Monday, May 14, 2007

"Consenting Adults" and all that...

An official Linden blog post describes LL's response to a German television network capturing images of sexual ageplay in SL. In very brief summary their response included
  1. Banning the two individuals involved (a 57 year old man and a 27 year old woman)
  2. Proposed strengthening the age verification procedures in SL drastically.
  3. Reiterating their zero tolerance for child pornography.
So is sexual ageplay in SL between two adults bad?

In my view sexual contact or interaction between an adult and a child is unquestionably and horribly bad. Clearly how bad depends on the specifics but that is beside the point here. Are depictions in the form of cartoons, drawings, computer graphics, etc. of sexual interaction between an adult and child also flat out bad? Now I am not interested in the strictly legal question here. There are laws on the books regarding this in some jurisdictions and I am not qualified to comment on them. What is at issue here is whether it is morally reprehensible (enough for SL citizens to support banning of the people involved) to create a depiction of an adult having sexual contact with a child? Lets make this simpler still. I am not talking about depictions that are intended as art but rather depictions meant purely to satisfy sexual fantasies as was most likely the case in the SL situation mentioned at the top.

My answer is that I believe that what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes or in the company of consenting and suitably warned adults is their own business. Yes, there are things that such adults might do (as in the issue at hand) that might make me regurgitate the contents of my stomach but perhaps I do things that might offend more refined sensibilities than mine. So yes, I buy into the "slippery slope" argument about where do we draw the line.

What do you all think?

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