Sexual harassment can happen anywhere, and it also exists in the 3 Dimensional virtual reality world, which is now popularly called the metaverse. Some have even experienced it and this raises its own concerns.
Nina Jane Patel, a psychologist who conducted research in the metaverse, admitted to being raped in the metaverse last December. He recounted his experience as real.
"Because virtual reality is designed to be as real as possible, it's like inviting someone into your living room, so the harassment feels worse than it's felt on social media platforms," he was quoted as saying by the Independent, Tuesday (22/2/2022 ).
The incident occurred on the Horizon Venues metaverse platform developed by Facebook. "Just 60 minutes after joining, I was verbally and sexually harassed. Three or four male avatars, with male voices, raped my avatar and photographed it. When I tried to stay away they shouted, don't pretend not to enjoy it," he said.
He mentioned that there have been several women who have experienced it. "Sexual harassment and violence is a big problem in the metaverse in its current condition. Some women say they also experience sexual harassment there," she added.
He called the metaverse must be completely free of such dangers. Meta itself has responded and promised to take various precautionary measures.
"We're sorry to hear this happened. We want everyone at Horizon Venues to have a positive experience, to easily find security features that can help in situations like this - and help us investigate and take action," Meta said at the time.
On the other hand, research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate calls for many violations in the metaverse. Some underage users were harassed, some women were stalked and insulted by two men and several other incidents.
Meta is also expected to take firm measures immediately, such as not allowing minors to use the platform.
"There are some instances where users threaten to rape other users. Some threaten repeatedly. There are also users who aggressively ask for contact from other users, even on users who claim to be underage. Usually, it is done by men to women," said Callum Hood. the institute's director of research.
"If Meta doesn't take the issue seriously, the problem will get worse. There are already people taking advantage of new opportunities in the metaverse and virtual reality to harass people and spread hatred," he concluded.