I've got to make my way all the way to the other side of this shopping center.

Did you tell your mother where you were?
No.

Have you ever been offended in the bedroom?
When I first started having sex, I was younger, so I deepened my voice so it was more like, "Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh." And this girl was like, in the middle of it, she's moaning herself and I'm like, "Urgh." And she's like, "Will you stop? You sound like you're an idiot." And I'm like, "[long pause] All right." So, the whole rest of the time was me trying to have sex without moaning, period.

Alex, 22

What do you do for a living?
I work in the billing department of a cell-phone company.

Does that ever get you dates?
A guy tried to have phone sex with me one time. I was telling my friend about this earlier. He said, "You sound like a girl, and you might have a vagina so..."

What did you do?
I said I wasn't actually a woman.

What kind of guys do you like?
Really feminine guys, with skinny jeans and long hair.

Any crazy ex-boyfriends?
After we went out, one of them got a tattoo of a mermaid coming out of a martini glass. Heard it through the grapevine.

Have you ever been offended in the bedroom?
No, but I did have a boyfriend who accidentally peed all over me in bed and it was totally fine. Everything is cool.

Really accidentally?
Really accidentally. He was drunk.

Where's the craziest place you've had sex?
One time I had sex in a backyard. My high-school boyfriend suggested it, and I was like, "Okay, I'll comply. I'm a submissive girlfriend, so whatever you want."

If a guy wants to make it happen, what does he need to do?
I guess just come up to me and say, "Hey." It's not that hard.

What if you want to make it happen with a guy?
Just drink a lot and hope that I fall into the right person. The tactic for the pathetic.

What do you think is the hottest thing someone has ever done for you?
I don't know. I'd prolly have to go back to the peeing-on-me thing. That was actually a turn-on, now that I think about it.

Interviews by Meghan Pleticha. Photography by Sean McGurn.