Get Gender Verified?

This poll is to see how populat Gender Verification copuld be.

Gender Verification is a concept some freinds and I have been toying with for a month or so.


The idea is simple, here is the text from the GV Notecard:

_____

What is Gender Verified?


If you see people who belong to either GV Male or GV Female groups that means that they have been verified as being either male or female in RL.

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Why GV?

Some people don't care about the RL gender of the AVIs they interact with, others do.

Getting Gender Verified is an opt in option.

Being Gender Verified doesn't, mean that you criticise those who are not GV or those who like to play other genders, in secret or in the open.

If you would like people to know with close to certainty your real life gender, then get Gender Verified.

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How to get gender verified.

1) If you would like to be GV then you will need to contact a GV member and have skype installed. (free from www.skype.com).
2) You will then have a skype call arranged with someone of your gender who has already been Gender Verified.
3) The GV group member will speak to you long enough to assure that you are the gender you claim. You will then be invited to join either GV Male or GV Female.

Its that simple.


Sure, its not going to be 100% certain, but much closer than any other system, such as “Here is a pic of me in my Bikini in Waikiki, the guy I am with is my surf instructor” 

There is no point dissing the GV concept. Its only an option for those who want to be.

Also, its defo not a reason for guys to speak to girls, only girls should speak to girls and guys to guys.

So If you would like to help out, then get GVd and start GVing others. What fun

Please vote in the poll

Mer.

um...
F*ck no.

Yeah, I don't want no tranny surprise.

I can see how some people may dig this.

I've already been gender verified to the people I care about, so I'll pass.

Interesting idea. I can think of a couple of ways to get around it.

- use a voice synthesizer to change your voice female->male or male ->female.

- get your brother/sister, husband/wife, roommate to make the call for you.

Gender interests me not at all, but if I was going to engage in virtual sex, and I cared about the other persons gender, I wouldn't trust anything short of meeting them in RL.

Maybe a DNA swab

And what stops someone from having their SO/friend/sibling/whatever posing in place of themselves to be verified as the other gender? And then once that person has been GVed they can then use their "lax" standards to verify others.

Why not just have the Lindens require you to send in a photocopy of your government issued photo ID? I fail to see why having sex with someone of the wrong sex online bothers anyone. It's all virtual, and it's not like you are going to wake up and want to chew your arm off in the morning ...LOL Some people take things far too seriously!

yeah, i'm not thinking that it's really that important to know somebody's gender online, unless of course you are starting a rl relationship, and in that case, you'd most likely be meeting them in person.

What cory said..

i think it is a interesting idea for those who it matters to, and as a group within SL i am all in favor of it

Oh, you're using skype... Damn, well let me still offer my services as an, um... "alternate form of gender verification".

It'll never happen, and I'm glad.. If people want to hid their gender in a virtual world they should be allowed to.

I dont think its about the sex issue but the trust issue. Most people would be annoyed if they had a 3 month friendship with somone who said they were a certain RL gender and found out they had been lied to all.

Its about trust not sex.

Great idea! You could use this to verify that all escorts are the gender they claim to be. Of course, you'll prolly put 80% of the escorts out of business.

An enhancement to this might be to require time-stamped webcam pictures of the person's naughty bits for verification.

-Ghoti

Shhhhhh. Come closer I want to whisper something in your ear. Okay ready?











































GET BENT!

I am not trying to dis the concept but it has to be pointed out that this wont work.

Given that one could easily fool the system, this GV group will undoubtedly become the biggest repository of gender fakers in SL, the exact opposite of what you want.

Having virtual sex with a GV person will make you *more* likely to be getting the "TG surprise", not less.

Additionaly, since this kind of thing only comes from a sort of homosexual panic, I find it highly offensive. SL is about tolerance, not sorting out the peole you think are to "weird" to associate with.

Go back to TSO or wherever else you can find where TG's are not such a problem for you.

Which actually brings me to a variation of this theme. Why is gender more important than highth, weight, hair-color, species (j/k), or any other physical characteristic...if sex isn't involved.

For example, my avatar is a bit over 7' tall, slender, pale, with perfect hair, breasts, and skin. Am I a liar if I turn out to be a short, middle-aged woman with saggy tits, freckles and a bad hair? Does the package matter unless you want to f*ck me? (bluntly speaking). If so, then why?

Isn't it understood that avatars are fantasies? Some people's fantasies go further from RL than others - furries, aliens, etc. What if the person's fantasy persona extends to gender. I believe that a sexual relationship requires full disclosure, but does friendship?

I tried that, I mean what better place to explore your sexuality than second life? So I have a year long relationship with this guy who assured me in RL he was a 280 pound German Bear and what happens? He is a petite woman from Denver. Go figure

Personally I'd like it. But I believe most people would hate it Especially the ones playing an avie of the opposite gender.

All this would do I believe is to encourage people to lie about their gender on the account signup form, which is not a good thing

EDIT: Also remember, Sex is physical, gender is mental. One of my Ex's dumped me after explaining that he identified with females more and didn't want to hurt me. In a world where all your doing is interacting non physically I don't think physical sex matters too much

Gender is the fundamental division in nature and in humanity, culture and society and psycology. Its the core paradigm. But.....

Let me get this clear...

Im not in Sl for the sex per se, but i am in there for the people. I personally dont want to invest too much time in people who lie to me about their gender.

I have a number of SL freinds who I know are not the RL gender they claim to be, but they havent lied to me. I ask them, they told me (I mean not all of them are GV so maybe they could be double bluffing which would just be weird) thats fine. I have a female AVI I get out sometimes, its fun and interesting etc.

I am no way critcising people who play other genders, I just want to know that people I form more lasting relationships with in SL aint lying to me

Transgendered avatars is serious business.

Hmmm, no. Why? Cos I am already gender varified to those that really matter......mostly me.

Maybe gender should be though. Maybe SL gives us an opportunity to relate to people without our social baggage. Would you relate differently to avatars with no gender? Would it make you uncomfortable? Would you act differently with avatars you thought were girls as opposed to guys?

Not critisizing whatever you're doing, just trying to bring up food for thought.

Oh, and I don't understand it myself, but there is some question about gender being set in stone (as opposed to sex) - since gender exists in the mind, influenced by the body.

Oh.. and just in case you think this is my personal axe. I'm a girl playing a girl. My gender has been verified all over Pennsylvania. One of the reasons I'm interested in these topics is that I once played a big lizard guy in a mmorpg and everyone assumed I was male. The first time I was in an all "male" team I got some real insight into the ways in which men interact in teams...which is very, very different from women.

A more effective method, if you're that serious, is to meet someone offline and inspect their body (consensually). There are so many ways around it online.

I have male friends who are growly, muscly synthesis experts who figured out new vox transformation methods to turn their hulking voices into lithe females. They got smart, patented their methods, and if you want to buy it on the market, it's a little pricey still but the costs will come down in time...

ENTER TC-HELICON'S VOICEPRO!
http://www.tc-helicon.com/default.asp?id=6007

What next? Webcams? Well, I've known some Thai ladyboys to fool others too, and yes, that is post-op.

And, if it's about trust, then you just gotta trust. This reminds me of DRM with music, how an "honest" person will be this way, and additional technological trickery will not turn a liar into a saint. If I really trust someone, I have faith in them, I take them at their word, I don't send a private eye out or ask their friends if what they're saying is true.

My own experience: finding out the girl I was developing a crush on was in fact a guy, and then going from a guy av to a girl av myself sometime later and falling in love with said Resident.

If my current self went back in time to tell 2003 AD-Torley this would eventually happen, futureTor prolly woulda got a pop in the nose and assaulted violently. I wouldn't have believed it.

This is my personal encapsulation of why Second Life is so wonderful to me.

OK, I admit it, I am a chick.