We Must Put an End to Virtual Rape
"Any unwanted sexual act is a crime of violence" (Victims Information, 1998). Do you believe that? When referring that quote to rape, it almost sounds like a broad definition of it. But what about virtual rape? Does an unwanted sexual encounter on computers also count for a crime of violence? This is an important question for our society today to address for the simple fact that technology is the wave of our future and as our world becomes increasingly intertwined with the virtual world, we need to be prepared for the problems that our new virtual world might present. For me, as for many others, rape is definitely a much more serious and dangerous encounter than virtual rape. But all the same, virtual rape should not be dismissed for the effects it has on the people involved. I am going to present to you three main points. First, I'm going to define virtual rape by taking you through one of the most well known cases that actually occurred in the virtual world. Second, I will define rape in our world. Third and finally, I will take you through some of the different issues that are brought up while discussing virtual rape versus real rape.
We'll start off with my first point of what is virtual rape? "They say he raped them that night" (Vitanza, 448) is the beginning of an intriguing story, A Rape in Cyberspace, in which the author, Julian Dibbell, answers that very question. With the horrifying tale of Mr. Bungle and his victims, legba and Starsinger, Dibbell reiterates the events that took place on the LambdaMOO on that Monday night in March. The LambdaMOO is a MUD, which is short for "multi-user dungeons." According to a journal article in Maclean's, "MUDs are virtual communities, little universes that exist only on the Internet. Users from around the world can access the host program, which allows them to assume an identity and develop an alternative self" (Chidley, 51). With the LambdaMOO defined, let's look more closely at the virtual rape Mr. Bungle committed on legba and Starsinger that took place there. Mr. Bungle, Starsinger and legba are persona's of the people who created them for the use of virtual portrayal while logged on at the LambdaMOO. Continuing on with the story on virtual rape, Mr. Bungle, who portrayed a very repulsive character, attacked legba first, whom in turn booted him from the LambdaMOO room. But Mr. Bungle, who was not quite ready to behave yet, retreated to his chambers (also located on the LambdaMOO) and with a voodoo doll, manipulated the character Starsinger. Mr. Bungle made Starsinger do repulsive sexual acts that she did not type or initiate since Mr. Bungle had control over her character with the voodoo doll. The trauma of having this happen to her along with legba, who was also traumatized by Mr. Bungle's actions towards her, left both Starsinger and legba emotionally damaged. That is a very important point to remember. This virtual rape that occurred left emotional scars on the players that affected them in their real lives. These emotional scars are similar to the ones that a real rape victim would experience (Vitanza, 1996). Now that you have an idea of what virtual rape is through the brief overview of the Mr. Bungle episode, let's move on to my second point on what rape is in our material world.
A definition of rape from the one given in the National Women's Study on rape, states that it is "an event that occurred without the woman's consent, involved the use of force or the threat of force, and involved sexual penetration of the victim's vagina, mouth or rectum" (Christiano, 143). In this same study, which is quoted as giving us "the most comprehensive picture we have yet of rape in America"(Christiano, 143), it also says that the percent of rapes that occur is only 13%, which is less than one in eight. That statement contradicts the oft-quoted statistic of "one in four women in this country will become a victim of rape" (Christiano, 140). Another part of a definition of rape says that for rape to occur "there must be penetration, however slight, by force and against will (College). This physical abuse, in most cases, is less damaging to the victim than the emotional trauma that the victim experiences. "Common reactions after an assault are fear, depression, shame, guilt, and anger. Some people experience nightmares or flashbacks to the attack" (VictimsInformation). Now with virtual rape and rape in the material world described, let's look at some of the different viewpoints when trying to compare the two.
One of those issues is that some say virtual rape should not be taken seriously for the main fact that the victim could just log off at any time. That's true, but here are my thoughts on that viewpoint. Your mind has the ability to create things and what it is said to create are really, little pieces of yourself. If that's true, than the characters that people create on MUDs, are little pieces of themselves. Thus, when their characters are violated, they are too. With the Mr. Bungle case, if Starsinger and legba would have logged off, Mr. Bungle would still have had control over their characters and would have still been able to manipulate them. Well so what? It doesn't matter now because legba and Starsinger are no longer affected and don't have to deal with the violent actions of Mr. Bungle. But you also need to understand that everyone else who was logged onto the LambdaMOO that night and standing in the virtual room that this incident occurred, saw Starsinger initiate all of these disgusting sexual acts when in fact, it wasn't her but Mr. Bungle. Since Starsinger stayed logged on and since Mr. Bungle didn't have complete control of her character with the voodoo doll, she could still type in messages. This way she let everyone know that she wasn't doing these sick things and therefore, saved her reputation she had developed on the LambdaMOO. To me, it is a lot more complicated than just logging off when you have a little part of yourself being portrayed on the virtual world and that part was being taken advantage of.
Another disagreement on this issue is that virtual rape and rape can not be the same at all compared to the amount of pain it inflicts on the victim. True, that rape is a much more damaging experience to go through than virtual rape since no physical contact every takes place through the computers. But again, let's go back to the Mr. Bungle case. Starsinger and legba were both very traumatized by their encounter with Mr. Bungle-IN THEIR REAL LIVES! It affected them emotionally just like a real rape victim experiences more emotional damage than physical damage. To prove to you that this episode was emotionally destructive for legba and Starsinger is this; after legba posted a public statement in MOO-mailing list about the virtual rape she went through, it was later found out that "as she wrote those words posttraumatic tears were streaming down her face: (Vitanza, 1996, p. 452). Legba was no longer a mere portrayal of herself on the LambdaMOO-she came to life after the rape and that part of her, that little piece of her that she called legba, was hurting.
My next viewpoint is that there are laws against real rape; is there a way to punish virtual rape? Or should there be? Even though virtual rape is not speech, it is a form of language and expression. There are laws against hate speech, should there be laws against hate language? Like I said before, it is time to start addressing these questions seriously with the technological advancements that our world is to encounter in the near future. I believe virtual rape should be defined as a "crime against the mind" (Vitanza, 1996, p. 461) instead of just a "crime of violence" (Victims Information, 1998).
The final thing I want you to think about today is over the issue that some say that committing the rape crimes on the Internet is stopping some people from committing them in the real world. There are some MUDs designed especially for this behavior such as the one called "Gangsta-MUDs." The article called Virtual Realities explains Gangsta-MUDS as "virtual punishments that fit their [the players] virtual crimes. They imagine they get caught, imagine they're in jail. As good as the real thing and a hell of a lot cheaper" (Dworetzky, 16). These MUDs could keep a lot of people out of jail by supplying them with another way to commit crimes-and as many or as frequently as they wanted to. Also Sherry Turkle's definition of " the Second Self" which is defined as "how people's experiences of themselves and others are different because of the way they interact on the Net" (Judge, 1997) is complementary to this issue. Would you rather be virtually raped or physically raped? That's not a hard question for many to answer.
With more people spending an increasing amount of time in the 'virtual world' instead of spending that time in the 'real world' around them, more problems are likely to appear. If we get a head start on these problems before they get out of hand, the easier it will be to stop or prohibit them. So please do not merely dismiss virtual rape as nothing. It is something, although not anywhere near the level of seriousness that real rape beholds, but all the same, something. Be careful, for all is not safe in cyberspace and unless we take action now, it will only become worse.
Sources Cited:
Chidley, Joe (1995). Seduced by the siren call of computers. Macleaan's, 108(13), 50-51.
Christiano, Donna (1993). Rape: Do your fears fit the facts? Glamour, 91(1), 140-143
College, Williams. Rape and sexual assault. http://wso.williams.edu/orgs/peerh/assault/ (10, Nov. 1998).
Dworetzky, Tom (1994). Virtual realities. OMNI, 16(11), 16.
Judge, Paul C. (1997). Is the net redefining our identity? http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~debatin/lextures/InternetTexte/turkle.htm/ (10, Nov. 1998).
Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk. Breaking the silence: rape and sexual assault. http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/domestic/rs.html/ (10, Nov. 1998).
Vitanza, Victor J. (1996). A rape in cyberspace. In CyberReader (pp. 448-465). Needham Heights, Mass.: Simon & Schuster Company. Partner sites: Study Spanish in Spain, Pug, and Free Argumentative and Persuasive Essays