A Internet Network Relationship Diagram

The circle in the center shows the Internet connectivity of the two. One has 3 connections which provide links to the various Cloud services in which a relationship between the two is established. This diagram show real time communications with solid lines and asynchronis relations with a dotted line. The top world is a Virtual World, the lower boxes could be emails or social network based communications which support and expand the relationship. One impact of using this asynchronis systems is the one of the members has more points of access to the relationship.

Take me in your arms

Embedded Video

Romantic play is a core element of Virtual Reality social existence, shown here. And that is to a large extent driving gender role identification, I think.

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Sex for sale

Sex for sale
Originally uploaded by rober1236jua

SL Pile Up on Aaaah Oh

SL Pile Up on Aaaah Oh
Originally uploaded by @--->Brandy<---@

Here is a radical statement of gender in SL

An image of the female from Second Life

 

I find this image a bit odd. Firstly the creator Lapin Paris kicked me and a few other people out of a group for daring to talk about the status of Africa in the Internet and on Second Life. Yet the ad still comes, Capitalism.

But beyond my petty emotions the image itself is strange. I am not entirely sure where the source of the blood is suppose to be. In fact looking closely at it we can see that this is absurdest blood, impossible blood. Blood that soaks and spatters the bottom of a long dress until it is soaked like a burka in the rain, and yet leaves the shoes barely touched and does not spatter to the face or chest. This blood that spatters but not like blood spatters in a body. Perhaps it is the product of some kind of blood spattering machine, or an image of an unpleasant surgical event translated on to a gown without existing there.

What makes a woman

 

What social forces and practices make a woman? How is the a woman produced through work? And, does that work start with culture or go back to mammal radical seperation of female sexual function and male?

These are the issues that keep me up at night. I really can't see how to fit biology in to a deeper question of gender discourse. I have no idea gender is contructed, but our constructions as humans often take advantage of biology. And the limits of biology have often imposed different roles to male and female. You can't tend a child and hunt at the same time and human children can't be left alone.

Perhaps this is the Greeks interest in the myth of the Amazons. They must have understood that there would be no reason for women not to fight, and women from the regions near Russia, Georgia, and Iran where nomadic tribes raised horses could produce an very deadly weapon. A female, light and yet strong (women were strong in antiquity if not in the Victorian age), with a speak and bow.

The Greeks of Homer's age were mostly infantry forces but they had horses, and the raised horses and they must have known a boy can defeat a man on a fast horse, if the boy is good. It would make sense to field an army of female calavry unites just as today it would make sense to field units of them in tanks and jets, reduction of wieght can make a major difference in a battle.

But Western Culture never tried with this. Russia used women in WWI and WWII combat but none of the Axis or Allies did so in such a major way. Women could fight but they don't, because warrior has a status in our culture women can not be allowed to tradionally hold.

Rober1236 Jua the Cyber Trekker of Second Life

Is Second Life part of Hardt and Negri's concept of Empire?

Hardt and Negri entire text of the box Empire

http://www.infoshop.org/texts/empire.pdf

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The view of from a dominated av in SL

WTH Identiy as Budges

WTH

These set show identity as budges without gendering.

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DeeDee from Flickr and Second LIfe and posted on Flickr

DeeDee

Second Life residents create identities in-world and then often post particular visions of these identities in to Flickr.  Photo-processing is used to highlight a kind of identity the users wish to promote.  Looking at Flickr the overwhelming body images involve radical hyper assertions of gender, like this one from DeeDee.

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Keljar and Draakje... in love

Keljar and Draakje... in love

Second Life in particular and the Internet in general are scenes of radical conflict in the strategic engagement of gender. In Second Life some very radical assertions as to the meaning of gender are made every day, and on Flickr the finalised "imagio" that someone is looking for, the "picture perfect" identity is presented, and is usually presented in a highly genderised image like this one.

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Is this Bondage RP sexy?

This image shows the kind of fantasy RP that is now possible with several VR systems. What will be the impact of such intense imaging of anything possible sexually?

GIMPING out a SL female in Amsterdam

This photo was taken of a female AV walking the streets of Amsterdam. The real AV is the smaller one, the very thin one. I gimmed it to make it look more real. The background picture is her image made more realistic.

She also looks way hotter I think

A Gorean Scene in Second LIfe

 


http://slurl.com/secondlife/Baybreeze%20Shores/36/17/22

The woman in a political context

Protesting, libral arab female. Shill masacare, ear rings, flower in her hair, and a nice curl.




The European leftist woman refuses make-up, and takes on to herself the clothing of arab resistence, thought the scarf is most likely made in China. Postmodern identity among Europeans makes for a complex blend of fashion, politics, sexuality, and art.



And there are the women who have gone beyond Carrie in Sex in the City, they have accepted that since it is the fact that everything in sexual relations is the fault of the woman the woman must go utterly covered.

Though I respect cultural diversity, I suspect living in London that black outfits that fully cover everything but the eyes are very practicle. But then again its not likely most people are dressing well.

But whereas the European traditional citizen has a diversity of choice, a freedom which is in great part created by consumerism to promote Late Capitalism. Consumerism is the thing Marx didn't see, the way the contradictions could be resolved forever. In the context of consumerism Englightment ideas of equality and freedom become critical. And there are provided a wide set of identities to select. Nothing like this is available for the girl above.

What is a woman?

Sadly if you want to know what the social definition of a woman is, or what a woman should be you have to go ask men.

Touch does not exist in SL, so this RL post from a scholar sex worker is interesting insight of the construction of touch.

physical touch in personal settings

physical touch in personal settings

It's odd, but since I've been back from Poland I've been perhaps overly aware of personal space. Like a feral cat, I become curious about human contact but easily spooked- a lack of sexual contact or context has left me unsure how to handle cuddling with my lovers.

Work is easier. First, I'm usually the Domme, so I get to decide how much contact and it's on my terms. There's an end point, so if I set an expectation high I don't have to do it again, I can just not session with that person anymore. I'm also not going to hurt someone's feelings, the way I might if I shrink away from a lover.

It's odd, being in this sexual world when I'm not really that sexual privately. It's not because of the work I do, I don't think- I get a different sort of rush out of it, the rush of power I suppose, though I have been surprised at how turned on I get in scene. I have recognized through my work that kink is very important for turning me on- erotic massage doesn't do it for me, but if I get to slap your face, my clit responds for sure.

No, I think that as I don't often cum with a partner, sex can be disappointing, because either I'm working for the other person's orgasm, or I'm just wishing I could cum more easily. Working for the other person's orgasm is fun, sure, but I have to be in the right space to put the energy into it... if I've had 3 clients that week, I might be a bit used up in that department. Also, the less sex I have, the less I desire, so it goes into a spiral. MENTALLY I desire the closeness, the intimacy, the orgasms- but I have so much experience with people complaining their wrists hurt, or not being able to maintain a sensation, or just not quite getting there, that I've given up. Things that are different make it easier- sex outdoors, sex in public, sex with strangers, trying something new I haven't incorporated into my play already- those things make me cum hard. But they make me cum hard because they're rare.

Physical touch, then, becomes almost sexual for me, because it's not something I tend to do just for the sake of it. I mean, I'm a hugger, that's ok for me- but other than that, I have to remind myself to hold hands, or pet hair, or do whatever. And as it's not so much a way to show me affection (I like service more, or doing something for me because I ask it) it can feel more like a chore than sweet.

Just some musings on the subject after discussing it with my girlfriend yesterday..

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&quot;If women ran the world, there wouldn't be any war..."

"If women ran the world, there wouldn't be any war..."

"...nations would tease each other until they developed eating disorders. "

From Domme Scholar PurrVersatility

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The Internet makes me feel fat

Here in the body-obsessed ‘Matrix,’ we're all more self-conscious than ever

By Helen A.S. Popkin

MSNBC

updated 8:56 a.m. ET Aug. 29, 2008

Helen A.S. Popkin

Here’s my "big" problem with the “Matrix” franchise.

It’s not the idea that the “reality” humankind perceives is actually an illusion created by intelligent machines as a means to keep us in a docile state of suspended animation while our bodies are harvested as a power source.

Nor does the beautiful man oft described as “our least talented A-list actor,” portraying humanity’s savior, prevent me from suspending the required disbelief.

This is what drives me nuts. If in the “Matrix,” as in the virtual community “Second Life,” you can dictate the appearance of your online representation, or “avatar,” then why oh why does Morpheus choose to be … um … well … speaking colloquially … fat.

“Fat basher!” is the immediate response from Ree, my colleague in late night nerd proselytizing, whenever I start up this conversation. “Plus, he’s hardly ‘fat!’”

Ree (who takes pride in making her Wii Miis conform to the American body norm) is right. Morpheus (as portrayed by the iconic Laurence Fishburne) is probably within the high end of his BMI … but he sure ain’t Cowboy Curtis. And in a reality where you could look like Keanu Reeves … why don’t you? Why doesn't everyone? Men, women, tiny babies … everyone.

That is my big “Matrix” disconnect. In the Internet age with its endless playground for reinvention and resources for human understanding, it’s painfully clear just how hung up we are on appearances. Even in a world — heck, especially in a world — where computers control our illusions, nobody wants to feel like — let alone be seen as — anything less than an “8.” The deluge of cyberspace images and social cues is making us more self conscious than ever.

Take, for example, the popularity of sites that post before-and-after photos of airbrushed celebrities, such as this entry on the online community crazyGossip. Even more disturbing, there’s the before and after photos on such sites as AwfulPlastic Surgery.com.

These are the Internet age versions of “Stars without makeup!” once the province of gossip rags. With the Internet, however, we don’t have to wait until we hit the supermarket checkout to ponder these sights. We get a 24/7 barrage from our friends e-mailing the nasty little links, along with their comments and criticisms.

We non-famous people whose jobs don’t revolve around our looks (flame author here) don’t need to page Dr. Freud to understand we obsess on these sites to feel better about ourselves. When we unilaterally agree that a size 2 Jennifer Love Hewitt is a pig, including JLH who publicly announced her recent 18-pound weight loss, it’s fairly obvious.

A recent entry in Salon.com’s must-read feminist blog Broadsheet both called out and complimented Alessandra Stanley's New York Times story on weight-loss reality TV shows. The blog writer, body-acceptance activist Kate Harding, praised Stanley for acknowledging that "against a loop of talk shows and made-for-TV dramas about eating disorders, Americans are goaded into ever more drastic and extreme expectations of physical perfection."

Earlier in the piece, however, Harding criticizes Stanley’s seemingly incongruous statement that programs such as “The Biggest Loser” feed complacency in viewers, in part by creating an illusion that the arduous road to weight loss is no biggie. Harding writes, “How does being inspired to diet represent ‘complacency’ about one's (or one's kid's) fatness again?”

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CNN on pedophile sex in Second Life

Embedded Video

Typical Media Horro, pedophile as the Communist of the media age

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Sim Sex

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The Second Life Sex Bed Case

Embedded Video

This is thanks to the Mac and Linux people out there

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From the Guardian, which is my paper in London

Getting up close and very personal in virtual worlds

Virtual sex has taken a step forward via software, but it throws up some discussion about real-world fidelity and how we behave online

• Paul McNamara
• The Guardian,
• Thursday September 4 2008
• Article history

People have been getting it together online for years now, whether it's via dating and contact websites or virtually via their avatars in online worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. But it took a Florida plumber to develop a system that further blurs the line between the virtual and real worlds.

"I've been called the Hugh Hefner of the digital millennium," says 47-year-old SL entrepreneur Kevin Alderman. "I consider myself a facilitator and an innovator." Alderman was quick to sign up to the virtual world program when it launched in mid-2003. And while he happily lost many an hour to cyberspace, there was something about SL that annoyed him.

"The characters on screen - the avatars - couldn't touch. There was a barrier in the coding and they'd bounce off each other." Alderman set up Eros, which is now a multimillion pound software company, and the next step on the evolutionary ladder for cybersex was born.

Using the SexGen software developed by Eros, users can "interact" with each other more fully. "We go the full spectrum from a kiss or caress, right through to all the positions of the Kama Sutra - anything you can imagine. You type, or say, what you want to do and the avatars do it. And they make a full range of noises."

Sexed-up avatars

Eros also customises avatars so you can turn your run-of-the-mill onscreen representation into any type of anatomically correct stud or vixen you can think of. Alderman's own alter-ego - the rugged lothario Stroker Serpentine - is now something of an SL legend. "And then I met Fyre Rain, who I love dearly and became my online partner," he says.

Which would be a fairytale ending to the story ... if it were not for the fact that Kevin is happily married with two children. "I'm very honest with my wife about what I do, we have a strong relationship, and I couldn't do this without her support." His wife, Debbie, agrees. "I absolutely don't think it's cheating - because she's a cartoon character in my mind," she says.

"He might be physical with himself, but he's not actually physical with her, and that doesn't bother me. It's a role, a fantasy, a character." But what of the emotional connection he has with a woman who lives nearly 1,000 miles away, with her own real-life husband and children? They claim to be in love with each other; doesn't that count as adultery?

"No [it's not emotional cheating], as you can have an emotional relationship with many people, but that doesn't make it adulterous," says Debbie. She also didn't have a problem when Kevin's online partner started getting jealous because he wasn't spending enough time on SL, or when Kevin met Fyre Rain in the real world. ("It was very nice," said Kevin. "There wasn't any sexual awkwardness, it was just like meeting up with an old friend, although it was a little odd when we went back to having sex online.") However, Debra does concede: "If she was hot and 20 I might have to think again."

Dr Sarah Munwah, a pyschologist from Berkeley University, doesn't agree. "I think it is very much cheating, and I think they're kidding themselves if they don't think of it that way. This is a situation where you have to be withdrawing some of your energy from [your wife] and your family in order to pursue another relationship. You wouldn't feel comfortable doing that in the real life, and it may not be skin to skin, but you're still doing essentially the same thing."

Aside from issues of adultery, Munwah admits she finds SL fascinating. "It is a very interesting area in terms of psychology. Because of the barrier the virtual world creates, people feel less inhibited and will experiment with experiences and personality traits they would not normally consider.

"The real question this leads to is, which relationship is more honest? The real world where people are often embarrassed to say what they really feel, or the virtual whose mask allows relationships to develop uninhibited?"

Both online infidelity and real/virtual world relationship development were investigated in the BBC One documentary Wonderland: Virtual Love and Cyber Space in January. The programme followed "Carolyn" as she receded ever more into the virtual world, spurning her husband and four children, for "Elliot".

Things came to a head when "Carolyn" flew from Pennsylvania to London. Alas it turned out, that the real-world "Elliot" didn't quite match up to his muscle-bound, weapon-clad, topless online persona.

"I think I had more hopes that it [the relationship] could be carried outside of SL," said a weepy "Carolyn" who subsequently returned home to rebuild her real-life marriage.

So what does the future hold for online lovers? Alderman sees the future becoming even more interactive. "We sell products that remotely actuate, erm, 'marital aids', from within the virtual world. I can have a device operated halfway across the planet."

Alderman believes that his $40,000 sensor suit which he uses for avatar development, converting real-life movements in to digital movements, will be able to be used in real time when internet speeds quicken.

Having a stroke

And he is working on a way to combine this with other technology which could lead to scenes that were once only the realm of sci-fi movies such as The Lawnmower Man. "There are systems - haptic technology - that use electronic pulses to contract muscles. So by using this as an interactive device you can actually feel like someone is touching, or stroking, or caressing you. We're currently looking into them ... they're only a couple of years away."

Many a Second Life addict may well never leave the house again.

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Wedding in Extropia

On his Podcast "The Future and You" Boc Cryotank has argued for different between communication users and identity users, but he seems to have joined in the virtual fun here..

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Becoming a woman

 
 
 



Woman are made not porn, through series of practices the female is materialised in the culture.

I´m back !!!

I´m back !!!
Originally uploaded by Ludmilla Writer

I´m back !!!

My holidays just ended.
I've built part of what will be my new island, with Zonja's help; without she it had not been possible.
I'm happy, and, now, again, with all of you.


Mis vacaciones han terminado.
He construido parte de lo que será mi nueva isla, con la ayuda de Zonja; sin ella no hubiera sido posible.
Estoy feliz y, ahora, otra vez, con vosotros.

Uploaded by Ludmilla Writer on 2 Sep 08, 6.12AM PDT.