Masculinities
February 27, 2009
Take Sherry Turkle’s quote: “by enabling people to experience what it feels like to be the opposite gender or to have no gender at all, the practice encourages reflection on the way ideas about gender shape our expectations” (77).
Though the creation of my avatar was short-lived since I couldn’t even log onto the space, I was able to briefly complete the basic construction of her appearance. The thought never occurred to me to choose a male avatar, but like we talked about in class for some users of Second Life the option to choose an avatar that is the opposite gender of the user is alluring.
Turkle’s quote raises questions about how the ways we see gender mold our expectations about the way someone will act. For instance, we think that women are more compassionate and talkative about their feelings and have the role as the caregiver while we see men as more closed off from sharing their feelings and in the role as the provider. Do these roles and behaviors apply to avatars in Second Life?
If a man chooses a female avatar are her features over exaggerated or are her clothes overtly sexy? If a woman chooses a male avatar does he have well defined muscles and look like George Clooney?
I also never thought about creating a male avatar until after the fact. I think gender roles in Second Life are based more on appearance than behaviors because actions are somewhat limited.