Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ When virtual reality feels real, so does the sexual harassment

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

We may have new technology but we have the same old problems: "unbridled misogyny that spawns from gaming anonymity." As this article notes, this type of poor behaviour has a long history: "Julian Dibbell's 1993 Village Voice article A Rape in Cyberspace; A decade later, reports of avatar rapes began surfacing after Linden Lab's virtual world Second Life launched in 2003," and misogynist comments "while then-17-year-old Gittins was playing World of Warcraft". Then there's gamergate, which erupted in the 2010s.The problem, in my view, is that the perpetrators don't think the behaviour is wrong. There need to be consequences, so that they learn that it is.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 20, 2024 08:58 a.m.

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