“Virtual rape shifts the focus from the anatomy of women’s bodies to the construction of individuals’ minds. When individuals in LambdaMOO conceptualize Mr. Bungle’s actions as rape, they are understanding his actions as the enactment of a script. Because there is no bodily contact, the scripted nature of his actions is further emphasized. Mr. Bungle does not need to physically overpower his targets, in fact there is no way for him to do this. Rather, he is successful because he deploys conventional tropes of sexual assault.” —Simca Horwitz
“To make [verbal acts] metaphors for rape itself ... occludes the gap between the threat and the rape—the gap in which women can try to intervene, overpower and deflect the threatened action” —Marcus, Sharon. “Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words: A Theory and Politics of Rape Prevention.” Feminists Theorize the Political. Eds. Judith Butler and Joan W. Scott. New York: Routledge, 1992