When self-identified genetic males in Second Life are paying for a virtual roll in the sack with female avatars, most of them don’t express concerns about which biological sex is behind the keyboard, based on interviews with several individuals who work in SL’s escort industry — the segment that does not offer Web cams or voice.

“People get to know the girls and make up their own mind,” said Bane Darrow, owner of Desire Gentleman’s Club, which offers female escorts.

Not only does an escort’s real-life biological gender seem to be of minimal to no importance to many male customers seeking SL cybersex only (as opposed to Web cam interaction and voice), but it seems that many clubs and escort services do very little to nothing to verify whether applicants, employees and affiliates are genetic RL females.

For instance, after collecting and reviewing blank job applications from a half-dozen escort services and clubs, only one (from an establishment called Boghart’s) included a question as to the candidate’s biological gender. One other (from the PinkPussy Cat Strip Club & Mall) simply stated that it didn’t want escorts to lie about their RL sex. “No transgender please, it is not fair to customers if one day you are a woman and the next a male,” the application states.

Brieanne Bomazi (shown at top), CEO of xXx Fantasy Escorts, said there’s really no way of verifying such information unless applicants are screened via Skype or other voice applications. And of course, cam escorts also are able to provide proof, she said.

Spotting the fakes
Although xXx does not Skype with applicants as a formal part of the interview process, Brieanne said she has had personal conversations with a lot of the service’s escorts. “I can attest to the fact I have spoken to many of my girls on Skype, and I (also) am a proven female,” said Brieanne, who said she has worked in the industry for a year and offers voice as part of her services for clients.

She also said she has developed enough savvy to spot RL males interacting as SL females. “Talking to people (via text chat), you can pick up a pattern of speech,” she said. “After three years in SL, it normally only takes me talking to someone a few times to spot the fakes. Men and women tend to use different little ways of saying things.”

If an escort working with xXx is determined to be a RL biological male, there are no ifs, ands or buts as to whether the person can remain affiliated. “I fire them immediately,” said Brieanne.

But ultimately, not many clients inquire about whether an escort is genetically female in RL, Brieanne said. “Mostly, they accept they are what they say,” she said.

Enter voice integration
It seems that when Linden Lab launches Second Life’s new voice integration feature (set to go live in the second quarter of this year), it could pose a problem for genetic males who work in SL as female escorts, putting clients in a better position to request proof of RL biological gender. Still, those in the industry said it was anybody’s guess as to what sort of an impact the SL voice feature would have.

“It’s hard to tell. But I’m hoping (the escort industry) won’t change all that much,” said Veronica Lemaire, a manager of the Escort Alliance. “But we will just have to see.”

Veronica agreed with Brieanne that Skype and other voice tools offered a rare means of verifying an escort’s biological gender. “It’s the only way to be reasonably secure that the person you’re talking to is a women,” she said.

Not that Veronica’s clients often ask the question. In fact, they rarely do, she said. Same goes for Harmony Krupinski (shown just above), an escort with the Desire Gentleman’s Club. “Most of my clients haven’t really asked for proof,” Harmony said. Ayukawa Burnett, recruitment manager for Club XTC Elite, as well as club general manager Nadia Tempura, said they have had similar experiences.

“I have been an escort for about seven months. In that time I have only been asked once about my gender,” Ayukawa said. Nadia, meanwhile, said she has never been asked during her 18 months as a club escort.

Maintaining RL-SL boundaries
Harmony explained that she tried to offer some other means of verification in the past, but it backfired. “I used to have my RL picture in my profile, but it attracted some unwanted attention and a stalker,” she said.

Bane said he has heard of some establishments and services contacting escort applicants in RL, but he said that’s taking things too far. “I’ve heard of clubs wanting to verify on the phone or whatever. It’s an invasion of privacy,” he said.

Stacey Sugar, an owner of Club XTC Elite (club shown at right), had a similar perspective. “We do not have formal gender verification rules since a lot of staff do not wish RL contact such as telephone/Skype calls,” she said. “However, we do ask what gender they are in RL and this is to be stated on our employment application. If they state male, they will be declined.”

If a RL biological male should happen to lie on the application, Stacey and members of her management staff said they remain watchful for such instances, taking note of signs such as speech patterns and mannerisms that might be more characteristic of a genetic male.

“If our current gender verification procedures are breached and if they let their guard down and out themselves or another member of staff or a customer has concerns, we will gather and compile evidence to back up the claim, and if they are found to be male, they will be expelled from the club,” Stacey said.