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Digital Culture, Sex Eddie Kim 2 days ago
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META GIRLFRIENDS ARE THE MOST CRINGE TREND IN NFTS

Want to pay hard cash for customizable avatars of slender, perfectly coiffed
cartoon girls that you can see ‘exclusive’ nudes of? Welcome to the latest
wrinkle in the bonkers world of NFTs

On its face, one of the newest NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on the Ethereum
network is innocuous enough: Avatars of women, each adorned with differing
hairstyles, makeup and clothing, gazing ahead with a neutral expression. But
then you realize the NFTs are dubbed “Meta Girlfriends,” and the underlying
philosophy of the project becomes a little clearer. 

“Meta Girlfriends represent the mature side of NFT Art,” the homepage boasts.
“They are randomly generated using over 600 traits, across 20 categories, to
guarantee each one comes with a unique personality.”

Meta Girlfriends debuted in November, with a goal of minting 10,000 NFTs, doled
out at the current cost of 0.08 Etherium — just around $250, as of the moment
I’m typing this. So far, there’s only been 1,642 NFTs minted, but the brand is
pushing for greater visibility and has quickly gained a following on social
media (it has 10,000 followers on Twitter since logging on in September). 

Why “mature”? Because, as the site explains, Meta Girlfriends are intended to be
“fully clothed” and only visible “from the waste [sic] up” in public view — but
everything comes off in the “Members Only” area, where you can view her “full
body” and “private NSFW content” as the owner of the NFT. 


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There’s a lot to unpack here: the bizarro gamification of NFT ownership to
unlock softcore cartoon porn; the lusty, adolescent take on the female form; the
mythology of “owning” and “customizing” a digital girlfriend. But most of all,
I’m struck by the potency of the male gaze in a cryptocurrency world that’s
dominated by a disproportionate number of men — and I can’t help but cringe at
the metaphor Meta Girlfriends represents. 




It’s not like there’s anything particularly groundbreaking or offensive about
the aesthetic of Meta Girlfriends on its own. The notion of playing “dress up”
with a sexy avatar reminds me of dirty Flash games from the mid-aughts, hosted
on the NSFW corners of sites like EbaumsWorld.com. The big difference, of
course, is that you’re not paying $250 when you take the clothes off of a busty
digital cartoon on one of countless “porn game” sites that exist today.



Indeed, it’s the idea of ownership that makes Meta Girlfriends such an
interesting referendum on finance-bro masculinity — and its creators aren’t shy
about building up the narrative of “owning” a girlfriend intended to grow in
monetary and sensual value over time. “Our goal is to create and promote value
by holding onto your Meta Girlfriends. The longer you hold your Meta
Girlfriends, the more private content you’ll gain access to. But should you want
to break up with her, the royalties will help us fund additional private content
and marketing to continue building value for Meta Girlfriend owners,” reads one
statement on the NFT’s official Discord.  

There’s a whiff of real-world misogyny that arises from the framing of this
relationship, including the narratives of redpilled men who insist that women
are all about sexual heirarchy and social currency, rather than complex human
beings with independent needs. Meta Girlfriends also brags about being a
“deflationary” NFT, meaning there’s a limited number of girls to go around — a
number that will decrease over time by design. 

Some users have already spent good money to buy multiple Meta Girlfriends and
“combine them” in a program called the “Rainbow Room” to make a single unique
NFT. This mechanism, along with other microtransactions to upgrade and tweak a
Meta Girlfriend, have the goal of increasing each girl’s rank and rarity in
traits. 





Is this a smart way to increase scarcity and value? Maybe. But is there
something unattractive about dudes getting off by controlling the female form
through financial means? Also, maybe! 

To be clear, there are women who own Meta Girlfriends NFTs, and the development
team says that female artists have contributed to the project. But looking
through its Discord server reveals a lot of men oohing and aahing over scantily
clad illustrations, and taking pride in the fantasies each avatar represents (A
typical comment: “My level 3 gf: Play bunny when going out, VR geek at home. Not
bad!” one user quips on Discord.)  

It’s also hard to ignore the fact that each “girlfriend” has Instagram-model
proportions, with a big bust, a tiny waist and thick thighs. For all the options
you get on customization, there’s nothing to change the proportions of this
figure. Nor, of course, are there any “Meta Boyfriend” options in sight. 


A Meta Girlfriend NFT, in both public and NSFW forms, shown off in a Discord
channel for owners. 

NSFW art has a long and storied tradition thanks to literary formats like manga
and digital platforms like DeviantArt, which holds a universe of beautiful and
bizarre works from the minds of men and women alike. But Meta Girlfriends sits
at an uncomfortable intersection of female representation, male horniness and a
questionable investment vehicle, all propped up by a craving for profits. It’s
about the most on-the-nose creation one can imagine arising from a financial
sector dominated by straight bros. 

Beyond that, the absurdity of Meta Girlfriends just underscores some very real
questions about NFTs, including what they say about the nature of late-stage
capitalism and the value of everything, even an inherently worthless
illustration on the internet, being commodified to the max. (Especially
considering that crypto is pretty terrible for the environment, which is perfect
for the climate crisis.)




It makes me think of a statement from software engineer and blogger Aleksandr
Hovhannisyan: “The only thing that’s impressive about selling memes as NFTs is
that people have managed to get away with it — that there are actually buyers
out there who are willing to spend money on these sorts of things.”

NFT lovers, especially owners of Meta Girlfriends, may roll their eyes at this
critique and see it as just another near-sighted attempt to purposely
misunderstand NFTs, or even deflate their value. But by every measure, NFTs are
an abstract plaything of those who either have cash to burn or simply are
desperate to make a quick buck — and Meta Girlfriends feed off of toxic tropes
about women in order to draw people into a community built on an illusion. 

We’re watching NFTs stumble into major issues with fraud, money laundering and
valuation crashes. But for now, none of that trumps the inherent importance of
illustrated titties. Even ones that cost $250 to look at. 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


EDDIE KIM

Eddie Kim is a features writer based in Los Angeles, covering social and
cultural issues for MEL.


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