Misogyny in the metaverse: is Mark Zuckerberg’s dream world a no-go area for women?

Less than two hours after I first entered the metaverse, I saw a woman’s avatar being sexually assaulted. When I approached her to ask her about the experience, she confirmed: “He came up to me and grabbed my ass.”

“Does that happen a lot?” I asked.

“All the time,” she replied, wearily.

I used my haptic controller to “pick up” a bright-yellow marker and moved towards a giant blackboard. “HAVE YOU BEEN ASSAULTED IN THE METAVERSE?” I wrote.

The response was near instantaneous. “Yeah, many times,” someone shouted.

“I think everybody’s been assaulted in the damn metaverse,” one woman replied immediately, in a US accent.

“Unfortunately, it is too common,” a British woman added, nodding.

Both women told me they had been assaulted multiple times.

During my time in the metaverse, sexual harassment and unwanted sexual comments were almost constant. I heard one player shout: “I’m dragging my balls all over your mother’s face,” to another and witnessed male players making claims about “beating off”, as well as comments about “gang bangs”. My virtual breasts were commented on repeatedly. I did not witness any action taken in response – whether by a moderator or by another player.

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