Race--does it matter?

[Suki Hirano]

In SL:

- Most caucasians (americans, europeans, etc) will wear tan skin that makes them look middle-eastern, I have absolutely no idea why. I have yet to see more than 1% of English speakers wear a pale caucasian skin that matches their RL skin

- Most darker skinned people (south american, some european countries, etc), also wear tan skins, but this is normal I guess

- Most asians will wear skins that are paler than our RL skin tone, but this is also normal because pale skin is a symbol of beauty in most of asia

Anyway that's just my findings. The only thing I find awkward is why most caucasians wear really dark skin. I'm Asian myself so I don't understand what is considered "beauty" in other cultures.

[Charolotte Caxton]

Think California or Jersey Shore. We love to tan.

That of course is a racist generalization, but that might help you wrap your head around it.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

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Suki Hirano wrote:

In SL:

- Most caucasians (americans, europeans, etc) will wear tan skin that makes them look middle-eastern, I have absolutely no idea why. I have yet to see more than 1% of English speakers wear a pale caucasian skin that matches their RL skin

- Most darker skinned people (south american, some european countries, etc), also wear tan skins, but this is normal I guess

- Most asians will wear skins that are paler than our RL skin tone, but this is also normal because pale skin is a symbol of beauty in most of asia

Anyway that's just my findings. The only thing I find awkward is why most caucasians wear really dark skin. I'm Asian myself so I don't understand what is considered "beauty" in other cultures.

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How do you know what everyones skin color is in RL? My skin is darker than my wifes, yet we both are from new england.. Her best friend is pale as milk. my cousin is much much darker than i am..

Your post is full of racist generalizations.. you have no way of knowing what anyone you see in SLs RL skin tone.

 

[Syo Emerald]

Hm? Have you ever asked yourself why solariums are so popular or why a lot people try to get tanned skin in their summer vacation, lying in the sun for hours? Tanned skin is seen as beautiful by many people who normaly have a much more bright skin by nature. And thats why you have more avatars with rather tanned skin than pale skin.

 

And Drake, look up the word racist in a dictionary please! There is nothing racist in saying that there are more avatars with darker skintones than there should be if anyone would pick a skintone like they have in real life. Whats racist about that?! Its a fact, that most residents come from the North America and from Europe. Both regions with rather pale skinned people. And even the part about asians seeing pale skin as beautyfull...what the hell is racist about that? She said she is asian herself, I bet she knows better than you what is seen beautiful in asian culture than you!

Also being racist includes saying something hatefull about other people based on their skintone or origin and thats simply not given in her post.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

Like i said, how does anyone in SL know what anyone elses skin tone is? The US is a melting pot of nationalities now, many different ethnic backgrounds. To make a blanket statement that north Americans have light skin is foolish. aside from that, who gives a rats butt what skin tone you choose in SL? SECOND LIFE!!!! not first life.

Simply stating that a person should pick a SL skin based on their RL skin is racist and segregatory. We are free to be what we want in SL. 

[ohn]

Currently, I think I mostly wear a pretty Asian skin, but the shape is something I mucked with. I have a mix of skins from very dark to very light. I can't remember them all, but aside from the Asian skin, one is African-American, one is Indian, and another one (I think) is Hispanic. I also have a pretty fox avatar and also a Petite. My first consciously chosen skin, after signing up and getting a pre-made avatar, was part of an outfit called Fog, for a human shape. Super pale with smudges around the eyes. I think I tend to spend time most in the super pale skins cause I like the almost dead look. I can't even begin to guess why, LOL, cause I'm not into any of the vampy stuff. If I want to look pretty in a picture, I wear one of the darker skins, because I think they look beautiful. I've also gone around in a wierd skin I made which was basically a stone texture, LOL. I was feeling very stone cold emotionally at the time. In rl I am a caucasian female, of an average white color. When I look at rl women, for me usually it is a woman of another race with darker skin, big eyes, pretty bone structure, pretty mouth that I find most strikingly beautiful. LOL, nearly always, it is someone who looks very different from me.

[Syo Emerald]

Its senseless to discuss this with you. You want to scream at others, blame them for things they had not in mind and didn't do. It was a question about taste and I would still say, that with a high posibillity you still have more residents with bright skin than with dark skin, assuming the population from the countries you often meet in SL.

So, this is simple a question of taste. She sees that the majority of avatars has dark skin. Much more than you would assume in a real life population of all the people who are in SL. Yes, you can't say who is black and who is white, but its just logical to assume that their aren't all with really natural tanned skin. And she simply ask why so many people chose a dark tanned skin. Nothing racist about that...

But you can continue now to play your tiny game of "I'm better than you".

[Drake1 Nightfire]

i suppose you really have fur and spots in RL? The question is a foolish one as we are free to be what we want in SL. Saying that people should mimic their RL skin tones IS racist.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Yes race matters a LOT in virtual worlds.

Lets start with some articles on this, from "people of color gamers" - which would include me. Even though, SL is not a 'game' in the same sense as these, the dynamic here is the same:

- Ability to be oneself or one's self image.

- revelation of biases the self and other have about race that they suddenly feel less inhibited in expressing.

Here's some articles:

http://kotaku.com/5358562/minority-report-the-non+white-gamers-experience

http://gamers-of-color.livejournal.com/

http://minoritygamer.com/archives/410

- The theme in these is one that people have been writing about for decades.

Minorities are very hesitant to engage with games and game like worlds.

We've been burned badly way too many times. Just look at the articles up there. That's just the tip of a very long list of grievances.

 

You come to SL, and you see advertising on the home page that is starkly monoethnic. Something just flat out strange in today's world. Look at all the flak Abercrombe and Fitch takes over their 'racial purity' policies-its because that kind of imagery evokes that kind of message in today's world, intended or not. And coming from San Francisco; a city that is shockingly diverse... Baffling.

- But you go inworld, and it repeats in many places. Avatar after avatar goes for a certain ethnic look. It gets a bit alienating at times. And it works to drive away less 'resilient' folks.

And maybe for good reason some of the time.

Like a lot of people, when I joined SL it was very hard to find a skin that represented me. So I came in with a bit 'pinker' of an avatar than desired. As I managed to find more and more ways to visually represent my identity, the circle of people friendly to me noticeably narrowed.

- This was LONG BEFORE I became one of the 'vocal types' in the SL community. So it wasn't about any earned reputation. And I've tested it with alts too. Completely unknown alts. Go in African or visibly Native, and people tend to talk around you as if you were not there.

As I've gone 'darker' than my RL ethnicity as an Asian/Native American mix, into an African tone, its only increased. Again the use of some alts lets me see this isn't just about "oh, its that person who's article I didn't like."

Here's another article for you:

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/02/the_skin_youre_.html

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2003/10/white_like_me.html

http://catnapkitty.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/when-the-wide-eyed-innocence-of-second-life-came-to-an-end/

(In that I don't mention the racial angle as much for what happened vis-avis SL, but that was the core of it).

I've limited my writing on race of late. Under my pen name before SL, I've published whole novels on it.

 

If you are from a 'majority race' you have the luxury of spending a day in your life not having the topic of race slammed down your throat. So it might sound very strange to such a person when I say that for me, I cannot go more than an hour without it being forced on me.

You might think this is being 'too sensitive' - but if you ever manage to travel overseas, or if you every go into a 'strongly' minority neighborhood, think about how you feel in dealing with the locals there. Even when on good terms, you will be constantly reminded that you are not one of them. Even when its all friendly - the game is still played by rules they set, on their terms, that you can learn, but will always be in conflict with.

If anyone thinks race doesn't matter... Make an avatar of a very different race from yourself, and go out there. And then when you log off, spend the entire day watching 'foreign TV.' And then consider that this for you, is just a limited experience. A controlled one where, chances are, you will not feel the full sense of it because the majority of images around you will still be comfortable references to you. The only real way to get the experience is to spend a few years living abroad in a place where a different linguistic group and race is the majority.

 

Sometimes the racism in SL is not even subtle.

This past week I've been on a missions to get vehicles - cars and motorcycles. In sim after sim, I encountered KKK paraphernalia: the Confederate flag. The ultimate symbol of Anti-African hate. It is, very much, to the African Diaspora, akin to the Swastika. And I'm sure some will try to defend its use, completely running roughshod over and not caring how hurtful of a symbol it is to the victims of that genocide.

 

[Drake1 Nightfire]

Simply because a shop has the St Andrews cross flag does not mean they are associated with the KKK. Perhaps they are simply proud to be a Southern American.

Did you know that for 3,000 years, the swastika meant life and good luck. For Buddhists and Hindus, the swastika is a very religious symbol that is commonly used.

Simply because someone uses a symbol and they are doing evil acts does not make that symbol represent those acts. Does the Christian cross equate pain and needless death? It did in the Crusades.

People need to stop worrying about what others think and act, and focus on their own thoughts and actions.

[Marybeth Cooperstone]

Pussycat,

The St. Andrews Cross flag (diagonal lines from the corners, crossing in the center) is the flag of Scotland and is part of the British "Union Jack", It is also used in several states, and was used before the KKK. The "Red Neck Flag", which also uses the St. Andrews Cross, was never really the flag of the "Confederate States of America" but was a CS Navy flag and used by a regiment from Virginia. The real confederate flag was not used in battle because it looked white.

That said, as a native Southerner, I think of  the Red Neck flag as racist.

[Coby Foden]

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Suki Hirano wrote:

Anyway that's just my findings. The only thing I find awkward is why most caucasians wear really dark skin. I'm Asian myself so I don't understand what is considered "beauty" in other cultures.

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In western cultures, among the white skinned ones, tanned skin is generally seen as healthy and beautiful.

 

That is why we do this:

 

 

To get that beautiful skin tone: