Cyber-Rape: A Crime of the Mind?

In class today, we discussed Julian Dibbel's article on "A Rape in Cyberspace" and the implementations of cyber-action on the mind, on the real life (or "RL") and the online community and it's governance.


I found this article both fascinating and extremely twisted. It provided us with a look at a world that many of us have heard of and some of us are part of: an online community governed by their own accepted social normals for the community. It also provided us with a look at the dark side of these virtual communities. As users, we stumble upon groups and communities where we share photos, stories, etc online and while not necessarily always positive, it is more often than not, legal and within social norms. 


There's a dark side to the internet though. A violent side that we shun in the real world with consequences and punishment. But are there virtual consequences? Is the act of violating via typing an expression of violent action itself? These are questions that I couldn't help but ask myself while reading and during our class discussion. 


To understand the role of consequence for inappropriate behavior, we ultimately have to look at the concept of consequence and measure it in the real world vs the virtual world. Each person's consequence is different. In the real world, consequence for rape would include jail time but maybe criminals in the real world have no real consequence, which is why they act the way they do. They're lack of respect for the rules displays their lack of fear of those consequences. In the virtual world, the highest form of consequence in getting logged off/banned and socially unaccepted - which in theory, could be worse for these users. 


Taking a step back to the larger picture, the internet is a platform of expression with no boundaries. Behind the veil of computer screens and keyboards, people are given a second chance to recreate themselves, to express themselves in ways that they may feel uncomfortable expressing in the real world (for whatever reason), without the fear of real world consequences. This may tie back to individual personalities and psychological factors.


Now taking a look at Mr. Bungle, the online rapist, his actions and statements suggest that this online community is an escape for him, an expression and comfort zone where he can say or do what he wants without fear of real world consequences: 

"I engaged in a bit of a psychological device that is called thought-polarization, the fact that this is not RL simply added to heighten the affect of the device. It was purely a sequence of events with no consequence on my RL existence."

Considering his platform of expression and constant participation in the site (as explained in the article), in retrospect, being banned from this online community may potentially be a worse consequence for Mr. Bungle; the sting of being rejected in his own virtual comfort zone.

Moreover, it boggles my mind that users have this crazy idea that there are no "real world consequences" for virtual world behaviors. The virtual world is not Narnia; it is not an untouchable parallel universe. Besides legal action in cases of illegal activities, there is a psychological effect that carries on from the internet. The internet seems to be a therapist of some sort in which people vent and express themselves (look at Twitter for example). The violent act and wording of a cyber-rape could and probably did have detrimental psychological effects on the cyber-rape victim.

I could continue branching out on this subject so I should stop my train of thought here and potentially consider it for my final?