Mother says she was virtually groped by three male characters within seconds of entering Facebook's online world Metaverse

[PrincessNikla]

On a visit this month, the mother-of-four entered the ‘lobby’ – a virtual space serving as an entry point. But within seconds she was pursued by the men’s avatars, who groped her, subjected her to a stream of sexual innuendo and took screen shots of the attack for several minutes as she tried to flee.

She had to tear off her headset – which covers her eyes and allows her to see the metaverse as her avatar sees it – to end the ordeal.

While she could not actually feel the avatars’ hands, Mrs Patel has suffered from anxiety since the attack – and fears for the safety of her three teenage girls and other women in this lawless virtual world.

She said: ‘I entered the Horizon Venues metaverse as an avatar who looked just like me – middle-aged, blonde and dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved top.

‘The space you enter is a lobby, like a theatre foyer. Within 60 seconds, three male avatars – who all had male voices – came towards me and touched me inappropriately.

‘Before I knew what was happening, they were taking screen shots of them touching my avatar, both my upper and lower body. While doing that, they said things like, “Don’t pretend you don’t love it.”

‘I tried to move away but they followed me. I didn’t know who these people were or have the time to stay and investigate.’

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10455417/Mother-43-avatar-groped-three-male-characters-online-Metaverse.html

I haven't been on there, so cannot comment on how often this happens and if she was unlucky or if it happens a lot. I agree that the 'men' (if they were men as they were avatars) were completely out of order.

I totally agree it is horrible, but 'an ordeal' ? 'suffered from anxiety' since the attack? How hard would it be to just take off your headset to get out of it?

really can't fathom how someone can be traumatised by a pretend event that didn't actually happen in real life. It's like being traumatised by Tom being hit over the head by Jerry when you are watching cartoons
It happened 'to' her though.
Just because it was virtual doesn't mean it will have felt any less real.

Women should boycott the Meta-verse.
Facebook has made it clear that it doesn't care about women and children being abused there. They're ignoring all calls about safeguarding and rules. Let them reap what they sow and let all the perverts and abusers 'play' together. It will make it nice and easy for the government and police to monitor them too.
I genuinely think we should have a co-ordinated boycott. Then all the abusers and apologists can keep each other company in their virtual cesspit.

It's always women's fault.

@MrsTrumpton

She went to the newspaper because it's a public interest story – parents are buying these VR headsets for their kids and the FB Metaverse is gaining in popularity and usage, so being warned about what might happen is a good thing.

I find it strange you want to minimise her lived experience. Where's your disapproval for the men who targeted her?

My pre teen children have just got VR headsets and I had no idea this kind of thing could happen so I for one am very grateful to her for bringing it to my attention. And even though I didn’t even think of this kind of shit happening, I’m not in the least bit surprised it does. For fucks sake, some men just have so little regard for us don’t they?

It's all a bit ridiculous to be honest.

@Wreath21 as PP are saying, users of the system are given advice on how to deal with poor behaviour from other users..

Here's a radical thought - how about users of the system being given advice on poor behaviour not being tolerated rather than having to advise other users how to deal with it? I know, I know, expecting people to behave like decent, reasonable human beings is just such an outlandish request far easier to just minimise and dismiss the impact on the victims of their bad behaviour, find some reason to blame the victim, expect those they behave badly towards to tolerate it or remove themselves, must never, ever, ever, expect the badly behaved not to behave badly or modify their behaviour in any way especially if they possess that magical Y chromosome.

I totally agree it is horrible, but 'an ordeal' ? 'suffered from anxiety' since the attack? How hard would it be to just take off your headset to get out of it?

Playing first person games in VR is completely different to playing them on a monitor. It does trigger responses something like real life, though not as strongly, obviously or they wouldn't be safe to play.

I can absolutely see that this could be upsetting and cause anxiety - just like written threats and abuse on social media can cause anxiety.

@EeeICouldRipATissue

really can't fathom how someone can be traumatised by a pretend event that didn't actually happen in real life. It's like being traumatised by Tom being hit over the head by Jerry when you are watching cartoons It happened 'to' her though. Just because it was virtual doesn't mean it will have felt any less real.

Why do women get upset when they are sent a dick pic by their boss? It's not like her boss actually put his erect penis 12 inches from her face, it was just a picture. No biggie. Just turn off your phone if you don't like it.

Kind of on the fence on this one. The language used is deliberately over the top, so I did initially do a bit of an eyeroll.

Then I remembered how MNers on fb piled on me for a blogpost that was promoted through MN bloggers. I was told I was stupid, 'deserved the abuse' & 'should expect to be stabbed'. I think I'm pretty resilient, but I was absolutely floored by it. People who knew nothing about me said those things publicly. People who are on this website.

So on reflection, I can see why she probably went into a bit of a state of shock to have that happen to her, unprovoked - and I have a lot of sympathy for her.

How dare women not exclude themselves from things rather than expecting men not to be perverts 🙄

@EeeICouldRipATissue

Oh. It's you. Amazing how often I see trans activists minimising sexual assault against women in general bit of a dickish response to someone just because they post in support of trans rights on here! I do too and voted and commented for YABU so have yet another eye roll

If you don't like people pointing out that your post is victim-blaming, perhaps don't press submit on the post?

May I say I find it fascinating that you've attempted to pull me up for responding, but you didn't say anything to Wreath about it.

I see your priorities here. We all do.

Seems like everyone is a victim these days

VR headsets are not meant to be used by anyone under 13. This is in the ToS that you will have signed when you activated them.

Sorry, that was meant to be for @FatFilledTrottyPuss

And just to add, all of the abuse I got was entirely from women. I know it's pretty much 99% men who are arseholes online, but there were plenty of women who told me I was an appalling mother who could have been murdered. My crime was standing up for another woman (a complete stranger) being threatened by an ex in public. For that, a MNer told me I should expect to be stabbed. No. I should expect that other people realise how their behaviour, online & in person, is unacceptable.

@XenoBitch

VR headsets are not meant to be used by anyone under 13. This is in the ToS that you will have signed when you activated them.

I forget what the minimum age is to have a Facebook page. And wet know that everyone abides by it, right?

And of course it's fine for a 13 year old girl to be cybergroped. She's clearly old enough to deal with it.

FFS

How dare women not exclude themselves from things rather than expecting men not to be perverts 🙄

Exactly, all this you can just turn your phone off or take your headset off age walk away shit is
Why the hell should we?
Surely it's the person doing the assault who should be penalised.

Men really do hate us don’t they? I think given free rein we’d all be raped and beaten within weeks.

I've never used VR so no idea how realistic it is. My initial reaction was "But it isn't real" but the more you think about it the more unpleasant it seems.

It is weird though because no one knows who you are so the victim could be a man and the male aggressors could be women. Maybe it could be a learning experience for men so they could understand how it feels.

Weird but interesting I think.

and walk away that should read

If a group of men deliberately target and sexually harass a woman, whether online or offline, and your immediate reaction is, 'Yes, but she should have...' then you need to take a hard look at yourself.

I tried a friends VR, it was a game where you had to walk a plank hanging off the edge of a skyscraper. It felt so real I couldn’t take a single step forward, my knees were jelly and by heart was thumping.

@ShinyHappyPoster

Women should boycott the Meta-verse. Facebook has made it clear that it doesn't care about women and children being abused there. They're ignoring all calls about safeguarding and rules. Let them reap what they sow and let all the perverts and abusers 'play' together. It will make it nice and easy for the government and police to monitor them too. I genuinely think we should have a co-ordinated boycott. Then all the abusers and apologists can keep each other company in their virtual cesspit.

What safeguarding would you want? It is already against Meta/Oculus terms to allow someone under the age of 13 to use it. Facebook Horizons is 18+. I know someone who has had her account blocked because she let her 5 year old go on it. People can and do get their accounts blocked for bad behaviour. It is easy record the behaviour, block the person, then report it. I am not sure what else can be done.

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea

Kind of on the fence on this one. The language used is deliberately over the top, so I did initially do a bit of an eyeroll.

Then I remembered how MNers on fb piled on me for a blogpost that was promoted through MN bloggers. I was told I was stupid, 'deserved the abuse' & 'should expect to be stabbed'. I think I'm pretty resilient, but I was absolutely floored by it. People who knew nothing about me said those things publicly. People who are on this website.

So on reflection, I can see why she probably went into a bit of a state of shock to have that happen to her, unprovoked - and I have a lot of sympathy for her.

That sounds really awful. Why would anyone think you should expect to be stabbed.

@TheGreatATuin

If a group of men deliberately target and sexually harass a woman, whether online or offline, and your immediate reaction is, 'Yes, but she should have...' then you need to take a hard look at yourself.

THIS