GD20080408

=04/08/2008= http://slurl.com/secondlife/Blackrock/233/236/28

My first stop today was Oblivion Club-X - where, according to the club's propaganda, the 'X' stands for 'SEX'.

//"Come To The HOTTEST New Grunge Club In SL!!! The Sexiest Female & Male Dancers/Escorts Waiting To Please You!!! Dayly Events... L$ Popper L$... Live Dj's... "//

Why anyone would find this place even remotely sexy, sexual, or even sex-related is beyond me. It looks like GG Allin should be decomposing somewhere in here. Most of the people in 'Oblivion Club-X' were furries, though the people there swore up-and-down (get it?) that it was not a 'furry' thing. Digital graffiti was everywhere, as well as street signs and all sorts of other stuff that you might expect to find at a punk club. The large grafitto that I am standing upon in the above photo is actually the dance floor - the 'pose-balls' above my right shoulder are for a female-male-female grind dance - the kind you might find at a junior high (that's middle school to all you young'ns) social. The pose balls on the left side of the picture, however, were for some pretty raunchy sex. The 'shops' upstairs (better described as 'shop') sold sex skins with the usual variety of second-life genitalia, from extra large to jumbo. All-in-all the folks here had the maturity level of 12-year-olds without the bratty cruelty. Most of their conversation involved the usual furry interaction of nuzzling, scratching, and naughtiness. I didn't really get good information out of them but they seemed nice. They even offered me skins for free. I think Garbage is just fine the way he was made, so I declined and slowly backed away. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Edge/111/107/25

WELCOME TO THE EDGE - don't ask me how I got here, but it looked like another useless teleport at first. Here's your usual line of campers sitting around doing nothing for Linden Dollars. I am willing to bet that if there were similar jobs IRL, nothing would get done. The shops, at first, seemed like the same old skins and clothing that you see everywhere else. The bridge to the left took me to the center of The Edge (as awkward as that sounds) where I found a dance party in full-swing.



Here people were certainly not camping, but they weren't doing much of anything else - except for giving away motorcycles and leather outfits. I was originally up on stage while talking to Lumpy Mumfuzz, one of my group members, through IM - the hostess, seen at the upper left, politely asked me to move. Most of my questions were answered like this:

//Me: So what is this place? Did you guys all meet up on SL or did you decided to do this after you met each other IRL? SuMCraZEe AvAtAR: Garbage this is the longest and best damn Club in SL. w00t!! LuLzZzZzZ!!//

In the meantime, people's avatars were gyrating madly to DJ'd music while being 'watched' by at least 20 non-present campers. I really don't understand the draw of these places and 'parties'. They seem like no more than a 'town hall' chat room where random people are grouped together. So on that note, I decided to 'leave the party' so to speak and take a look at the shops. That is where I came across this:

I promise that htis ties in more than just as an excuse to put in random shots of hyperbolically sized genitalia. It baffles me why people would want to portray their avatar in such a ridiculous way. I can't think of any lady (much less any gay man) who would really be interested in someone with genitalia that large besides the occasional eccentric who might appreciate it for the novelty factor. It simply boggles the mind some of the things that you see on SL - breasts that take up half a room and cause their owner to fall flat on her face, and penises that could not possibly fit inside the underwear of their posessor, and waists that would snap apart at the least provocation - women want to be Barbie and men want to be John Holmes. How ridiculous have our self-images become that we need to idealize something that, if naturally occuring, is freakish to say the least. I am not afraid to say that Garbage is hung like a Ken-doll and that the man behind him comes from a long line of short-dicked white eurotrash. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you are comfortable with yourself. That people seem to think that projecting this kind of image is not only okay, but the ideal, is a tell of a sickness within our society that goes beyond the traditional cries of moral corruption heard from religious circles. We have stopped loving what the human body actually looks like and started to idealize what corporations tell us the human body SHOULD look like. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Threlkeld/229/27/42

Along those lines we find Damage, which sells 'Devastating Outfits for Ladies and Men'. Why one would want to dress to devastate is beyond me, but the place did have some very well designed clothing. As per usual in SL, it had its share of campers and more ladies' clothing than men's. Of course, that doesn't effect my friend Lumpy Mumfuzz, he is just as at home in an evening gown as he is in a snazzy tuxedo, and more power to him for that. However, the bizarre gender roles we see perpetuated in real-life commercial society are also rampant in SL. We all have seen young women running around in tight sweatpants with phrases like 'juicy' printed on the behind, and tight t-shirts with slogans like 'two great tastes' printed on the front. Second Lifers have met this tradition head-on with Tease Tees:



I can't decided which one is my favorite - either 'Slut in training' or 'The Rear View is Even Better'. When I spoke to the owner of this space and the designer of these clothes, he (yes folks, 'he') told me that these are extremely popular with the ladies. And why not? I can't think of any greater symbol of women's liberation than a t-shirt that says 'Slut in Training' or 'Oral Care Specialist'. You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

Upstairs, the men's section was devoid of a similar wall - I guess 'Got Dick?' t-shirts just aren't popular with the guys. However, speaking of dicks. there was a very anatomically realistic male skin upstairs (picture not taken) which I complimented the owner on. He agreed with me that the hyperbolization of genitalia on SL was pretty disgusting. Our conversation wandered to pornography, where we talked about the popularity of Ron Jeremy and John Holmes and why that kind of freakishness has become the ideal. It seems like men have been convinced that that is what they 'should have' if they were real men, and women have been convinced that that is what they 'should want' if they are real women. How did we all get so confused? When did it start being okay to let other people convince us so completely of what we do and do not want?

Garbage just wants to call it a night. And so I will. More to come.

Links: My Journal Page