Real Life Gender Disclouser

[Dagda Forzane]

Saw a place today that said due to Second Life TOS and sexual play a perosn must disclose their Real Life Gender.  I have tried to find this in the TOS and have not been able to. Is this factual if so I can get the location in the TOS for this or is this just a sim owner over stepping their bounds by collecting the Real Life Genders of those wishing to participate, since their information is open for anyone to come and collect?

[Rolig Loon]

It is not true.  You are under no obligation to disclose your RL gender, although anyone is free to ask.  Of course, the region owner is under no obligation to let you have access to the region, either.  

If anyone does know anything other than the public information in your profile and discloses it without your permission, he is violating the TOS.  See the Community Standards: " Sharing personal information about your fellow Residents without their consent -- including gender, religion, age, marital status, race, sexual preference, alternate account names, and real-world location beyond what is provided by them in their Resident profile -- is not allowed. " So, if you don't want details of your private life shared, don't give your consent.  In your place, I would choose a different place to enjoy in Second Life. 

[Lindal Kidd]

What Rolig said.

Or you could lie.  The person asking for this information is being...um, overly optimistic.  Let me illustrate this with a fictional encounter between two avatars...

Biff Avatar:  Hello there!  You're beautiful.

Barbie Avatar:  Hi Biff!  Thank you.

Biff:  Are you a man or a woman?

Barbie:  Duh!  What does it look like?  I'm a woman.

Biff:  I mean in Real Life...

Barbie:  Oh, sure.  I'm a girl in RL too.  Check the First Life section of my profile.

Biff:  Wow!  You're gorgeous in Real Life too!  Wanna go somewhere?

Biff feels reassured, but what does he know, really?  Barbie SAID she was female in RL, and he's seen a picture.  But...did she tell the truth, or not?  Was the picture of her, or an image she lifted from some random website or FaceBook?  Biff is no better off than before he asked his nosy question.

Our anonymity here in SL (and on the internet in general) is a form of freedom.  It lets us present ourselves as the person we'd rather be, instead of the person we are.  This freedom can be abused by those who want to hide behind a mask to deceive or to get away with something.  On the other hand, most people don't have any malicious intent when they use these digital masks...and those who insist on trying to look behind them need to learn to live with uncertainty.

[Madelaine McMasters]

Well, I certainly have malicious intent. That's really me in my RL profile picture, and it took all my willpower not to bite Anne Francis.