Celebrity Paedogeddon and old men yelling at clouds

Ok because it feels a lot like you’re saying that agreeing to cuddle (without inverted commas) on the bed means it’s her fault she got sexually assaulted.

Yeah, I don't think it's her fault at all. If anything I think it's his fault for getting into bed with her and not clarifying, especially if he wanted one thing and she wanted another.

And I doubly think it's his fault if she said no and he carried on regardless - but I do admit that I get confused why people don't just get out there and then, especially when you know the situation you're in.

I really don't envy anyone picking this apart in court.

I also don't envy anyone on the dating game atm. Do people often meet for the first time, then go to bed and expect different things?

Sounds like she was probably too scared and/or asleep to really be a position to say no thanks and walk out. Plus he’s a professional athlete, I’m guessing the chances are that she’s not as fast or strong as he is.

Its obviously all sad but there’s a line near the middle that says she eventually consented to some sexual activity, to me, based on the content of the article, that sounds a lot like she was thinking “maybe if I just do X he’ll leave me alone” rather than being up for whatever X was. It doesn’t feel like real consent to me.


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A total aside but I’ve always thought consent was an odd way of phrasing it. Of course they need a legal definition but its always felt like a very passive term to me, like “fine go on then” rather than any of the kind of enthusiasm you’d hope would be involved in a genuine mutual sexual experience.

Well change of subject, police investigating virtual assault on girl's avatar;

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67865327

I don't really understand how you can sexually assault someone's avatar. Like, you can probably make inappropriate gestures, but wouldn't the victim just be able to remove themselves from the situation on a whim? And aren't Meta avatars lacking anything below the waist? I've played Second Life, it was full of Brazilian nudist beaches and kink shit, but sexually assaulting an avatar was nigh on impossible in a virtual world that thrived on sex in some form.

I suppose, as the world moves more virtual, you're having to place a value on psychic damage as well as physical which isn't entirely unfair. Either VR is immersive or its not.

Until the law catches up and distinguishes between virtual and physical assault, I don't know if I would go all the way for a rape charge but, as someone who often plays as female avatars, I wouldn't be mad if the hammer of justice came down on these little fuckbags who harass with impunity

Agreed - see also kid's being bullied on the socials etc. Why should they be punished and not be in the various WhatsApp groups etc?

I'm watching some vids exploring the world and all I'm really getting is the ability to verbally grief people. And an over-abundance of kids. My inkling is some nonce said some deeply inappropriate shit to a child. Which I think can count as sexual assault regardless of the environment, or if it somehow isn't, it should.

Here's an illuminating watch on the workings of the thing anyway. And yeah, obviously the ability to leave doesn't make anything right, it just puts a spotlight on the lack of oversight or moderation.

I play alot of FF14 and there's an ERP meta where you know that certain emotes are representative of sexual behaviour. There's alot of inappropriate interaction when you're just standing or sitting around, but there is actually very little you can do to stop them doing it.

Tbf 9/10 you call them on it and they will apologise and stop, but not always. Yes you can fall back on blacklisting them, but that doesn't stop them from emoting all over you. Nor does it stop them from following you around if they really wanted to push things.

Thankfully Square take a really hardline ban approach, where a single report of that nature will result in a suspension and potentially a ban pending investigation, so I guess other companies will have to take on a similar approach.

The problem is that, as we've seen with alot of western tech companies, they don't really want to take that hardline approach because of the perceived impact on certain liberties and it doesn't really tackle the incident, nor the psychological trauma that follows it.

I gotta say there's been some proper hot takes in this thread of late.

There's far more to sexual assault than a physical act though, and we're talking about young children here

People should be able to participate in VR spaces and feel safe. It should be a moderation issue really

I dunno, maybe it’s a generational thing. But, if you’ve grown up with a screen, the socials, little avatars/emojis/whatever that can be intricately customised to reflect you and representing you in virtual spaces, I can understand the distress.
It almost doesn’t matter that it’s online, it’s just another way of jabbing at someone, and if there are actual real life relationships behind the virtual it’s almost worse as the damage acts twice over.

Weird takes going on. What would you be saying if these stories were about people inappropriately gesturing at kids on public transport or shouting after them on the streets about what they want to do to them? Nothing physical there, but I don't think anyone would be denying the potential emotional damage that could cause. Just because it is virtual, it doesn't make it any less abusive or (potentially) traumatising.

With VR, it is also much easier for it to feel like people are invading your personal space. In many ways, I could imagine abuse like this feeling even more intrusive than in a public space.

That's quite a demographic! 😅

It will be partly that as well for sure. The 'freedom of speech' card is often played alot too though.