WoW! Well put! Superbly written! Truly profound!
Now I’m being totally serious here when I say this..but it is entries like this one that are truly staggering! Seriously!
In the anals of internet history, one could only hope that this site would end with the very last ever blog entry mimicking something of this magnitude.

Problem is, it won’t happen…ROFLMAO

That doesn’t mean you can’t yourself to a slightly higher standard…

My point is that roleplaying “forced” fantasies in RL is fairly commonplace (or maybe my friends are just kinkier than yours, dunno). Maybe it’s unhealthy, but the basic archetypal fantasy does seem to be a common one for many people. The difference is that when your neighbors (and I’m sure that *someone* on your block does) use handcuffs or enact various similar fantasies in their bedroom, you don’t see it. In SL, these fantasies are more anonymous, but at the same time somewhat more public. Also, unlike in RL, the “immersion” of SL might cause some people to see this roleplaying as being somehow more “realistic” than fooling around in RL (which is rather ironic).

So in RL, when someone does this, we laugh it off as “damn, those two have one wild relationship,” but in SL, because we don’t see these same people wearing suits and ties the next day, or dropping their kids off at school, or any other mundane activities, it’s easier to think that these are just freaks and deviants and not that nice couple next door.

They are.

It’s your boss, your secretary, your kids’ teacher at school, your refrigerator repairman, your auto mechanic, the waiter at the restaurant last night….

Hell, might even be your wife, late at night after you’ve gone to sleep, wishing that you would be just a little more assertive in bed and not such a pussy.

But then again, maybe that’s why this seems to piss some people off, eh?

Go Jessica, you’re the lasy vestige of worthwhile humanity at this bottom feeding shitrag of epic fail.

But when the particular role that you are playing IS that of a victim, I think there is a much higher risk of victimization and, as importantly, of relatively greater emotional damage. Defenders of simulations and role playing like Gor tend to talk in terms of it as a powerfully liberating experience. I can accept that. But the knife is double-edged: if it can be powerfully liberating, it also has that much more potential to be powerfully damaging. Combining two of the most powerful emotional stimulants — violence and sex — together produces a very potent mixture indeed. I’m sure it is a very positive experience for many. But, conversely, the emotional trauma that this kind of simulated sexualized violence can potentially do untold harm. I have, in fact, known some of its victims.

As regards the potential rapist on the other end of the chat line, I think I was trying to suggest (obviously not very successfully) that the societal effects of reinforcing stereotypes about women and rape (“she wanted it,” “she likes it rough”) are what are most dangerous about this kind of role play. I DO frankly worry a little about the kind of man who gets off on simulating a violent assault on a woman, but I am not about to go so far as to suggest that such a man is necessarily a potential RL rapist.

The real threat lies elsewhere. We have fought VERY long and hard to change cultural attitudes about women as passive victims. It’s an important fight, as I am sure you will agree, because it HAS made a difference in terms of attitudes towards things like RL sexual assault. Unfortunately, I think that RP rape is a step backwards in this regard; it implies by its very nature a return to the thinking of the “good old days” when men were men, and women were often, and with very good reason, afraid.

The gorean slave shit just isn’t the same thing. I think what it boils down to is the level of detail. Is a person REALLY simulating the act of rape in horrifying detail or is what they’re doing totally unrealistic and not really so much focused on actually getting off on torturing another person or even torturing another person at all. Sometimes I wonder if you guys are throwing around the word ‘rape’ too casually without really understanding what it means to simulate rape. Maybe you’re not doing what I would consider simulating rape. Dunno but when someone talks about simulating rape I think it’s terrible and I seriously question the sanity of that person.

Clearly you lack understanding of the human mind. Someone who enjoys simulating torture (ie rape) and other acts that inflict pain on others clearly has a sick mind. People who do not have a predisposition to committing violent acts are not going to spend their time acting those out in gory detail in a virtual world or anywhere else. Ask any reputable psychologist and I’ll bet everything I own they will concur. And I’ll take the word of a professional with a doctorate over some random second lifer any day. Normal people do not get turned on sexually by inflicting pain on other people (or by imagining that they are). That’s sick. People who do are sadistic and when they rationalize their behavior by saying ‘it’s only virtual rape’ they begin entertaining their sadistic tendencies which will typically manifest with real world violence at some point if they persist.

The people who like simulating getting raped are weird, but I don’t see how those ones can be perceived as a threat like their counterparts.

No one is arguing about the fact that we shouldn’t ban or arrest people who haven’t committed real crimes yet but their attitudes about horrific violent acts DO warrant concern.