A woman claims she was sexually harassed and “virtually gang-raped” in Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Metaverse.
Nina Jane Patel shared her harrowing experience of sexual harassment in a post on Medium.com.
Patel said within 60 seconds of joining Facebook’s Metaverse she was “verbally and sexually harassed” by 3-4 male avatars, with male voices, who “virtually gang raped my avatar and took photos.”
Patel described her “horrible experience that happened so fast and before I could even think about putting the safety barrier in place. I froze.”
“It was surreal. It was a nightmare.”
She cautions that virtual reality is designed so the user’s mind and body can’t differentiate virtual/digital experiences from real.
She says virtual reality simulates the 5 senses — including smell — to give users a realistic experience.
“My experience of sexual harassment was, to say the least, shocking,” she wrote.
She was offended by the comments from other Meta users when she shared her experience: “don’t choose a female avatar, it’s a simple fix.”, to “don’t be stupid, it wasn’t real”, and “a pathetic cry for attention”.
