Sexual harrassment in a virtual world - where is the line drawn?

I take sexual comments like “that’s what she said” as a joke and I don’t mind. Now if you’re asking me what my breast size is and you’re asking personal questions like “what gets you wet” is sick and I take that as sexual harassment.

The line between flirting and harassment seems pretty simple: people flirt online if they are interested. It becomes harassment when the other person says that they are not interested, but it doesn’t stop.

I’ve participated in a few social sites, including eHarmony, Second Life, Facebook, and Fluther. Flirting has been experienced on all four. All have stopped with an explanation of my personal interests or when I asked.

I feel safer on a website where there is control over how much personal contact information is given out and when there are controls, including moderators, that can help manage it. There are enough cases about how harassment and restraining orders, at least in the US, are handled in the real world that it is more worrisome scenario.

ok that is deplorable, but could i take this opportunity to draw our attention to the organised mass rape of defenceless Congolese women, regardless of age, see this. Outrageous!

I’ve played Second Life for 4 years and I’ve never been harassed, and very rarely been flirted with (male avatars tend not to get much of that unless they’re the stereotypical muscle-bound, tanned jocks, which mine is not). However I have seen it happen and I have seen people get very upset about it.

The difference between harassment in an online world and the real world, is that the online world always has that little X in the top-right corner. You can never be forced to experience something against your will in a virtual world because you always have an escape. (In Second Life you can simply teleport elsewhere. In most forums you can mute or block a user who is trying to harrass you). In the real world people don’t have that luxury.

So I have a great deal of difficulty equating online harassment with real-world harrassment.

It’s hard enough drawing the line in real life. It seems like virtual life is even more difficult. The HR people told me that “anything the complainant says is sexual harassment is harassment.” What kind of standard is that? Anyway, if a person feels like they are being sexually harassed, then according to that standard, they are being sexually harassed. Everyone has their own line, and every line is correct.

@wundayatta it’s very much like that here. But online, or in a virtual world, it’s very easy to get back to the safe side of the line.