I had no idea when I began Eve Shapiro's book Gender Circuits that she would look at Second Life with regard to gender identity. Anyone who knows me understands how thrilled I am about this sense Second Life is of particular interest to me.
Shapiro begins "Information Technologies and Gendered Identity Work" by discussing a myriad of topics that have been written about the subject. It's almost as if she is trying to legitimate the topic, or it could be that she just wants the audience to understand how prevalent this virtual world is in our real world. I have been a citizen of this virtual environment for over three years now. I have seen avatars of all shapes and sizes and never blinked an eye at how the real world people chose to represent themselves in this virtual space. It took Shapiro to point out just how homogenous Second Life really is for me to even consider this. She brings up some interesting questions as well, asking "Why was gender, racial and body size homogeneity, the outcome of allowing people to construct their own avatars? Is this homogeneity intentional, purposefully or unconsciously produced by this virtual world's designers or participants? Or is it a product of those who participate in Second Life?" (89). (Note: While many choose to italicize Second Life, I do not unless I am discussing the software that must be downloaded to enter the virtual world. If we do not italicize "world", I see no reason to italicize Second Life.) Shapiro notes that most people likely just create their "ideal" self when they construct their avatar, but that in so doing "we created a world that reflected social body norms and hegemonically valued existing gender, race, and class scripts" (89).
If this isn't food for thought, I don't know what is. But I do have a bit of a theory, and I'll pose it here. While residents of SL are allowed to create their own avatar, the beginning choices are limited in what you can be. When I researched first-year composition in this world in 2007, my students did not even have the initial choice of choosing African American. And I had a student who wrote about the disembodied feeling they had walking around as white when in reality they were African American (my use of "they" is intentional to avoid gendering here). Second Life does allow you to completely remake yourself once you are in-world, but that requires some knowledge and often Linden $$$ to create what you want, and many noobs (new residents) do not make these investments unless they decide to remain a citizen of this society. So perhaps these citizens appear to reproduce homogeneity simple because they have not made the commitment to the money and time it takes to create the avatar they really want. At any rate, it is a theory.
I want to take this one step further. Shapiro notes that different theorists believe "that technology can produce new and reconstructed bodies and identities" (93). There is ample evidence that this is true. Perhaps the reason Second Life reproduces homogeneity is because it puts everyone on equal playing ground. Wagner James Au, in The Making of Second Life and Robbie Cooper, in Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators, both discuss an avatar in Second Life known as Wilde Cunningham. An avatar with nine real world individuals, who suffer from various physical challenges, behind it. As these people say, Second Life allows them "to fly and walk and run and drive and basically experience everything life has to offer. It allows us to fulfill some dreams and meet really cool people we would not otherwise have met" ("Wild Cunningham" from Robbie Cooper's Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators. Homogeneity, for some, creates an identity that puts them on an even playing field and affords them things and experiences they would otherwise miss out on.
Obviously the first half of this chapter dealt with a lot more than just the creation of identity in Second Life, but I have written far too much for one blog post and likely bored my readers to tears, so I'll end with a goodnight.
Shapiro begins "Information Technologies and Gendered Identity Work" by discussing a myriad of topics that have been written about the subject. It's almost as if she is trying to legitimate the topic, or it could be that she just wants the audience to understand how prevalent this virtual world is in our real world. I have been a citizen of this virtual environment for over three years now. I have seen avatars of all shapes and sizes and never blinked an eye at how the real world people chose to represent themselves in this virtual space. It took Shapiro to point out just how homogenous Second Life really is for me to even consider this. She brings up some interesting questions as well, asking "Why was gender, racial and body size homogeneity, the outcome of allowing people to construct their own avatars? Is this homogeneity intentional, purposefully or unconsciously produced by this virtual world's designers or participants? Or is it a product of those who participate in Second Life?" (89). (Note: While many choose to italicize Second Life, I do not unless I am discussing the software that must be downloaded to enter the virtual world. If we do not italicize "world", I see no reason to italicize Second Life.) Shapiro notes that most people likely just create their "ideal" self when they construct their avatar, but that in so doing "we created a world that reflected social body norms and hegemonically valued existing gender, race, and class scripts" (89).
If this isn't food for thought, I don't know what is. But I do have a bit of a theory, and I'll pose it here. While residents of SL are allowed to create their own avatar, the beginning choices are limited in what you can be. When I researched first-year composition in this world in 2007, my students did not even have the initial choice of choosing African American. And I had a student who wrote about the disembodied feeling they had walking around as white when in reality they were African American (my use of "they" is intentional to avoid gendering here). Second Life does allow you to completely remake yourself once you are in-world, but that requires some knowledge and often Linden $$$ to create what you want, and many noobs (new residents) do not make these investments unless they decide to remain a citizen of this society. So perhaps these citizens appear to reproduce homogeneity simple because they have not made the commitment to the money and time it takes to create the avatar they really want. At any rate, it is a theory.
I want to take this one step further. Shapiro notes that different theorists believe "that technology can produce new and reconstructed bodies and identities" (93). There is ample evidence that this is true. Perhaps the reason Second Life reproduces homogeneity is because it puts everyone on equal playing ground. Wagner James Au, in The Making of Second Life and Robbie Cooper, in Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators, both discuss an avatar in Second Life known as Wilde Cunningham. An avatar with nine real world individuals, who suffer from various physical challenges, behind it. As these people say, Second Life allows them "to fly and walk and run and drive and basically experience everything life has to offer. It allows us to fulfill some dreams and meet really cool people we would not otherwise have met" ("Wild Cunningham" from Robbie Cooper's Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators. Homogeneity, for some, creates an identity that puts them on an even playing field and affords them things and experiences they would otherwise miss out on.
Obviously the first half of this chapter dealt with a lot more than just the creation of identity in Second Life, but I have written far too much for one blog post and likely bored my readers to tears, so I'll end with a goodnight.
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