When I first heard about the concept of virtual rape, I thought that was impossible and ridiculous. I still don’t really see why it is such a big deal (because it isn’t real), but I understand it a little better. This particular virtual rape that happened in Julian Dibbell’s article “A Rape in Cyberspace” occurred in the virtual world of LambdaMOO. Lambda Moo is completely text based. So that alone made me wonder how this could have happened. Why couldn’t the person just have logged off? You can’t control what other people say but you can certainly control if you listen to them or not. But apparently, people were outraged. Legba, the woman who was virtually raped, says this in response to how she felt after the crime was committed. “I also think that Mr. Bungle was being a being a vicious, vile fuckhead, and I…want his sorry ass scattered from #17 to the Cinder Pile. I’m not calling for policies, trials, or better jails. I’m not sure what I’m calling for. Virtual castration, if I could manage it. Mostly, [this type of thing] doesn’t happen here. Mostly, perhaps I though it wouldn’t happen to me. Mostly, I trust people to conduct themselves with some veneer of civility. Mostly, I want his ass” (380). As you can tell from this quote, there is a lot of bitterness and hostility here. I guess I understand that being raped makes you feel violated, but I don’t understand why legba couldn’t have just logged off.
I don’t even know what I can compare this too. I have never had an experience like that before because I’m not very involved in virtual worlds. However, I did find an article confirming that there are a lot more cases of virtual rape out there than I realized. The Wired article entitled “Virtual Rape is Traumatic, but is it a Crime?” talked about an investigation of a rape in Second Life. I don’t really understand how that is possible either. Yes, Second Life is not text base and has graphics but still, how can you force a virtual avatar to engage in sexual activities? I don’t understand why these people won’t just log off!! The article talked about how much of a mental trauma rape is whether online or offline. That part I agree with. I believe that rape is very emotionally destructive. But I also still believe that to avoid anything similar to virtual rape or sexual harassment, just log off!
Here is the article link: http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2007/05/sexdrive_0504
1 comment:
Good blog, Amy. I kinda agree with you in that I would have just logged off and I don't understand why these characters didn't do that. I know you cannot control what others say, but you can control whether or not you listen to them. This article was so disturbing to me because no matter if the act of rape was in real life or not, it would still affect you emotionally and you would have to live with the trauma all your life. I would hate to think that this actually happens more often than we hear but I hope someone is watching this and cracking down!
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