Sexism Survey in Second Life

[Coby Foden]

Hey! Why we have to reply this in two different forum threads? :matte-motes-sour:
Well, here's mine, a copy from the other thread. :smileytongue:

1. What gender is your character?
↓

2. Do you feel the second life community is sexist? Why or why not?
Yes and no.  Depends on where you hang about.




3. As a male/female in second life, do you feel at all limited by your gender? Is there anything you can/can't do?
Not limited at all. :matte-motes-big-grin:



4. Do you think the real outside world would be more or less sexist then in second life? Why?
Not much difference I guess.

[Humble Lastchance]

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maxgertler1 wrote:

 it would make my life much easier. 

 

 

yeah, send me 100K Linden Dollars, it would make my life sooooooo much easier!!!

 

[Humble Lastchance]

what a lousy, lazy and crappy survey.

[Humble Lastchance]

oh really, you find it needed to post this crappy survey in several forums to show off your laziness?

[Pussycat Catnap]

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maxgertler1 wrote:

Hey, i'm looking for data for my college paper, so if anyone could be so kind as to comment with answers to the following questions it would make my life much easier. 

1. What gender is your character?

2. Do you feel the second life community is sexist? Why or why not?

3. As a male/female in second life, do you feel at all limited by your gender? Is there anything you can/can't do?

4. Do you think the real outside world would be more or less sexist then in second life? Why?

Thank you SO MUCH, i really appreciate it!

---

First this:

Because folks need to cut it out with all these surveys.

 

And your questions:

2 and 4: Yes, and its more sexist than RL. Its like going back 3 decades sometimes in here - on gender issues AND race issues. In certain places, its like going sideways over to Afghanistan / Tribal Pakistan (Gor).

 

[Drake1 Nightfire]

1. What gender is your character?

Male usually... unless i am not.

2. Do you feel the second life community is sexist? Why or why not?

As a whole, no. Individual groups can be sexist.. It's more that i see a racial bias in SL or a height one. "male av under 7 feet tall, must be a child av. "

3. As a male/female in second life, do you feel at all limited by your gender? Is there anything you can/can't do?

"Your life, Your imagination." You are only limited by your own imagination.

4. Do you think the real outside world would be more or less sexist then in second life? Why?

Would be? how about... is. In SL no one really knows if you are male or female behind the screen. The big discrimination in SL is Avatar age. IE when you created your account.

 

[Raven1 Short]

4. Do you think the real outside world would be more or less sexist then in second life? Why?

Than.

[Tiffy Vella]

1) I have several 'characters'. Mostly female, but also have rped as male.

2) Not at all. And it depends upon what communities you choose to be in. The building industry in SL is less sexist in some ways than the RL building industry. On another hand the Gorean community makes large distinctions between male and female roles and is more prevalent in SL than RL. But you can choose what you wish to be a part of, and walk away from what doesn't suit you.

3) I can and do anything I like. My gender has no effect on who I am.

4) I have met sexist people in all worlds. They are the same people. They will always be the same people no matter what world you meet them in. In SL, they have less power over you unless you let them.

[Sierra Oskar]

1. female

2. no

3. no

4. no

[Josef Balbozar]

Hello maxgertler1,

 

1. Male

2. No. As avatars we create our own world.

3. Not at all - one can simply change character at any time.

4. Probably much the same. We are all humans in communities.

[Chav Paderborn]

1. What gender is your character?

Female.

 

2. Do you feel the second life community is sexist? Why or why not?

The general community is fine and perhaps a bit better than RL, but then I look at the acceptance of Gorean sims and wonder why nobody is offended by misogyny.

 

3. As a male/female in second life, do you feel at all limited by your gender? Is there anything you can/can't do?

Nope.

 

4. Do you think the real outside world would be more or less sexist then in second life? Why?

More, because this is self-selecting.

[Magnek Fang]

1. Gendermorph with male preference

2. No more than the Internet in general

3. Do you want to hear me complain about the Menswear Ghetto?

4. Dude, INTERNET.

[Melita Magic]

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Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

The big discrimination in SL is Avatar age. IE when you created your account.

 

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Towards older or younger rez dates and how so? I haven't really encountered this, myself.

[LeeHere Absent]

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maxgertler1 wrote:

Hey, i'm looking for data for my college paper, so if anyone could be so kind as to comment with answers to the following questions it would make my life much easier. 

1. What gender is your character?

2. Do you feel the second life community is sexist? Why or why not?

3. As a male/female in second life, do you feel at all limited by your gender? Is there anything you can/can't do?

4. Do you think the real outside world would be more or less sexist then in second life? Why?

Thank you SO MUCH, i really appreciate it!

---

1.  Gender-normative female

2. No, mainly, but not solely, because of the wording of the question.  As with any society, some sections and people are more sexist than others.  Second Life has actual locations and groups built for sexism.  Search for fill-in-the-blank gender haters who want to fill-in-the-blank hostile action and you will find loads of evidence of sexism.

Example:  

Forced-sex/capture/rape (FSRP) roleplay sims.

Groups like "I hate the bitches," "I Hate Men Today!" "Black B*tch's To Be Used," "Wrong Ugly Dicks And Noob Cumsluts," "Worthless **bleep** Hole Humiliation," for example.  Here's the group description on that last one:

"**bleep**: U are a worthless **bleep** hole, trying to help ur "self-esteem" by letting men use u like the bimbo u r, hoping someone will love u, but u know ur not worth it. U'd be lucky to ever get **bleep**ed except up ur fat ass with a broom handle, u piece of **bleep**. This is not "RP" or ritual bs. No time for the stale rules and conventions of bdsm. We just really don't care about u beyond a desire to scar u for life, u stupid **bleep**er."

Also, as a voice-verified female operator of a female avatar, I do notice the optimal position that puts me in terms of supply and demand in sims and groups where gender is an issue of interest or importance.  

Furthermore, I'm not even sure what you mean by "Second Life community." It's a bit like saying "the earth community," for which I would likely give the same reply.  I think for someone who is not a Resident, it seems that saying the "Second Life community" is comparable to saying "the WoW community" or "the STO community" or the "Comicon community."  It's not. There are corporations and universities who use Second Life. There are sexual fetishists who use Second Life. There are retired teachers and bus drivers building cottages and zombie slayers in Second Life. There is a BDSM community, a Furry community,  a vampire community, a group of people from Britain, and a group of people from Turkey, and people from lots of other countries, some who come to meet other people from their own country who speak the same language and some who come specifically to meet someone from another country who speaks another language. There are business people making money.  There are hobbyists.  There are fetishists.  There are addicts.  There are people using Second Life for therapeutic purposes.  There's a pretty extensive mental-health support community in Second Life.  I could go on and on.  Many of these people don't know many of the other people. Many who do might not want to be associated or considered part of the same community as others.  Second Life is a building platform and virtual world. The fact that it has less physical and financial restraints than the real world, means that in a lot of ways there are more subcommunities in Second Life than in First Life.

3. No.

4. No.  Although again, I feel I'm tripping over the wording of the question. Second Life is populated by the same people who populate First Life. There are the additional factors of the lack of physical constraints due to the virtual nature of the environment and the addition of relative anonymity, but that's not solely specific to Second Life.  The behaviors facilitated by those factors can be found elsewhere.

 

You're welcome.  Enjoy the WoT.  ;-p

[LeeHere Absent]

I would add this:

 

http://whatleesaid.blogspot.com/2011/06/virtual-world-tribes.html

 

And the comment that, if anything, the nature of Second Life has facilitated the creation of more opportunities for "isms."

[Melita Magic]

There is definitely misogyny, misandry, and -isms alive and well within Second Life. But the OP phrased the question a certain way (and didn't answer my response) - as a community. As one mind, no, I don't find sexism, not as a community. 

I've seen some of those group titles and descriptions too and some of it makes me want to vomit.

[LeeHere Absent]

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Melita Magic wrote:

There is definitely misogyny, misandry, and -isms alive and well within Second Life. But the OP phrased the question a certain way (and didn't answer my response) - as a community. As one mind, no, I don't find sexism, not as a community. 

I've seen some of those group titles and descriptions too and some of it makes me want to vomit.

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There is no "one mind" in Second Life.

If the Second Life community is defined as all Residents within Second Life, then there is sexism in Second Life.  The virtual nature of the medium has not completely eliminated the various existing belief systems of the operators.

[LeeHere Absent]

Try asking the gender-support groups in Second Life.

[Phil Deakins]

Bump to scroll the spam down.

[Melita Magic]

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LeeHere Absent wrote:

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There is no "one mind" in Second Life.

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That was exactly my point, in both posts.

[angelavenger]

Hello

My avatars are female. 

I find that sexism is prominant in second life. The expectation of other residents on the way you dress, the skin and shape you wear means you are less likely to portray a realistic body image. Im sure this goes for  both male and females.

Anonymity makes alot of people less accountable for their actions than they would be in real life. In my experience I have had many married men ask for text, voice and cam sex while their wives are sleeping in the next room. Quite often these are also demeaning sex acts to women which include forced sex, blow jobs and sodomy. Lack of accountibility is evident when these people pay no mind to the person behind the avatar when you say "No"  they simply ignore and move onto the bext person regardless of any prior friendship formed ( or perceived friendship)

That being said, Im not limited by second life. I can do or be whoever I want to be, which is great. I can block those that bother me in circumstances such as those above.

I feel there is a direct correlation between sexism in real life and secondlife.  We are constantly bombarded with media and advertising which sexualises women rather than focus on character, personality or integrity. Secondlife  along with other female characters in games portray this image also as a way to sell games to men. Its a perfect example of how "sex sells".