Is it "okay" to create an avatar in a race you are not in RL?

[Love Zhaoying]

On 4/13/2023 at 10:30 AM, Amberyl Ethaniel said:

I've never heard of Love X so you all are one up on me..😆 shows how much even my main av gets out..

I was referring to my (black) female Alt, named "LoveXiaoying". 

It is the closest I could come to my current name. I often shorten "her" name to "LoveX", instead of speaking in the "third person" about an Alt. 🙂 

 

[Love Zhaoying]

11 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

Can I use an Asian skin?  Can Asians use a black skin?  Can whites use an Asian skin?

I love the black/Asian look.  I have no Asian ancestry. Can I use a black skin with an Asian look or vis versa?

Seriously.  Let me know the rules. 🤔🙄

I flounced into the thread just to say how much I love your post!!

[PheebyKatz]

As  long as you aren't some weird yellow-orange person like everyone was back in 2005, we good.

Edited April 15, 2023 by PheebyKatz

[Destiny Marques]

*peeks into the thread then slowly backs away*`

No. I'm going to leave this one alone.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Destiny Marques

[Janet Voxel]

16 hours ago, Sissi Slacker said:

I apologise for potentially offending anyone (non-native English speaker here, so it's not my intention), but this whole issue just seems like a very American thing to me. The fact that a few posters even said that it feels wrong for a white person to wear black skins but not vice versa is just mind-boggling to me. Apparently, "your world, your imagination" has some arbitrary limits. And yes, I might not "get" it, but so do a lot of other people from around the world who just wear whatever avatars they like.

My avatars are like abstract personas to me, they can be different ethnicity or even species. I rarely associate with them, the closest comparison would be the Sims characters or just dolls. But I understand that everyone treats Second Life differently.

Mmmm...no, see, that's not it at all. It's really not an American issue, but a worldwide one. There's a grand total of three (I think?)  black people that have participated in this thread and we've all said, it's fine do what you want. I have seen some people say they wouldn't be comfortable wearing a skin of a different ethnicity, but that's a personal choice. There's nothing wrong with that. We're always going to fall back to "It's your world, your imagination." I think we all can agree to that, it's really a moot point, yet it keeps being said.

The issue is when someone decides they're going to make an avatar named bigblackdingdong6746wtfitsbig or blckbigbootyhiphopmodel4sex. Let me not even say make, let me say style. I'll let your imagination run wild with that and whatever you're imagining, that's exactly what it is. If you haven't seen something like that in your SL travels, well god bless you. I can tell you, it happens fairly frequently and sometimes the people doing it aren't American. This doesn't necessarily have to be a black avatar either. 

For some reason, that part seems to get danced around and we go back to "I dO wHaT i WaNt, My FrEeDuMs" We can all agree that playing into stereotypes is not right, and at the very least not very tasteful, right? The fact that this veered more into "I do what I want" makes me wonder....

Edited April 15, 2023 by Janet Voxel

[Coffee Pancake]

2 hours ago, Janet Voxel said:

The issue is when someone decides they're going to make an avatar named bigblackdingdong6746wtfitsbig .....

Playing into that (and other) extreme fetishized stereotypes is the whole point.

This isn't the sims.

If everything was entirely innocent there would be no need to seek permission or justify anything.

Even when it's entirely innocent .. the desire for reassurance still manifests, weird.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

2 hours ago, Janet Voxel said:

The fact that this veered more into "I do what I want" makes me wonder....

Generally speaking, discussions around these topics are rarely looking for our input. Doesn't stop us from tossing opinions and advice out anyway (just look at our spot on Twitter, lol), but ya know. 😂

 

10 minutes ago, Coffee Pancake said:

This isn't the sims.

To be fair, The Sims 4 can be just as vile when it comes to their custom content gallery. They've had to step in and remove custom creations and households and items that were...less than wholesome. Though, points for eventually getting rid of it, I suppose. Only go looking for information on that if you've got a very strong stomach. Might be a bit worse than what we see in-world here.

To be honest, these days, I'm finding games and platforms with limited customization (pick from presets, etc.) to be a lot more attractive. 

[cirleen]

I  love this thread, you guys are touching the essence of life, there's so many personal views it's almost like discussing religion or politics. I'm scared to fave anything because I might only agree with half to most of it. This would be sweet in a humanities or philosophy course, hand the whole thread to students right after discussing why the US makes such a big deal about independence and freedom in its constitution, while many other countries have the same kind of culture but without making a big deal about it. The professor asked if there's a country where the constitution matches the SL TOS. Look down and don't answer.

[Ceka Cianci]

1 hour ago, Janet Voxel said:

Mmmm...no, see, that's not it at all. It's really not an American issue, but a worldwide one. There's a grand total of three (I think?)  black people that have participated in this thread and we've all said, it's fine do what you want. I have seen some people say they wouldn't be comfortable wearing a skin of a different ethnicity, but that's a personal choice. There's nothing wrong with that. We're always going to fall back to "It's your world, your imagination." I think we all can agree to that, it's really a moot point, yet it keeps being said.

The issue is when someone decides they're going to make an avatar named bigblackdingdong6746wtfitsbig or blckbigbootyhiphopmodel4sex. Let me not even say make, let me say style. I'll let your imagination run wild with that and whatever you're imagining, that's exactly what it is. If you haven't seen something like that in your SL travels, well god bless you. I can tell you, it happens fairly frequently and sometimes the people doing it aren't American. This doesn't necessarily have to be a black avatar either. 

For some reason, that part seems to get danced around and we go back to "I dO wHaT i WaNt, My FrEeDuMs" We can all agree that playing into stereotypes is not right, and at the very least not very tasteful, right? The fact that this veered more into "I do what I want" makes me wonder....

Myself, I seen the question as being asked of a range of women.. I didn't see anything but respect  in the OP's intentions. In fact they said they are coming from a place of ignorance..

As an indigenous woman myself, I read everything the OP said, and seen no ill will or bad intent..

I much rather people like the op, a person with good intentions, feel more relaxed rather than feeling they have to walk on eggshells around me.. I react more to that than anything because I hate how that feels all the time..

I think some that the questions were directed to, came to give good food for thought to  the OP from their own experiences..

I thought there was a good variety of food served from those peoples.

People may not appreciate my answers to the OP and that's fine.. They have their ways and I have mine.. Positive results is what matters in the end.

[Janet Voxel]

1 minute ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Generally speaking, discussions around these topics are rarely looking for our input. Doesn't stop us from tossing opinions and advice out anyway (just look at our spot on Twitter, lol), but ya know. 😂

 

To be fair, The Sims 4 can be just as vile when it comes to their custom content gallery. They've had to step in and remove custom creations and households and items that were...less than wholesome.

Exactly. 

I know you get what I'm saying. Which really was, take 30 seconds to google black women's makeup palettes, so you don't....I don't know, look like a clown. Which is what I don't understand. I'm saying take the time to learn a little something about what ___________ ethnicity does before you do it and by me telling you that you're offended. BFFR lol It's not even about RP.

I think that's why some people opt out of it completely because they're aware if they do it wrong, it can be viewed as offensive. On the scale of offensive things in SL, its really a blip. What's more offensive is being like screw it. The thing is, if you're going to do what you want anyway, why even ask? I can see i'm not the only one that saw that, but why are so many people co-signing it?

This forum is exhausting sometimes.

 

[Ayashe Ninetails]

3 minutes ago, Janet Voxel said:

I think that's why some people opt out of it completely because they're aware if they do it wrong, it can be viewed as offensive. On the scale of offensive things in SL, its really a blip. What's more offensive is being like screw it. The thing is, if you're going to do what you want anyway, why even ask? I can see i'm not the only one that saw that, but why are so many people co-signing it?

Mmmhmmm. See, I told Lewis...where he at...😂

No but seriously, your advice was very good and was a valiant attempt to help people avoid drama (a.k.a. running into someone in-world who is far less unbothered than we all are). If that occurs, nobody here can help with that anyway, but at least we tried.

I get it - but - I'm far too pre-occupied with Jidenna's fine butt at the moment to really be worrying about possible outcomes here if you know what I'm sayin'. 🤣 Don't stress. Just crank up Spotify.

Good luck out there, y'all. *twerks shamelessly*

[Janet Voxel]

1 hour ago, Ceka Cianci said:

Myself, I seen the question as being asked of a range of women.. I didn't see anything but respect  in the OP's intentions. In fact they said they are coming from a place of ignorance..

Initially...yes. Maybe....

 

1 hour ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I much rather people like the op, a person with good intentions, feel more relaxed rather than feeling they have to walk on eggshells around me.. I react more to that than anything because I hate how that feels all the time..

The thing is no one said "NO DON'T DO IT!" instead the responses were "Yeah, go ahead." To which the response was "Hm...wasn't expecting that." What was said was people tend to unintentionally fall into stereotypes because they go on what their perception of ____________ ethnicity is. Where it gets dicey is some people do it on purpose, there's no way to know the difference so its best to try to avoid that. I made the suggestion of...doing a little research. Now here's where it gets weird IMO. The response to that was (and I'm paraphrasing because I don't feel like doing multi-quotes: Yeah, I'm a little afraid of that, but not really because I'm doing what I want. Nah, doing a google search...too much, I have some ideas, I'm just going to go ahead and do them. Nobody seemed to mind that, because again why ask the question...but ok. I shouldn't be surprised by that, but for some reason I am...everytime.  It's starting to sound like it wasn't a genuine question to me. That's where I bowed out. A grand total of 1 person said "It's probably a good idea to listen to what the people of the ethnicity you're trying to portray have to say" (that was basically ignored) and me and @Ayashe Ninetails gave each other the nod, twice.

It's not about walking on eggshells. Though usually when people walk on eggshells, they're aware they're doing something wrong. It's the awareness, yet the throwing it out the window for me.

It was a lot of hit dogs in this thread.

 

 

 

[Ceka Cianci]

29 minutes ago, Janet Voxel said:

Initially...yes. Maybe....

 

The thing is no one said "NO DON'T DO IT!" instead the responses were "Yeah, go ahead." To which the response was "Hm...wasn't expecting that." What was said was people tend to unintentionally fall into stereotypes because they go on what their perception of ____________ ethnicity is. Where it gets dicey is some people do it on purpose, there's no way to know the difference so its best to try to avoid that. I made the suggestion of...doing a little research. Now here's where it gets weird IMO. The response to that was (and I'm paraphrasing because I don't feel like doing multi-quotes: Yeah, I'm a little afraid of that, but not really because I'm doing what I want. Nah, doing a google search...too much, I have some ideas, I'm just going to go ahead and do them. Nobody seemed to mind that, because again why ask the question...but ok. I shouldn't be surprised by that, but for some reason I am...everytime.  It's starting to sound like it wasn't a genuine question to me. That's where I bowed out. A grand total of 1 person said "It's probably a good idea to listen to what the people of the ethnicity you're trying to portray have to say" (that was basically ignored) and me and @Ayashe Ninetails gave each other the nod, twice.

It's not about walking on eggshells. Though usually when people walk on eggshells, they're aware they're doing something wrong. It's the awareness, yet the throwing it out the window for me.

It was a lot of hit dogs in this thread.

 

 

 

I didn't see anyone say anything like, Don't do it, in here.. I addressed the OP and not anyone else in the two posts I made.. I didn't go after anyone or anything said in the thread..

But there are extreme people in the RL and SL that will come at them no matter how respectful they are being and hang up a Do Not Touch Under Any Circumstances, sign on a door that isn't even their own.. Which I feel does more damage than any good..

I felt that needed to be said and I did.

If people felt like I was addressing them and their posts in some sideways way because they felt they influenced my posts I made. I'm Sorry for the misunderstanding to those people..

I would address people directly if I felt there was a need to address anyone.. I only addressed the OP.

I don't think saying, don't let people restrict your mind and to be creative and follow inspiring things was saying, it's ok to get out there and make clown face and caricatures a people..

I think people that do those offensive things purposely, get what's coming to them eventually..As they should.. Their heart will eat them up one day from it's infection. Their eyes won't open because they were told to open them.. They'll open on their own and they are going to feel it when they do. I believe this in my heart..

So I'm sorry if my posts  pushed you or anyone else away in cringe.. I acted alone in what I posted and don't really run around in a pack..