technoculture314-09

Like online pornography, sex scenes in Second Life focus on the commodification of sex. According an online BBC article, in order to have sex in Second Life, people first need to buy genitalia for their avatars (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7729207.stm). Male genitalia can be bought according to aspects such as colour of skin, size, ejaculation, sounds and animations. A range of other sexual items can be bought, for example beds that enable the avatars to have sexual interactions. The division of sex into categories such as these in order to make sales encourages users to see sex as a commodity. ‘User-generated’ pornography, another trend of online porn, can also been seen in Second Life, as it is the users that create the narratives and sex scenes.

However, the sex industry of Second Life can also be seen as a new development of online pornography. Second life can be seen to cater for those mentioned in Matt Richtel’s article Lights, Camera, Lots of Action. Forget the Script (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/business/media/08porn.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=porn%20internet&st=cse) who would prefer to have more ‘character development’ combined with sex. Although the sex scenes in Second Life are rudimentary, they allow people to go beyond simply watching. Through the creation of an avatar, people can interact in sex scenes and also create their own sexual narrative through conversation and the control of their avatar. Sex in Second Life could be seen as a development from standard online pornography towards virtual sex.

The lecture put forward the question of ‘why do people participate in Second Life?’ I think this can be partly explained by the fact it is a place that sex is easily obtainable. We were told that online pornography is the main financial driver of new media. In Second Life, the porn industry acts much the same way, as it is the main money maker in this virtual world. Second Life also allows a person to experience escapism, and the chance to play out fantasy roles. People can achieve and explore lives that their real world life may not allow them to. This may also explain the thriving sex industry, as in the ‘real world’ it is seen as such a taboo industry.