Kids in Second Life is a controversy that is such a sore topic, but one that is important. We’ve gone over and over these topics. The SL5B/Kids5B brought things to a head and I think a lot of attitudes were changed. SL5B was simply an incident, and the root issues still exist. Plus, it is larger than SL, or the internet – these places are just crucibles for our cultures.
A screengrab from Mister Rahja's video page
This morning I saw Mister Rahja’s video. The image above is a tongue-in-cheek screengrab I got from the page with the video, what we see on the left is Mister’s avatar in the opening of his video, and to the left, some in-line ad from the host site. When you see the his video, you will see how apropos it is. When you watch the video (after the site asks you to confirm that you are an adult, just like SL) you will see Mister showing scenes from his avatar’s world that he narrates in a most charming and honest way.
When I was reading Dusan talking about EA Game’s Creature Creator for Spore (AKA Sporn). The point seems to be that where ever sexuality is repressed, it creates a counter-expression manifest in ways such as porn or vitual sex.
I can see two basic reactions to sex on the net – be judgmental and attempt to control it or see it as an artifact of our culture and tolerate it. The former is likely how the underground/porn aspects thrive, the latter is likely the path to evolving beyond it being such an issue in sexually-backward cultures in places like the US. Each attempt to control or stop it is like cutting off the head of a hydra, each one removed is replaced with many others that are more hideous than the first.
Check out Mister Rahja’s video. He takes us on what seems to be a simple excursion but then sets before our feet a difficult path: having the bravery to be a free society that tolerates the thoughts and expressions of others.
Pais Kidd's Weblog 