Is the word "Dildo" M-rated?

I disagree with LL's rough handling of this. Given the nature of SL and the way they're now marketing it as a place for international meetings ("in this international culture and economic community we call Second Life" - Hamlet Linden), I wonder if they will now hire linguists to ensure that no remotely-offensive slang term is used. Since some estimates put the count upwards of 5000 languages, I'm going to guess they won't even pretend to cover all the bases. Rather, they're going to discriminate. And that's always tricky.

Dildo is also the name of a town in Nova Scotia in Canada.

There must have been a hobbit somewhere named Dildo.

On a more important note... have you all scene THE DILDO SONG? SFWWH. (Safe For Work With Headphones - no nudity.)

Enjoy!

Honestly, this whole thing isn't that important to me. But I have the day off, and this is the only thread of interest at the moment... so I'm posting


My hunch is, someone in our 70,000+ member roster - took offense at the name, and abuse reported it. The abuse report triggered an analysis, and Linden made a judgement call.

I doubt this means that Linden is going to be hiring linguists to proactively rid our world of offensive content. But if someone complains, that sorta forces their hand to apply the TOS/CS test. With Linden's staff as short as it is, I find it hard to believe that a Linden is proactively checking names and reacting without some sort of complaint.

I'm sure we can debate this out, and find nuances that show some sort of injustice here. But at the end of the day, my common sense tells me that Linden did what they had to do.

I suppose then that you are not a fish.

Dildos are an important medical aid in the treatment of hysteria

I guess the first question I have is: what are the definitions of the PG and M rating? The wiki says that the ratings are derived from "movie rating system mixed with the video game rating system."

Ratings: movie videogame television

The wiki goes on to mention that "content/conduct in a PG rated sim can not contain nudity, sexual content, or profanity." This however is somewhat at odds with the MPAA's definition of PG: "Explicit sex scenes and scenes of drug use are absent; nudity, if present, is seen only briefly, horror and violence do not exceed moderate levels." And PG-13 is more permissive: "Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen; one use of the harsher sexually derived words may be heard."

The closest videogame rating to PG is either:
E 10+ (for Everyone 10 and Older): "Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language, and/or minimal suggestive themes."
T (for Teen): "Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood and/or infrequent use of strong language."

Perhaps TV offers us the closest analog to Second Life's PG/Mature ratings:
TVPG: "moderate violence (V), some sexual situations (S), infrequent coarse language (L), or some suggestive dialogue (D)."
TVMA: "graphic violence (V), explicit sexual activity (S), or crude indecent language (L).

Personally, I don't think the word dildo is offensive or obscene, but I would consider it suggestive. I'm a bit surprised they changed wuvme's alt's name.

I am Devo.

My common sense tells me Linden did what they felt like doing and what was most expeditious. Not what they "had" to do.

I think that it is obviously *not* a mature word but the judgement is subjective and someone made a call that perhaps they should not have at LL. I notice wuvme says she was away for a month, so it's possible that they could not get a hold of her.

There are lots of things like this that are not quite right IMO, but what are you gonna do about it?

My favorite (and one of the funniest ones), is that in the majority of western countries where SL is played, a female person has the right to walk around topless just as a male does, it's a matter of equal rights. Unfortunately, in prudish old-fashioned America it's still illegal, so in SL it is "illegal" to walk around with your top off in a PG sim.

It shouldn't be of course, but it is.

Technically it's a violation of our rights, but in reality we are only allowed to simulate "American RL" in SL, not European, Canadian or even Mexican RL.

The majority rules (even if they are crazy!)

/120/44/46125/1.html


that is an old poll i made.. Really old.

DILDOS ARE PG.. its PRIM DILDOS! hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

And using "Vagina" in the context of a safe-sex discussion is a far cry from naming your avatar "Vagina Woolf".

Why do people feel compelled to step as far over the line as they can get away with? It only results in the rules getting stricter and more likely to stop someone else from doing something that would have been constructive.

I am very liberal and I voted "yes".

Is it possible that you are off-base here?

Hahaha... OMG that's great. Did someone actually try that?

What's wrong with vaginas? Or, more to the point, why is the name "Vagina Woolf" offensive? Is it the combination of the two words? Is phrase "The Vagina Monologues" offensive? Offensiveness is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?

Because otherwise, we'd still be living in trees Stepping over the line can lead to innovation and progression.

And how would one spell that, please?

I thought about making an alt named Lesbian Brotherhood.

Which is exactly why we need tricksters! Tee hee hee.

Wow, fast!
http://www.secretlair.com/index.php?/clickableculture/entry/moderating_second_life_language_in_a_global_context/

This begs the question... is oral sex really sex?

Applauds to the young lads today that have the girls convinced it is not. If we had only thought of that when we were young... lafs... comeon baby... it's nooot sex... it really isn't... kinda like kissing... yeah... that's it... intimate kissing!

We’d have gotten slapped so damn fast… lafs

As for the word dildo... depends on the context.

The word "dildo" refers to an adult sex toy. It is a noun. In itself it's not offensive ...

But I can understand why they changed wuvme's alt's name.

Just as we must be sensitive to the needs of Native Americans (Indians), persons of colour (Negros), illegal immagrants of any type (Wetbacks), and stupid, idiotic, mouthbreathing trolls (W-Hats).

The *imagary* of of the paenthetical colloquisms may not be PG, but the *words* are.

Edit:



Which is why your name was changed to "Delightful"

First thoughts, no, I'd consider it PG. However as a term of opprobium, or as the name of a person, I'd consider it M.

Sorry, Darling (though I had nothing whatever to do with your name change), I'd feel uncomfortable seeing someone named Dildo wandering around, or seeing something called Dildo Mechfabbery out in a PG area.

Who's afraid of Vagina Woolf?

*chuckles*

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we put a taboo on select words and not on others? Do we like to have some words that are taboo? Do we like feeling dirty when we say them? Is it constructive for our conversations? Do we need that taboo to keep us from talking about the object/subject in public - a sort of self-censorship? What the hell?!

Bleh. Dildo is a PG word used to describe a personal gratification device.

I wish people would get over this notion of 'bad' words and 'good' words and just use 'words'. It would be MUCH simpler.

Why do I suddenly hear (in my head) George Carlin's skit on the Seven Words You Can't Say on Television (or whatever that skit is called, been too long since I heard it). Bad words? Good words? Words are words!

On the other hand, there are some people easily offended. Myself included, I suppose, at times. If I'm in a mature sim, I'm there to be crazy. I expect it. However, if I'm hanging out in a PG sim, then chances are that I'm feeling in more of a tame mood. In casual conversation, I cringe if someone says the "F" word....but get me angry, and I'll likely say it myself!

This is a hard one to call for me. I guess I'd probably chuckle at someone named Dildo, even in a PG area...but then again, I'd chuckle at someone named Fart too. If it's unexpected, I'll laugh at the most ridiculous things. I'd probably get a giggle too if someone had a sign advertising them, if it was just the word. However, if I saw a sign advertising them with a picture, that sign had better not be in a PG sim. PG sims are for those of us who don't feel like dealing with that, even if 2 hours from now you'd find us at a wild party doing naughty things.

So...after thinking about it...the word, no. Object, yes.