7 replies to this topic

[Lion7718]

Source: Wierd.Com

Last month, two Belgian publications reported that the Brussels police have begun an investigation into a citizen's allegations of rape -- in Second Life.

I am half convinced that the tantalizingly brief story, printed in De Morgen and Het Laatste Nieuws, is a hoax or an April Fool's joke.

Yet it has prompted several threads of discussion, from a legal analysis to four pages of commentary at the Second Citizen forums.

Unfortunately, rape in virtual spaces is not unheard of. And I'm not talking about the "consensual" rape built into some games (although if you're interested in that debate, GameGrene has a good conversation about it).

There is no question that forced online sexual activity -- whether through text, animation, malicious scripts or other means -- is real; and is a traumatic experience that can have a profound and unpleasant aftermath, shaking your faith in yourself, in the community, in the platform, even in sex itself.

Our laws say that an adult subjecting a teenager or child to sexual words, images or suggestions on the internet is preying on their mental and emotional state in a sexual way. Even if you never try to meet the minor in person, and even if you never touch them or expose your naked self to them, it is a crime to attempt to engage sexually with a minor.

If it is a criminal offense to sexually abuse a child on the internet, how can we say it is not possible to rape an adult online?

But I have a hard time calling it "rape," or believing it's a matter for the police. No matter how disturbed you are by a brutal sexual attack online, you cannot equate it to shivering in a hospital with an assailant's sweat or other excretions still damp on your body.

That's not to say I dismiss the trauma a person suffers after being raped online. Virtual rape is not just a prank, one the target needs to get over or expect as part of a role-playing world. (And if you are inclined to pooh-pooh this, first read author Julian Dibble's chapter about a rape that occurred in a text-only MOO in the early '90s.)

A virtual rape is by definition sudden, explicit and often devastating. If you've never immersed yourself in online life, you might not realize the emotional availability it takes to be a regular member of an internet community. The psychological aspects of relating are magnified because the physical aspects are (mostly) removed.

Even regular users might not realize how wide open they are until something drastic happens -- they fall in love, get dumped, have a huge fight or get attacked in the online parallel of rape. In that context, a sexual assault can indeed have a deep impact on a person's life, especially if they are actual rape survivors.

Some suggest that the best way to deal with a virtual rape is to ignore it, or simply log off and come back as another user.

But in a game, you don't want to lose the long-term investment you've made in your character. And these days, your real world income or professional reputation can depend on your online self.

In a 3-D marketplace, your avatar's name is your brand. You can change the appearance of your cartoon without much impact, but changing your name makes it too difficult for customers or clients to find you.

If an online environment becomes too hostile or scary, or causes you such great anxiety you cannot work or interact with friends, more has been taken from you than your playtime. Your friends will gather around to give you emotional support -- but your customers will wander off and shop elsewhere.

Adult communities facilitate our need to go deeper into our sexual selves, even into secret places around gender and taboos that we cannot acknowledge anywhere else. We feel safe because of the peculiar blend of disclosure and anonymity provided in online communities, and we journey along paths we might not even glance at in the physical world. We don't expect to have our control wrenched away or our minds assaulted or even the intensity of our anguish during and after.

The truth is, anywhere people gather, we bring all of our potential with us -- for love, for sex, for community and creation, and for violence and destruction, too. That's why we still enjoy pondering whether cybersex is real sex and whether an online affair is more or less damaging to a relationship than a physical affair. It's a tacit acknowledgement that while the time-space continuum may change, people don't.

Rape is the ultimate perversion of sexual intimacy. Like sex, rape has mental and emotional elements that go beyond the body and the damage to the mind and spirit generally takes much longer to heal than the body.

But that doesn't make the psychological upheaval of virtual rape anywhere near the trauma of real rape. And I can't see us making virtual rape a matter for the real-life police.

It's a shitty thing to do to someone. But it's not a crime.
See you next Friday,

Regina Lynn

Regina Lynn invites you to discuss this and other sex-tech topics in the Sex Drive forum.

[Dr. Avery]

Virtual Rape? That's absolutely utterly goddamned ridiculous.

Let's look at the relevant definitions of the word rape.

noun
To force (another person) to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse; commit rape on.
Any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person.
verb
To force to have sexual intercourse.

The word force seems to be showing up a lot here, so let's make sure we understand the word force, too.

noun
The use or threat of physical power or violence to compel or restrain
verb
to put or impose (something or someone) forcibly on or upon a person

"There is no question that forced online sexual activity... is real; and is a traumatic experience that can have a profound and unpleasant aftermath, shaking your faith in yourself, in the community, in the platform, even in sex itself."

Horse shit.

First of all, there's no such thing as forced online sexual activity because the victim must voluntarly elect to stay. So long as the choice to turn off the computer or go elsewhere exists, there is no act of force. So long as the victim's free will has not been violated, there can be no rape.

Secondly, if you are so fragile that a few unwanted dirty words or images "shake your faith in yourself and even sex itself", then you need to get the fuck off the Internet, Thumbelina. The Internet can be a foul place, and no one gets out without seeing something they wish they hadn't.

To present the text-based lewdity and pixelated thrusting of puerile Internet perverts as being even remotely analogous to a real world force fuck at knifepoint is an insult to real victims. The two things shouldn't even share the same verbiage.

[rastaX]

I can see how virtual rape could be traumatic. I don't think it is a crime, necessarily, but traumatic to someone, absolutely. Anyone who has been flamed online should understand that even though the online world is only "virtual" feelings can get hurt and standing in communities can get damaged. There is definitely a realness to our online activities, and bullying, stalking and even rape, even if only "virtual", impact us on the human, emotional level. IOW, it still hurts.

The fact that some creep only "virtually" rapes someone, really doesn't make them any less of a creep. To derive pleasure from the torment of another, is just sick.

[rainbowdemon]

Horse shit.

Best response ever!!

[Dr. Avery]

I can see how virtual rape could be traumatic. I don't think it is a crime, necessarily, but traumatic to someone, absolutely. Anyone who has been flamed online should understand that even though the online world is only "virtual" feelings can get hurt and standing in communities can get damaged. There is definitely a realness to our online activities, and bullying, stalking and even rape, even if only "virtual", impact us on the human, emotional level. IOW, it still hurts.

The fact that some creep only "virtually" rapes someone, really doesn't make them any less of a creep. To derive pleasure from the torment of another, is just sick.

There's no doubt that real feelings are on the line when we are online. It would be a shitty day for me in the real world if any of my online buddies (many of whom I've known for several years) were to suddenly launch a campaign of genuine malice against me. I'd be angry, and hurt. I'm not denying that.

But I believe that there is no legitimate comparison between online vulgarity, and real world sexual assault.

[NitnayLion]

There are a lot of ways to look at this and my responce here is going to be long. Let me start with saying that involveing Second Life a virtual rape of your Avie is not posible. There is one way that maybe thought of as rape. It is posible to walk around nude and with a enornmouse erection,and you could repeataly walk into someone. In some far sence I could see some freak getting thier jollies that way.I would clase that as Avie assault not rape. BTW if such an action were to accure the offending "MEMBER" can be banned from the game. The same holds true for verble assaults and type written ones as well.

In order to cyber in a game like Second Life. You have to be a willing partisapent. You have controll of your Avie no one else.It is you that tells your Avie what to wear or not. It is you that clicks the action tags that makes the Avie move.At any time during game play you can teleport yourself to another location.

I have no first hand knowlege about what I am going to say next other than what I have read. There is a game that has been around for some time it's called "Sociolotron". Sex in this game can be consensual or nonconsensual, and there's bondage, prostitution, STDs, and pregnancy. In this game there can be Rape.

In fact there are bloggs that folks post thier Rape count.

[rastaX]

I was waiting to hear from you. I have no idea what this virtual world shit is all about really. I figured you would clear a few things up about all this. I kinda envisioned some script that would allow some perv to go around raping female avatars, which of course doesn't always mean there is a female behind it anyways.

I pictured something like the South Park episode where the guy went around killing everyone in WoW, or maybe even something like this;

[NitnayLion]

"Make Love not WarCraft" That was one of the best South Parks I have seen. LoL