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Scylla Rhiadra

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Everything posted by Scylla Rhiadra

  1. Scylla Rhiadra
    This is both hilarious and kind of adorable. 🙂
  2. Scylla Rhiadra
    On the subject of the change to the rules about what we can discuss, though, I have to say that I've been pleasantly surprised to discover that we can, in fact, discuss politics, "social justice," and all manner of things seemingly forbidden -- so long as they are discussed within the context of SL. So, talk about BLM in the real world? No. Which, ok . . . fine. Talk about the fact that a "publisher" of a popular SL magazine has recently publicly trashed a creator for selling a pro-BLM tee? That would, I'm pretty confident, be allowable here.
  3. Scylla Rhiadra
    Without any question. At least one long-time forum perennial (and my best friend) no longer posts here at all because of the censorship and restrictions upon what we can discuss. That's not actually due to the mods themselves, though, who I think may be the best we've ever had -- at least in the post-Residents Answers era. Rather, it's the rules that they've been tasked with enforcing. I don't think the moderation here is harsher at all: on the contrary, I think it's far more context-sensitive and rational. While I'm sure that there have been times when Dyna or Quartz wanted to kick my butt all the way to the cornfield, the fact is that every warning or suspension I've ever had here came from . . . a Linden.
  4. Scylla Rhiadra
    So, all it would take is a gentle push then?
  5. Scylla Rhiadra
    I think this is probably correct. Both Bloodlines and Gor were huge back in the day, but seem to have been a bit faddish. Looking at numbers at the two links Silent posted above, I get the sense the Gorean community has dwindled generally. I think that the closest equivalent these days is D/s and BDSM, in all of its flavors (but mainly casual and not "by the book" either). They've always been around but are, I think, a lot more prevalent and visible than they once were.
  6. Scylla Rhiadra
    Oh sure, definitely. And there were these weird anomalous offshoots, like "women-friendly" Gorean communities too; I remember being invited to check one out by someone who knew of my objections to "by-the-book" Gor. Yeah, it got adapted in lots of different ways by RPers who just saw it as . . . convenient, I think. I'd still have objections to it, though, even while getting that most of those involved aren't buying into the ideology. A "woman-friendly" Gor would be a bit like "Pro-Black Antebellum Plantation RP" -- only much fun if you get to burn down the plantation eventually.
  7. Scylla Rhiadra
    Gor isn't merely about consensual non-consent, although that's obviously an element of it. Gor isn't classic BDSM or D/s. The latter are non-gendered, and one's role as a Dom/me or sub isn't determined by one's gender: you can have, obviously, Dommes and male subs. Gor, on the other hand, is premised on the idea that women are, by their very nature, subordinate and subservient, and men dominant. It brings a whole lot of additional, and highly problematic baggage to the table (unsurprisingly, as it is based upon a series of novels that were an explicit retort to the women's lib movement of the 60s and 70s). It also does not have an explicit contract for power exchange, as D/s and BDSM does. It doesn't "need" one because, well, women are always subservient -- you don't need to "negotiate" that. I am sure that most Goreans, and especially the women who engage in this kind of RP, see it merely as a ready-made "Dungeons and Dragons" variant on BDSM RP. I doubt that most of them subscribe to the view -- as John Norman, the author of the books, very explicitly did -- that women are inferior. Probably a great many have never read the novels, or know anything about their genesis. But there is always going to be a degree of complicity with that viewpoint if you engage in this kind of RP.
  8. Scylla Rhiadra
    Well, at least half of the kajirae were likely men anyway, so it's no wonder! Honestly, who'd want to be a woman? (In Gor.)
  9. Scylla Rhiadra
    Awww, I'm sorry! But I'm sure you'll get it done. OR you could be like me, and just take public transit and cycle or walk everywhere. But I know that's not always an option. (I've never even tried to learn to drive. I can't handle the idea of trying to avoid killing people while manoeuvering a 1,500 kg block of steel, glass, and plastic around at high speeds. The very idea terrifies me, honestly.)
  10. Scylla Rhiadra
    Lear's second daughter, Regan . . . a piece of work. Regan sees in Edmund (a cynical and sociopathic son of Gloucester who is working to make himself king) a powerful ally, but she knows that her sister Goneril is also trying to seduce him. She promises him much, and ultimately succeeds . . . only to be poisoned by her jealous sister. REGAN Now, sweet lord, You know the goodness I intend upon you; Tell me but truly, but then speak the truth, Do you not love my sister? EDMUND In honored love. REGAN But have you never found my brother’s way To the forfended place? EDMUND That thought abuses you. REGAN I am doubtful that you have been conjunct And bosomed with her as far as we call hers. EDMUND No, by mine honor, madam. REGAN I never shall endure her. Dear my lord, Be not familiar with her. (I hope that this is sufficiently SFW for this thread!)
  11. Scylla Rhiadra
    Thank you, but no, this is a conventional female avi. It's a LeLutka head -- I don't remember which one, offhand. Side note: I found a place that sells beautiful "Viking" women's clothing. I think it's mostly made from commercial mesh (and in one case, Meli Imako), but the texturing is fantastic. Pricey though. I am using them as sort of "stand ins" for Saxon and, in this case, Celtic costuming, because there was lots of cross-over decoratively between those three cultures (as for instance the "Celtic knot," which appears also in Saxon and Viking decorative motifs), and the actual cut of the clothing is pretty much the same. I'm a little sorry that you can't see her dress better in this!
  12. Scylla Rhiadra
    Test shot of my take on King Lear's eldest daughter, Goneril. This isn't actually a scene from the play, but rather an attempt to capture something of her character. Both of Lear's daughters are horrible, but Goneril is particularly monstrous. When her sister Regan suggests that they hang Gloucester for his loyalty to their father, Goneril seizes upon Gloucester's comment that he'd rather have his eyes plucked out than betray his king, and orders instead that his eyes be gouged out. And when Regan successfully vies for the attentions of Gloucester's son, Edmund, her intense sexual jealousy leads her to poison her sister. Not a nice person.
  13. Scylla Rhiadra
    Probably half the weddings I've been to in SL have been same-sex marriages. I am sure that Luna is correct, and that there are places that would not allow them, but I'm also pretty sure that they are exception, rather than the norm. Find a place you like, and then inquire about its availability for you. Specify explicitly that it's a lesbian wedding if you prefer, or just imply it in your inquiry, but honestly I don't think you're going to have a very hard time finding a nice place for this.
  14. Scylla Rhiadra
    Thank you for answering my question seriously, which is actually all I wanted . . . although I could have done without the ad hominems at the end. My point is that you and everyone else are in SL because it provides something in the way of an emotional affect. It might just be the pleasure of visiting a beautiful sim. It might be the sense of exploring an unexplored part of your self: perhaps D/s or gender or sexuality. Maybe you're here for the sex. Maybe it's the friendships. Whatever -- all of these things produce emotional affect. All of them impact on us in some way, or there would be literally no point in being here at all. We'd be staring blankly at a screen wondering why we were bothering at all And it's absurd to argue that SL produces only positive emotional or psychological or social impacts. If it's true that you gain something positively from your friendships here, it can also be true, of necessity, that those friends can "hurt" you. If they can't, then you're not treating them as what they are: real people. You're treating them as algorithms. The kinds of negative impacts, which might well include a sense of vulnerability on occasion, are going to depend on how you approach SL. Possibly you DO approach it rather blankly, as though everything here, including the people, are rather "unreal." Others don't. And to assume that your approach is the only valid one is not merely arrogant; it's also ridiculously solipsistic. There are other experiences of the world, including SL, than your own.
  15. Scylla Rhiadra
  16. Scylla Rhiadra
    /me pours you a coffee, and sits down opposite you. Well, it all started when . . .
  17. Scylla Rhiadra
    You ALMOST had me at "rich chocolate." But I'm too smart for your Satanic blandishments!
  18. Scylla Rhiadra
    I don't know. Do I LOOK wiser?
  19. Scylla Rhiadra
    I'm sorry. We can't be friends anymore.
  20. Scylla Rhiadra
    Silent posted a link to a discussion from the old RA forum, ca. 2000, that involved me a day or so ago. Looking it over, I was astonished, and a little horrified, by my own tenacity and energetic enthusiasm for argument. God, it must have been exhausting. I don't have the energy for that sort of thing anymore. Or, perhaps, the self-assured confidence that I'm always "right."
  21. Scylla Rhiadra
    Maddy (who btw popped in here briefly earlier) has set me alight so often that I just need to blow on my appendages lightly and they burst into flame.
  22. Scylla Rhiadra
    Careful. You're woking a fine line here . . .
  23. Scylla Rhiadra
    There may, just possibly, have been a small but annoying conflagration here last night, involving me, that explains it. I regret everything. I regret nothing. FIGHT ME!
  24. Scylla Rhiadra
    Possibly, although I don't really find it so. My days of enjoying an argument for its own sake are largely behind me. Holding on to a discussion tenaciously can also just be counter-productive. It becomes boring and off-putting, and there comes a point where it is actually impeding public discussion, rather than contributing to it.
  25. Scylla Rhiadra
    This is too true. I have a basic rule of thumb -- if it looks as though responding will enable me to say something at least semi-useful or worthwhile, I'll respond. Because this is, after all, a public venue, and I'm not engaged in a private conversation: it's a public discussion. But once a discussion has devolved into a pointless repetition of views, or, worse, name-calling, I step away. I have, I think mostly, gotten much better at not feeling that I need to get in the last word, or always respond. Mostly.
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