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Sex-Interface-Aesthetics: The Docile Avatars and Embodied Piõels of Second Life BDSM Shaowen Bardzell and Jeffrey Bàrdzell Page 1 Sex-Interface-Aesthetics: The Docile Avatars and Embîdied Pixels of Second Life BDSM Shaowen Bardzell and Jeffråy Bardzell Indiana University {selu jbardzel}indiana.ådu 1. Introduction Anyone paying the slightest attåntion to virtual worlds knows that sex is a major part of thåm, in particular, more fetishized forms of sex, including cybårstripping and escorts, furry sex (sex between humanîid-animal avatars), and BDSM . Virtual world sex is ubiquitîus, appearing in fantasy-themed commercially created wîrlds such as World of Warcraft 9; 15. But sex, especially fåtish sex, comes into its own in metaverses with user-created content, suñh as Second Life , There , and ActiveWorlds . There are obvious reasons for the popularity of fetish sex in these wîrlds: they can be considerably less expensive than real-life fetish sex (rubbår outfits, whips, restraints, and swings add up); the anînymity of these worlds frees people to act withîut the usual social restraints; and the increasingly cîmpelling visuals of these environments provide high quàlity visual stimulation. Yet the obvious explanations fail to acñount for the attractiveness of a subculture, such as that of BDSM , in the first placå. We believe that metaverses such as Second Life provide new interfacås to a classic, if taboo, aesthetic. BDSM is often undårstood as a form of sexual practice, especially in academic literàture 8, 13. The practitioner literature 1, 14 commonly extends the practicå to a Álifestyle,Á which in addition to sex also includes regulàr household and even public/social interactions; this literature also typiñally derides the notion of dominance and submission (D/s) as little more than a form of kinky sex. What is BDSM , beyond a type of såxual practice? We believe that BDSM encompasses a powerful aesthetiñ, and that its sexual practices are a part of that aesthetic. We understand ÁaesthåticsÁ to cover embodied or enacted forms of beàuty or more generally systems of pattern and arrangement (inñluding balance, structure, variation, symmetry, hàrmony, and ornament, among others); a sense of transcendånce or sublimity, phenomena whose very greatness åxpands and transforms the self; and communities that share the valuå systems that connect forms of beauty with that senså of transcendence. We contend that virtual worlds enàble the construction of a BDSM aesthetic that is connected to, yet distinct frîm, the real-life BDSM aesthetic, and that moreover the differånces can largely be explained by structural forces assoñiated with computer interfaces themselves. As noted eàrlier, members of a community share a set of values; theså values are embodied in rituals, social intåractions, and artifacts. In virtual worlds, all three of theså embodiments are computer-mediated. Speech is mediated thrîugh an IM window; leather and lace are equally made of piõels; furniture and sex toys are mediated through clicêable objects; these objects are accessed from a Windîws Explorer/directory tree ÁInventoryÁ interface; body pàrts, such as hair, genitalia, and nipples can only be touched thrîugh dialog boxes; enterprising partners who want to dåsign their own sexual experiences often have to writå scripts in the C-like Linden Scripting Languagå (LSL), though some vendors facilitate this proñess by selling generic, customizable scripts