“Town of Stepford – a Dolcett based, EXTREME adult fantasy - Seersha Heart reporting

******ADULT CONTENT WARNING******

Who can resist clicking where they see the word "cannibalism" on a web page?  I am a mainland resident in SL, and I have a nifty police bot which emails me info of the people who visit my parcel.  I frequently read the profiles of my visitors. One day a woman visited my parcel who used the term “Dolcett Girl” to describe herself.  This was a new term to me. I went down the rabbit hole to satisfy my curiosity.

A French Canadian artist, Dolcett [an anonymous name he uses], draws comic fetish pictures of extreme acts of violence in black and white.  Most often these pictures are of a Dolcett girl being roasted alive on a spit.  Dolcett issued a public statement about his art saying "I must repeat that these are pure fantasy. I am against real violence of any kind."  The Dolcett girl lives in a Dolcett world where women’s feelings about being a meal range from “fatalistic to enthusiastic”. 

The Dolcett girl is the main character of many fanfiction stories on the web.  She is Caucasian, thin, blonde or brunette. She usually has a backstory as a student or a professional.  In almost every story she dies at the end by being a meal, cooked or impaled, sometimes hung. A stand out feature of this RP is that she is a volunteer victim.  There is considerable interest in how she feels about each step of the process of her torture and eventual death.  Sometimes the Dolcett girl is herself a cook and aids in the preparation of cooking and preparing herself for consumption.

As with most SL residents, it is hard to surprise me.  The existence of the practice of Dolcett in SL was not surprising.  My personal interest in the topic would have ended at this point if not for the discovery of a most interesting little hamlet.  This hamlet is a surprising and interesting place to visit.  It is the Town of Stepford. In SL there are at least two towns using the name Stepford, one is very unusual under the surface. I wanted to know more about the residents of a Dolcett SIM.  It is with mixed emotion that I first visited “Dolcett ~ Town of Stepford ~ Some Place Not So Innocent”.  “The Town of Stepford is a Dolcett based, EXTREME adult fantasy roleplay community - where the creative, kinky, nasty, twisted and talented play!”

I changed to my male ALT avi for my first trip. He is a well-behaved observer around the grid and rarely approached with IMs, a perfect reporters tool.  I landed next to a cornfield across the river from the main town. There is an excellent detailed city map and bikes to rez for the traveler who doesn’t want to walk.  My first time to Stepford, I walked across the bridge and into the town. I think I was subconsciously expecting Hannibal Lecter to jump out from behind a bush or a building.  I have visited Stepford on several occasions researching this story as both male and female.  I have never been harassed or bothered in any fashion.  They are cannibals, not thoughtless, rude or surly as often portrayed by the media.  Most in Stepford are perfectly pleasant neighborly and friendly if not a bit shy.

Stepford is not a Hannibal Lecter kind of a town. There are no dark alleys, no aggressive RP….Stepford is a sleepy 1950s era town, both peaceful and lovely.  When entering Stepford, the first buildings are a medical clinic and the police station on the left then the church on the right.  All of the buildings are arranged around a town park, old-fashioned with playground equipment, PG cuddle blankets and barbeque items. One one side of the park is a cabaret theatre. Easy to use 1950s era cars are parked along the road.  I have driven a couple of them, and they are easy to handle. The crown jewel of the town is the Stepford Diner. Family Diner is open 24 hours.  I spend one Sunday morning at the park hanging around listening and talking to other residents.  The park is an informal area of chatting, flirting, and making plans for a possible barbeque later in the day.  To the casual stranger, the group looks very much like any other group standing around an adult SIM in SL.  Various levels of dress, different styles of avis and a lot of chatter.

As a guest to any SIM, you should be polite.  If you tend towards griefing, or trolling or any other negative behavior, you will not be welcome in Stepford.  They are cannibals, not impolite.  If you are interested in the lifestyle or the residents or merely curious, the diner is the place to spend your time.  It is ground zero here for all kinds of hookups.

Stepford is a very peaceful community with friendly residents.  A town allowing participants to pursue their fantasies online via what is called “extreme RP”.  If you fantasize about something, anything, you will find it somewhere in SL.  For the cannibal that that means different types of practices and forms of societal structures.  Yes, the Town of Stepford is only one town of cannibals on the grid.  Stepford adheres to the structures and the inspirations of Dolcett.

Among the buildings are a hotel, a butcher shop and an old-fashioned drive-in theater.  The hotel is a staple of sex communities, and this one is conveniently located next to the diner.  The butcher shop here is a campy old-fashioned shop. Instead of a cow’s body on the wall divided into the various sections of meat; there is a crawling woman. 

Some residents will walk around with these markings tattooed on their skins, their bodies as if ready to be butchered. Men as meals are rarer.  I met two in Stepford, one who considers himself and "extreme" sub residing part-time in Gor.  The other man a nice southern gentleman who may be the chef or the meal.

This Town is full of campy 1950s references and props.  If you visit, try not to miss the drive-in movie theater complete with 1950s cars and a fully detailed area.  You can even drive the cars out of the theater.  The detail that is crafted into the buildings and the surroundings is some of the best you can find in SL.  Poses and animations are equally imaginative though clearly designed with the Dolcett practices in mind.  The church is aptly named "St. Karyn of the Last Supper”.

Inside the church, there is a classroom to learn to become a butcher or a chef of the cannibal culinary.  Various residents are genuinely into their RP characters.  The church has a couple of different RPers that frequently are inside or near the building.  I met one of the pastors, a very charming man.  I've noticed that women who are unowned or curious walk between the church and the diner.  At the church, these women can find a slower paced initiation into the RP.  Churches are helpful places, and Stepford's is no exception.  The Diner is a freer format with various RP occurring often concurrently.  Many of the interactions are performed in local.  It is easy to sit back in the diner and listen to someone’s RP scenario play out.

“No, no, no I'm not satisfied

Can't there be - more to life

I can't see - reasons why”  Fine Young Cannibals "I'm Not Satisfied."

I’ve met people from all over the world in Stepford.  I have met a good amount of people who speak French in Stepford, most likely as Dolcett is also French.  Since I am studying French irl, this is a handy if not unusual place to practice some of my words and phrases.

Mangez bien, riez souvent, aimez beaucoup means: "Eat well, laugh often, love abundantly."

I found that many of those visiting Stepford were classic avatars.  I found this puzzling as if one were going to have a meal, and I would think a nice mesh body would be fine dining.  <<chuckles>> Yet very few of the men or the women are all mesh.  This gives an interesting effect to those of us who are all mesh and bento; another worldly exotic floating among the residents.  Those regular residents who have taken the time to craft a seductive mesh body stand out in the small crowd.  Yes, I am biased; I have a deeply seated fear of the "cankle".  I blame this fear on the postings of a good friend who now no longer possesses cankles, Toysolder Thor well known SL artist and an all around good guy.  He used to possess some of the worst cankles…but I digress… [see below for definition of cankle]  I soon found out the allure of the classic avi here in Stepford; many of the RP tattoos are designed for the classic body.

One of my favorite residents to watch is a wonderfully crafted female Neko alien.  Frequently in residence, she seems to float from place to place town with an ephemeral presence.  One evening I saw her set out in the diner on one of the tables dressed and ready to be dinner.  Respecting the residents, I did not engage or impose myself or my questions on others.  During a visit, there were always questions in my head.  Usually, answers presented themselves, or a resident would approach me for a conversation.  As always, the best way to learn about a SIM or the residents is to sit down, be quiet, to watch, to listen and be a good OOC resident.

I learned a great deal in my trips to the town of Stepford.  Stepford made me realize that we all assume the people around us conform to similar social norms.  I may very well have a friend or two that has a cannibal fantasy. This is the kind of deep dark secret that one person would not share with another person easily.  SL is the kind of place where you can find places to share those deep dark secrets with similar people. The town of Stepford is only one of those places on the grid.  The residents of Stepford are people like the ones I encounter at any other area of SL; diverse. The Town of Stepford looks peaceful and innocent, like any town USA in the 1950s.  It is the way people try to behave all over SL.  On the surface, ‘normal’, like all the others; yet beneath “someplace not so innocent”.

I have left Stepford for the next story.  Though not interested in this RP, I leave finding myself sympathetic to the residents.  They are harassed and judged much more harshly than many other extreme RP SIMs.  Yet they are on their SIM practicing what is the essence of SL; their desires, their roleplay.  At the end of the day, a Dolcett girl, a butcher or a chef is enjoying their RP with other consenting adults.  Though you might have a different ‘diet’ for your SL, you probably want the same basic result; a place to explore your fantasy without judgement.  If a SIM offends you; leave.  Today I have pulled up stakes and moved my focus to another SIM now.  No teaser for the reader only this; every place in SL has a story if you sit still and let it come to you.

Photos by Karmaghna Ulrik

My favorite topic related quotes:

”The truth is not for everyone.” ― From A Carnivore’s Inquiry by Sabina Murray

“If abortion is murder then blowjobs are cannibalism.” ― Oliver Markus Malloy, Inside The Mind of an Introvert

“But if you're gonna dine with them cannibals; Sooner or later, darling, you're gonna get eaten . . .” ― Nick Cave

>>Cankle; “where the calf meets the foot in an abrupt, non-tapering terminus;” "a swollen ankle that blends into the calf without clear demarcation."

SURL for the Town of Stepford

[Dolcett and cannibal - a 1950's town dedicated to dolcett devices - bdsm... A dolcett community]

secondlife://PORTEN%20HILL/10/223/29