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Voted. Hopefully this is a simple misunderstanding of the term by LL and will be corrected promptly.
/me agrees. I hope this was a misunderstanding...
Got my vote, Boy! This is most definitely discrimination and shows complete naivety of the use of the word in most other parts of the world.
Maybe the staff of LL's Brighton office should attend the Brighton Fringe festival, and get some first hand experience. The ladyboys of Bangkok are performing there 1st - 25th May.
This event is supported by the Arts Council of England, as well as the Brighton & Hove City Council. They might also note that tickets are available to Under 16's, hardly adult. I've met real life ladyboys, and have visited such shows, and there's nothing dirty or sleazy about them unless you deliberately go looking in the seedier dives, where you'll find far more females, than ladyboys plying the oldest profession, and yet you don't consider female to be an adult word. So please don't confuse ladyboy with an activity, or a profession, let alone with the oldest profession, to a very large number of people, ladyboy is an accepted gender. Filter that, and you need to filter lady, man, male, female, woman, and all the rest, unless you're implying that all ladyboys are only there for one thing, and that wouldn't just be discrimination, it would be downright libellous. In Thailand, a proposal is being considered by Thailand's National Legislative Assembly that will allow ladyboys to officially change their titles to "Mrs" or "Miss" or "Ms" After this was pointed out to me it was on the list I raised the issue at Blondin's office hours. Unfortunately he did not address it, but hopefully they got the message.
Voted, its insane to filter these sorts of words.
true true, I can see a combination of things being adult, but transgender does not automatically make you XXX
Filtering out the word "ladyboy" seems (to me at least) to be the same as filtering out the word "transgender" and this is completely unacceptable, in terms of the law.
There are states where it is illegal to discriminate based on "sexual orientation". I used to be a real estate agent in one of these states - Maryland. There was also a case in Baltimore back in 2007 where a transgender was discriminated against, they took the offender to court, and won. The court agreed that "transgender" is protected by the same laws that provide protection against discrimination on sexual orientation. That sets the legal precedent that it is illegal to discriminate based on the fact said person is transgender. In states that have discrimination protection based on sexual orientation, filtering the terms "transgender", "ladyboy", or any of the derogatory names used to identify them ("shemale") is illegal. This filter effectively prevents Linden Lab from doing legal business in these states. California is one of these states, and guess where Linden Lab is based? The presence of this filter places Linden Lab in a situation where their business is no longer legal in their home state, and it is very likely they will end up with a discrimination lawsuit because of it. Since they are violating a discrimination protection law in their home state (via previous precedent), a court can issue an order to terminate Linden Lab, and thus, Second Life. Of course you got my vote, no matter what your label if the purpose is to support 'transgenders' is should not matter what other 'label' they might want to use to refer to themselves.
I understand why they would filter out 'ladyboy' or 'shemale' because there are a lot of sexual things that have these tags, but that does not make it right or accurate. A TG is a TG by any other name!! Support should be available for us no matter what we prefer to be called, no judgements, no hate! This is discrimination based on ignorance, as all good discrimination should be.
Come on LL, it takes 10 minutes to get educated on this. You infer that "Ladyboy" has negative, pornographic connotations. That is ignorance and also discrimination.
Hi! I'm the founder of the Gender Transgressors group, which is not defined by or devoted to any kind of sexual activity or "adult content". Just want to add my voice to those above, to say that it is a mistake to suppose that a person describing themselves as "ladyboy" is advertising sexual services or is saying anything in particular about sexual behavior.
As noted in the initial description, it is a term that seems to come from the Thai "kathooey". In Thailand I commonly heard Thai speakers of English use the term "ladyboy" . It simply means a female person, born with a male body, and nevertheless adopting female conventions of appearance and occupying a female social role. I know the term is also used in fetish and porn contexts. But the words "huge", "tight", "shoes", "a", "an", and "the" are also used in fetish and porn contexts. LL, I am sure you will want to fix this goof Some of you will be seeing me at office hours. i looked on the list of automatically filtered words and found that 'transgender', 'transsexual' and 'cross dresser' are not on the list. which is relieving since these terms are (i think) almost exclusively used in a non-prurient manner.
i would argue that words like 'butch', 'femme', 'genderfcuk', 'genderqueer', 'boydyke', 'boidyke' and possibly 'queer' define communities and describe people's identities. and... thankfully... they're not on the list. some transgendered people (myself included) find terms 'sissy boy', 'tranny' and 'heshe' offensive (though i've heard people say that this is a function of my location... 'tranny' does not have the negative connotation in the UK and with older transgendered people it does in my corner of the states.) i've heard other people say they think the term 'transvestite' is offensive, but personally, i just don't think it has sufficient specificity to be a useful term. but... these terms ('sissy boy', 'tranny', 'heshe' and 'transvestite') are not on the list. however... the term 'shemale' is on the list; but... 'shemale' seems to be used exclusively in the context of prurient activities. so... to clarify things... what exactly are we objecting to? a. we're objecting ONLY to the fact that "ladyboy" is on the list of adult search filter terms? (the list is attached to SVC-4149 if you haven't seen it.) b. are we objecting to ANY term referencing a transgendered person (even one like 'shemale', which some people (myself included) equate with adult activity?) c. are we nervous 'cause we're at the start of this process and it's not clear how words will come on or off this list? d. are we upset because there might be a transgendered person looking for support, but might only know terms that are considered prurient? (like "shemale") e. are we freaked 'cause it looks like some terms may have slightly different shades of meaning in different areas / communities? (and thus getting consensus on the list of adult terms will be slightly more painful than spending eternity eating shards of broken glass?) -cheers I strongly agree. LL needs to educate themselves on the true meanings of the words the choose to filter, as this is honestly insulting to the intersexual and transgendered community.
Transgendered are a Protected class in the state of California. If the word is not removed I will contact the community activests and have linden labs on discrimination. And that is not a threat simply stating the facts.
This is just flat unnecessary! I thought we were "ADULTS" on the "ADULTS" grid, yet LL seems to be going to no end to dictate what we are allowed and not. Its censorship. Do we not have freedom of speech and such anymore, or is that being simply overlooked as a matter of corporate gain? I just don't get why the sudden "Over Lord" mentality seems to have been kicked into overdrive. I am a hard working adult and I have to deal with drama and sush all day, and being told to "Toe the line, or you won't have a job!" I come home and into SL to escape such, but now, even here, it seems I am being treated as poorly, and told like a child, what I can have, say, or do and cannot. Why? O_O
And yes, for those who want to argue about "How do you know its not a kid who got their parents CC?" Truth is, you have no clue who is behind the screen, but be honest...If a kid will go to the lengths of taking their parents CC, how HARD do you think it will be for them to get the parents SS number or DL number this is in the U.S., am not aware of the "Age Verification" thing from Euro, or other countries none the less, the point is the same. They don't evenhave to "taake" the card itself, just write down the number. Its really sad, shameful, and pathetic that LL would endeavor to control people and dictate rules that are frivolous, ludicrous, and completely pointless like a Tyrant with an IRON FIST. Just plain sad. LL obviously understands that the word "gay" represents much more than gay sex; rightly LL is not going to filter the word "gay". So why, then, are they filtering other words (groups) that should be given the same respect? Ladyboy should not be filtered. Anyone entering SL that wants or needs to locate community support related to ladyboy issues, should be able to find those groups and locations, just like gay people will still be able to.
We have a list of words here http://www.slapt.me/wiki/index.php/Adult_Content_Keywords
 while not complete or totally correct people are testing these words and then updating this wiki page so any and all help is welcome  I would like to add that the term shemale, while used in the adult industry is also often is used to describe a pre-op or non-op transsexual.
This word should also be removed from the banned list. I refer you to wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shemale If you ban the word shemale in tthis context, you should also ban "teen". I hope this one is a simple misunderstanding too, however since this insane policy change was announced I have been spending FAR more time reading the massive protest, and voting against it in the Jira... This will wear thing soon... no wait... it has worn thin. Lindens, you have infuriated your whole user base and as a business decision I think that could be construed as a mistake (I will wait to see where the money trail leads this time, there always is one).
Boy Lane, you have my vote.... again. Perhaps I could get something in the next release of Cool Viewer? I would like an "I agree with Boy Lane" check box in Preferences under Cool Options, it would save me a lot of time! (being able to add lots of names to that list would be spiffy!) The issue is deeper than one or two words that are being filtered, the issue really is if it's been appropriated by the porn industry (as an example) should we be assigning 'guilt by association' to any term that's not actually rooted there?
currently penis and vagina are blocked, despite LL's past claim that they'd be acceptable in context of medical reference. loli/lolita covers a whole genre of goth fashion, it's actually BANNED. should we also add conservative or liberal, if tomorrow the porn industry decides to use them as code words for something else, and put them into common use? I'm sure we all see that's just a bit ridiculous. you want an intelligent, non-controversial flagging system? have it pop a dialog on submission, when it spots certain words (by all means feel free to use associations in this) and ask if it falls under adult guideline according to whatever page LL sets up for that. Then flag for review anyone that says no, and if they mislabeled it, sanction the individual account. @Void SInger Exactly my point with the word shemale. Ban that you have to by the same rules ban teen.
The words should be limited to ACTS not PEOPLE. Having been a mature and knowledgeable Gender Dysphoric since I was kid I found it seriously insulting that Ladyboy was listed as a "Adult" term. It and terms like Femboy, Sissy, Shemale, Tranny, Transexual, Transgender and even things like Pantyboy are not sexual terms and should not be censored even from PG views.
I have to agree with all that's been said in this thread. In addition it's only used as a term to distinguish the TYPE of person who goes to that particular area. It DOES NOT indicate any openly public sexual conduct is taking place in any way, shape or form at that area. As such both words ( Ladyboy and Shemale) need removing from the list ASAP.
Voted. Not that I have high hopes LL will listen, considering they don't even know the meaning of the term "photorealistic" and that they tarred all Gor with the same Adult brush.
As a trans woman who might be described as "non-op" I'd like to note that while I can just about see a cultural reason for arguing against ladyboy being included (although I'd have thought kathoey or katoey would be more appropriate), I'd be really unhappy to see some of the other terms deemed to be acceptable use to describe me.
Particularly "shemale" which I personal find deeply offensive. In fact as someone linked to the wikipedia entry on that word earlier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shemale "most notable for its slang usage in a pejorative context referring to male-to-female transsexuals (transwomen). Shemale is widely used in sex industries to refer to transsexual people" and "Melissa Hope Ditmore, of the Trafficked Persons Rights Project, notes the term "is an invention of the sex industry, and most transwomen find the term abhorrent." Put me down as finding that abhorent. a while back, I had a conversation on a group in SL for trangenders, intersex etc and sympatizants after reading that thing on Wikipedia, and many of the ones that identified themselves as being a transgender said that "shemale", depending on the person you're describing can be completly acceptable if who is speaking doesn't mean it in a pejorative sense, not all non-op male to female like this word, but many see it as just another word if the intentions of the speaker are respectfull
edit:basicly it is a potentially polemic word, but it has non-bad uses TigroSpottystripes they may find it ok, but were any of them trans women against whom that could be used? Not many who are find it an acceptable word. It has no real history of being reclaimed as far as I am aware while other words, such as tranny do have in some places (by no means all) and within some social groups.
As a trans woman who could be very specifically targetted with that word, due to the way I choose to live with my gender identity, I find it never OK. I don't see it as a reclaimed word that I am ever comfy hearing. Regardless of whether it is meant in a non pejorative sense it always contains that meaning to me and I would suggest to many others. To me it is a word that objectifies me and reduces me to physical parts and defines me as not actually female but some half thing. That's not something I am OK with I'm afraid. That's where my sense of offense is coming from and why I would be pleased to see it restricted by the adult content filter. having learned more about you than just your body geometry, in my opinion you're a woman
Nice of you to agree with me TigroSpottystripes
 @Muse Paravane
There are lots of people who find 'trangender' in any form abhorent, the issue is bigger than our own personal feelings about certain words, its about maintaining the right of those withen the community to identify with any term they feel comfortble. There is a fundamental difference between people finding a word for other people /against/ whom they are predjudiced objectionable and people finding a word used to describe themselves /by/ predjudiced people objectionable. It is not for other people to define was is offensive for any given group, it is for the members of that group.
I've already pointed out that there is a difference between reclaimed words and those that are used in an offensive way by others about trans women. The main source for suggesting that the word shemale in particular itself noted that it is pejorative and offensive for the great majority of people about whom it is used. As a person for whom it could be used, I'm saying I do find it extremely offensive. The number of people who are /actually/ trans women and who are using it as a reclaimed word, rather than one that panders to a transphobic majority is very small indeed. I have to say I have yet to meet anyone who does so or even tries to do so in RL or SL. Absolutely people have a right to identify as they feel, however that right should not impinge on the right of others to be free from predjudice. This is not about the use of a word associated with pride and with trans idenity as the original point about ladybody was stating. I personally am uncomfortable with the word ladyboy. However I recognise that in the culture in which it originates it has been reclaimed and I would not deny the right of people to do so in SL. However it is a big step from saying that one word has been reclaimed to saying "Hey, lets allow any and all words for trans women to be allowed no matter how most see it as I bet I can find you one who says it's OK", The words that are associated by the vast majority of trans women /and/ cis people with pornography and the denigration of trans women, that have no history of being reclaimed, are simply offensive. None of the words that are generally and widely recognised by trans people as identities have been flagged as blocked other than the one this issue is specifically about: Ladyboy. I am unhappy about how the issue is being turned into a general call for making all words about a vulnerable group that suffers discrimination OK to use regardless of the feelings of members of that group and regardless of whether or how offensive those words might be. I'm also not OK with the fact that this call for inclusion of words is being done entirely about words for trans women and almost entirely about "non-op" or "pre-op" transsexuals specifically. I'm /am/ a "non-op" transsexual and I'm trying to tell you, some of these words are really, really not OK in any circumstances and that they are offensive epithets and/or porn industry created words. Please don't confuse them with my identity. Just got an IM from JP LInden saying that "ladyboy" is not on the current list of adult-oriented content filter terms. Looking for that list on the website now and if it checks out maybe Boy Lane can close this one. Hurrah for LL listening, learning, and doing things right!
got my vote, LL needs to educate themselves better instead of continually staring at their bank accounts
It does not surprise me that there are people who belong to intergender/transgender and related groups who think the term "shemale" is okay. to put it bluntly, fetishists outnumber actual transgender and intergender people in SL by a huge margin. If you've ever done a search for "transgender" with Mature content enabled you will know what I mean. these people are not representative of any actual transgender community, however.
I have yet to meet a single person in RL, be they transgender, intergender or genderqueer who doesn't find the term offensive. Trinity, so far, it seems to be about you and your personal feelings about the word, but I certainly don't think your personal opinion reflects that of the broad majority of people in the community. I have yet to see the word "shemale" used in a non-pornographic context, and from what I have seen from the community I am involved in, it considers the word shemale a transphobic slur, and rightly so. JP LInden says LL does not currently provide a list of the filtered search terms. The two lists that were previously linked to the Linden blog discussion of adult-oriented content should not be taken as official. (Understandable, given that this whole adult-oriented-content thing is still in a process of evolution.) Anyhow, "ladyboy" is off the list they are currently using. Seems like the issue is resolved
. Thank you Bau Ur for attending the bug triage meeting and also your mail.
I can confirm that Ladyboy was taken off the filter list and is no longer restricted in search results. So it seems there is willingness from LL side to get things done together with residents instead against them. I also had a long chat with Blondin 2 days ago and explained to him that nobody is per se against a working Adult Policy as it would make SL a better place for all. But the key here is "working". I asked him to open for dialogue with residents to work things out together instead of forcing not-ready policies; and by doing so alienate a huge percentage of the population. That's a start here. Thank you all for your support! We can achieve change and improvement together and we just did! I appologize if I offended any of you in the past, but I ask you to , if you ever hear/see me saying "shemale", please interpret it as being a word in a foreign language that means someone with a body like male to female no-op/pre-op transgender's body, I don't mean anything more than that when I speak, read or think that word, for me it is just a name for a certain type of body geometry that some people have (which to be honest, is a type of body that I find attractive, and believe I would enjoy having it myself, though I'm not strong enough to deal with all the societal things that comes with such a change, and I don't believe my body could be made attractive enough regarding female features to be worth the emotional, mental and financial costs involved, I admit I mostly into the physical aspect than the mental one if it comes to doing these types of changes to my body, but I respect people who have less superficial reasons to want such changes
ps:I hope I didn't say anything that came out sounding different than I intended and would make people think bad of me...if it happened, I apologize for having said somthing wrong and upseting you @TigroSpottystripes
Or you could, you know, respect the wishes of people who have a "certain body geometry", who are someone with a "body like male to female no-op/pre-op" transsexual and instead use words we don't find offensive and upsetting, that don't reduce us to just bodies and parts of bodies. That would be better than asking us to pretend we aren't offended. That would be nice. It's about not seeing us as a "body geometry" but as whole people, as women, who deserve as much respect as anyone else does. Anyway. I'm glad to see the issue resolved in a fair way. I think it is important for this kind of conversation on contentious additions to the adult filters to take place and to be heard. for me it doesn't matter the body, or the way someone dress, if they ask me to refer to them using whatever word, I will, but for people I don't know wanna be called by somthing other than what their appearance and/or behavior indicate, I'll call them by what I see
till relativelly recently, "shemale" for me was a word just like "male", "female" and "hermaphrodite" (this last one, until I see some prove, is technicly fictional when it comes to humans, what many people may call "hermafrodite" is actually intersex, or with ambiguous genitalia or somthing), then I saw the thing on Wikipedia, and asked in the group (I can't remember the name now, but in that group I believe there were only people who were transgenders or who respected and sympatized with them) and I was told that for some male to female no-op and pre-op transgenders if the word was used respectfully it wasn't an issue. Apparently you're not one of the ones that don't mind the respectful use of the word, in this case I'll not use it to describe you. dont believe everything you read in a wiki. there are scientifically and medically documented cases of hermaphrodites occurring within the human race, especially in parts of south and north America. Most are sterile in at least one "gender" of genitalia but there have been rare cases where all the genitalia is fully functional.
could you point me to respectable sources that prove true hermaphrodites have existed in the human race please?
from that site
in my opinion, children shouldn't have a gender, nor a gender role, assigned to them by a third party, they should be allowed to decide by themselves, and receive information about all the options they have, regardless of genital geometry or genetic markers Ladyboy has been removed from the keyword list. Thanks for your comments and help with refining the keywords! Closing this issue as the technical side of it has been resolved and released.
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Remove "Ladyboy" from the list of Adult keys!
The more I see of this, the worse it gets.