Second Life Weirds Me Out Sometimes

[Joe]

Ok, so it weirds me out a lot of the time, but here's one CNet picked up:

I've seen "open chat messaging along the lines of 'Daddy's going to spank you if you don't stop flirting with...'" one "Second Life" player said. "And then, 'Oooh, Daddy, I'm sorry, Will you spank me anyway?' Usually it is a young 'teenage' girl avatar and her 'daddy.'"

Another player, known in the virtual world as "Usagi Musashi," said that when pretending to work in a virtual sex club in "Second Life," she often saw child avatars trying to pick up adult avatars.

"One day in the welcome area, I saw one child" avatar, Musashi said. "This one was just posing like she wanted some action. They stand around and look for action like escorts...then (they) age play."

(30 second shudder break!)

Welcome back. Rather than get all high and mighty over someone's fetish in Second Life (trust me, there are weirder and arguably worse ones out there), I'm instead going to look back to turn-of-the-century New York City, where in the seedier areas of town (that was a huge chunk of the city, given how corrupt the police force was back then), there were entire brothels dedicated to the real version of what Second Life residents are - erm - simulating.

Kinda interesting to see how behaviors transfer to the digital medium and suddenly become "interesting" rather than "depraved."

 

[Joe]

Original Comment by: Randall Fitzgerald
http://www.ikimashou.net
I'll say the same thing about this that I said about the debate I had over lolicon and other such things. People say "Oh, it's making them more bold and blah blah, etc., etc." Pedophiles have been around for at least as long as moral outrage, and they will stay around, so would you rather that they had this SAFE and HARMLESS outlet for their desires, or would you rather they had nothing but the local playground and your kids?

Oh and let me be clear on one thing, pedophilia and ephebophilia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephebophilia] are two different things. One is sick, one is completely logical, and natural. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with age of consent laws, I'm just saying that thinking a post pubescent female or male is completely normal for one who is attracted to that gender as we are biologically predisposed to be attracted to what we see as a "good candidate" for mating, this evolved a long time before societal structures were as firmly in place as they are.

 

[Joe]

Well, the jury is still out as to whether or not simulating sexual acts serves as a release valve or not. I'd lean toward it helping in some cases, but it's still weird.

And in regard to ephebophila, pretty's pretty. But I can look at a 16-year-old girl, and before I wonder how old she is, something inside me says "off-limits" before wondering if she has an older sister.

 

[Joe]

Original Comment by: Randall Fitzgerald
http://www.ikimashou.net
Yeah, I'm not saying any of the stuff is weird, but if it can be an alternative, hell, I support it whole heartedly. I'd promote it to the ends of the earth if it kept even one pedo from doing something to a child. Not that I particularly care about the child, but there are things you just don't do.

As to ephebophilia, I'm not saying that most people don't have a social conditioning to think that, of course most people do, I'm just saying I consider it to be more normal if someone does. Still, laws have to be respected, but finding an under 18 year old attractive shouldn't be something we consider wrong on a local level when we sexualize and objectify lots of actresses who meet those criteria. I mean, you didn't think Lindsay Lohan was hot before she turned 18? How about the neighbor girl down the street? She can't be sexy before 18 because she isn't famous? Double standard! >.>

 

[Joe]

Re: first paragraph
Couldn't agree more. If this kind of stuff is really a release valve, I'm glad it exists, at least on one level.

Re: second paragraph
A buddy and I got lunch at the mall yesterday. We sat near a few girls who were probably seniors in high school. All three of them were very pretty, but my first thought was, "Damn, they're going to be hot in a few years," not, "Damn, I'd like to hit that right now." But that's different for everyone. It's just where I come from on that particular subject. I don't look in revulsion at someone who has a thing for girls that age, but it's still something I can't quite connect with; so I call it weird.

I wonder if any of them had older sisters...

 

[Joe]

Original Comment by: Dave M

To throw another element of changing perspectives in from the other side of the pond...the age of consent in the UK (and indeed most of Europe) is 16, not 18.

 

[Joe]

Actually, the age of consent here varies by state (http://ageofconsent.com/), but the federal age of consent (I THINK!) remains at 18. Moral of the story, don't take your lolita girlfriend across state lines.

They got Chuck Berry for it. They can get you, too!