Virtually Vulnerable

Navigating concepts of personal safety, consent and privacy in the realm of virtual reality dating

- Rakhi Bose

19-YEARS-OLD Rini (name changed) from Kolkata, a paraplegic, had great expectations from the metaverse. With her ailment rendering the lower half of her body immobile, Rini had always dreamed of running. And in the realm of virtual reality, it seemed possible to make her dream come true. Her joy, however, didn’t last long.

“Having virtual legs is not enough to be able to run when you get attacked,” she recalls.

Last Valentine’s Day, Rini had a virtual date. She used a popular dating app promising “safe and magical dates via virtual reality” to match with another avatar. They met at a virtual park.

“At first, it was good, but then he began to touch my avatar inappropriately,” Rini recalls. Rini quickly exited, but it wasn’t before the date groped her avatar in her private parts and subjected her to verbal harassment.

“It’s funny how I couldn’t think of using my avatar’s legs to run away or kick in the metaverse because that could not have been my own natural response. That’s how real it feels,” says Rini, who never reported the incident to the dating app or any cybercrime authorities. She is wary of the metaverse now. When asked why she never reported the incident, she says, “People have a hard time believing sexual violence in real (life), I don’t think virtual molestation would be considered a real thing.”

It nevertheless is, and incidents like the one Rini faced, are being increasingly reported from the metaverse, which is understood to be a shared, immersive, persistent, 3D virtual space accessible to humans through avatars or virtual personas.