In The Dark, All Cats Are Fifty Shades Of Grey

Benjamin Franklin once advised a young man to consider the older woman as a desirable sex partner. He offered plenty of reasons, all reflecting the tenor of the times.

What of that older woman, however, in these modern times? Where can she go to find one of those younger men who see relevance in old Ben Franklin's logic?

They go to Zoosk, apparently. That is where the lovely Sylvie, a French woman of forty years, hooked up with the handsome Anthony Laroche. At least he was handsome in the picture he posted along with his particulars. She wanted sex, no strings attached, and if you can share a bed with a good-lucking stud, it's all the more enjoyable.

Top off the hook-up with a dollop of Fifty Shades shenanigans and it's the perfect evening for those without a significant other to provide the desired physical release.

As it turned out, Mr. Laroche was a bit of a fabulist. A complete and total liar, a fraud, to be exact.

What you see is not what you get (Reality, Left and Fantasy, Right)

The date for sex with hints of bondage began at his flat, where Sylvie was told to put on a blindfold. Such fun! The lights were off when she entered the bedroom, and even though Sylvie wanted to feast her eyes on the chiseled features of her lover, Anthony refused. Darkness was required, and he was the master, so no lights to illuminate the scene.

The deed was done under cover of darkness, but Sylvie would not be deterred. She turned on the lights and there was Anthony in all his glory. All of his bald, paunchy, 68-year-old glory.

You can just hear her spewing, can't you.

She filed charges against him, possibly for impersonating a male model but more likely for tricking her into a sexual encounter that was not at all what she expected. Unlike Mr. Franklin's belief as expressed to his young interlocutor, Sylvie was not the least bit grateful.

Neither is she alone.

The so-called Anthony Laroche, not his real name, has been at this game for quite some time, and had complaints lodged against him several years ago, all with the same counts of fraudulent seduction. He had exchanged numerous e-mails and texts with women, who in return sexted him. The portfolio may include as many as 200 ladies who wanted to experience copulation with someone who did not look at all like the man who made sweet, sweet love.

As for Anthony, he denies that he committed rape, which is what French authorities have charged him with. The women consented, you see, and if they did not demand to see the product before making a purchase, well, it's caveat emptor out there in cyberspace. Prosecutors counter with the technicalities of rape law, in that the women were not informed beforehand that they were not going to get the young man whose photo they so admired. Trickery is not acceptable, and it is not up to the buyer to ask questions she would not know to ask after the seller has created a misleading image.

Present the desired image, and then hide the fact that you are not that person, so you can have sex with a variety of women of a certain age without the bother of dinner, flowers, or the rudiments of courtship. Across France, indeed across all of Europe, hundreds of old men are asking the same question. Why didn't I think of that?