Some men seemed to explode in anger, some women said thanks.
There seems to be a massive difference between how some males see this and how some females saw this article.
Some men seemed to explode in anger, some women said thanks.
There seems to be a massive difference between how some males see this and how some females saw this article.
I’m talking about the recent Fusion article regarding Women being harassed in Altspace VR.
There were several men who erupted in angry comments insisting among other things that this perspective is utter bollocks. They suggested that its not real sexual harassment, they mocked the idea, they trivialized the victims feelings, they suggested that it just happens and we should accept it, they argued against boundaries in VR arguing that it could lead to a different kind of abuse, some actually suggested that women should use male avatars, stop complaining, deal with it by blocking others, and some complained that we should not have articles about important social issues like the problem of women being harassed because real issues threaten to derail the VR hype train.
On the other hand there were a few women who left appreciative comments for the fact that this article was shared.
If you think the Fusion article is bullshit that could mean that you are one of the males who harass some of the women, it could mean you are someone who doesn’t have the slightest clue about the fact that some women are very different from some men in terms of how they understand boundaries and space. What does science, logic, reasoning, and debate have to do with not invading people’s personal sense of space?
Some women and some men are going to say this is bullshit but I think they are flagging themselves for the rest of us as the people who are being abusive toward a select few who are routinely targeted by abusive people.
If a person takes the position that this kind of behavior isn’t harassment, then they would not necessarily hesitate from behaving that way themselves towards others on occasion.
If a person doesn’t consider that to be harassment in the first place it does make sense that they would insist that they don’t go around harassing people in general even if they can consciously admit to themselves that they have done something like this.
If a person can’t admit that this is harassment then of course they will say they don’t harass people. Of course they will make jokes to deflect.
If a person don’t consider their own behavior to be harassment that doesn’t mean that other people don’t consider their behavior harassment. You can never rely on someone to self report that they have been harassing other people.
The key thing here for people to understand is that it’s not how you define your behavior that’s important, it’s how the other person defines and understands that behavior.
When the sensitive person’s feelings are trivialized, that is a kind of demonization that in the first place justifies abusive behavior.
If there is no empathy, acceptance, and consideration for the other person’s alternative point of view then the only remedy will be for people who flag themselves as abusers to slow lose friends and contacts as other people around them begin to see the signs of it.
Please read the original story at Fusion:
Virtual reality has a huge sexual harassment problem
AltspaceVR, a "cross-platform virtual environment" that launched on Oculus Rift earlier this month, is supposed to be a…fusion.net
Then comment on the actual discussion thread in the group Virtual Reality on Facebook, and read it for yourself in it’s original context here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/virtualrealitys/permalink/1005617202864277/