Womans rights in the Metaverse? Sexual violence against woman within a virtual world
A new global phenomenon is the growth of the Metaverse, the 3D virtual reality allows players to feel just 1.2 meters away from their avatar through glasses or a headset. The media engulfed the contemporary virtual experience, with players paying millions to buy virtual land and property. Advanced technology analysts predict it will become the world number one social network due to the social restrictions of the ongoing pandemic, and the Metaverse offers users an engaging world with no restrictions.
The Metaverse is supposed to be a place of self-expression and freedom, an escape from the mundane qualities of real life. However, where is the conversation on crime within a virtual world? It can be naive to think that in a virtual world society will shed all its previous criminal endeavors. The BBC crime unit reports that criminal behaviour can be caused by a person's freedom of choice. Freedom is the very foundation of the Metaverse. While most players use this for positive outlets, some may pursue their darker desires with their newfound freedom. This has become especially inherent with sexual violence against women in the Metaverse, the pivotal aspect of this post.
A new user came forward reporting to the independent that within ten minutes of joining the supposed safe community, her avatar was gang-raped and profusely violated, with other users even condoning the behaviour and encouraging it. Here is presented the vast misogynistic mindset allowed throughout the digital sphere.
Policymakers must ensure sexual violence is banished from the Metaverse and there is punishment served for those who commit such crimes. This could be done by creating internet governance that makes sexual violence illegal in 3D immersive games, therefore ensuring it is not allowed by their programming, and ensuring that gaming organisations are held criminally liable if these rules are not followed. Thus, further providing the foundation for the Metaverse platform regulation, whereby there should be a legally binding terms and agreement that ensures users cannot use sexual violence language or actions within the game, as it is a breach of conduct, and the user will be held criminally accountable.
The victim stated that due to the 3D nature of the game, the attack felt real. Just because it is in an online world does not mean sexual violence is not a punishable crime. Sexual assault is an underrepresented crime within the real world; therefore if the Metaverse creators seek to create a better virtual world, the offense should be eradicated.
Suppose such violence is allowed in this virtual concept. In that case, it creates a phycological precondition to users that it is acceptable in the real world, potentially increasing sexual violence within the offline world.
This raises the question: how influential the Metaverse is becoming and why those in charge are promoting and allowing such violence? Fear of rape is an atrocity all women have to live with, we are taught not to walk alone and many other tactics to avoid being raped, but how are you supposed to stop this in a virtual world? A world supposedly created for the safety and an escape from real life. Unfortunately, it has turned into a perverted fantasy allowed by misogynistic control. This highlights how there was no thought process of women's rights when creating the game, as if so, the possibility of rape in the Metaverse would be zero.
I call for a paradigm shift in the way people are educated on rape, specifically referring to education within schools, suggesting there should be consent lessons must be taught within national curriculums, presenting how consent is the same in the physical world as it is the online world. Likewise, consent should be a fundamental aspect of the Metaverse, with regulation being enforced by the international law to ban the ability of sexual violence within the Metaverse, as is just as much of a crime as it is in the physical world, despite its borderless nature. Therefore, being an online platform that actively implements women's rights and consent laws within its programming.
