Gender-bending avatars

[Shana A]

Check out the "Gender-bending avatars inspire less trust" https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,15955.0.html article I posted in News.

This'll give us something to talk about here.

Hmmmmpf, less trustworthy than a ketchup bottle indeed.

zythyra aka the keening quing

[TheBattler]

It was very interesting.

In our society very few people are normal - yet everyone expects people to be either male/female. I wish the world would grow up - but the GW Bush at the helm we know the USA will be going backwards for at least the next 6 months.

Alice

[Tay]

Well that sucks.  Because any pic of me looks androgynous on some level.

[Kendall]

Together, the experiments suggest that people make quick judgments about avatars that strongly influence their impression of the person controlling it. Androgyny makes an avatar appear less human, and in turn, less credible, the researchers argue.

Less Human. Well I guess my icon is a space fleet of spaceships from Battlestar Galactica. I guess that would take all my credibility away.

Lizard person. Doh and I almost picked that. I wanted to be pretty and trustworthy.

Ketchup. See it depends on the brand. Heinz, Del Monte, or Huntz. And is it mixed with anything such as mayo.

[Mia and Marq]

Meh I wonder how an avatar with both male and female would rate. Would they be so confused that they might do something irrational.

-Nonhumans

[Pica Pica]

I'd guess a ketchup bottle with a face was a boy.

[Tay]

I made an avatar on second life, using the female base, but making the chest flat.  I've been REPEATEDLY called an "it" as in "What is it?" and been asked the nature of my RL genitals.

People who look like giant cats?  They don't get asked.

Explain this?

[RebeccaFog]

It was very interesting.

In our society very few people are normal - yet everyone expects people to be either male/female. I wish the world would grow up - but the GW Bush at the helm we know the USA will be going backwards for at least the next 6 months.

Alice

     The common perception is that it could take a minimum of 30 years to shake off the corruption of the beady-eyed swine and his cronies.  That is because the damage they've done is very extensive. There will be repercussions from the war, the lack of energy policy, the blowing off of social programs, and the pinheads that weasel boy got onto the supreme court (it's a lifetime membership).

[Koishii]

I made an avatar on second life, using the female base, but making the chest flat.  I've been REPEATEDLY called an "it" as in "What is it?" and been asked the nature of my RL genitals.

People who look like giant cats?  They don't get asked.

Explain this?

Do you mean furries? Most non-furries stay away from us and just assume "Bunch of weirdos". I also have an avatar, granted it's a furry, that is both male and female like yours. I stay inside the furry community and nobody treats me awkwardly, being a lot more open-minded. Furries already had to experience a "coming out" of some sort, so they can relate.

[ChildOfTheLight]

It was very interesting.

In our society very few people are normal - yet everyone expects people to be either male/female. I wish the world would grow up - but the GW Bush at the helm we know the USA will be going backwards for at least the next 6 months.

Alice

Unfortunately our election isn't until November 2008.  Inauguration is January 2009.  So that's more like 18 months.

[Tay]

I made an avatar on second life, using the female base, but making the chest flat.  I've been REPEATEDLY called an "it" as in "What is it?" and been asked the nature of my RL genitals.

People who look like giant cats?  They don't get asked.

Explain this?

Do you mean furries? Most non-furries stay away from us and just assume "Bunch of weirdos". I also have an avatar, granted it's a furry, that is both male and female like yours. I stay inside the furry community and nobody treats me awkwardly, being a lot more open-minded. Furries already had to experience a "coming out" of some sort, so they can relate.

Even in the middle of a crowded cafe area where the majority are human avatars, the furries don't get called its, at least not PUBLICALLY.  It might happen in IM.  I just know that my avatar, which is purely androgynous, gets publically called an it and I get asked all sorts of nasty questions.

[Koishii]

I made an avatar on second life, using the female base, but making the chest flat.  I've been REPEATEDLY called an "it" as in "What is it?" and been asked the nature of my RL genitals.

People who look like giant cats?  They don't get asked.

Explain this?

Do you mean furries? Most non-furries stay away from us and just assume "Bunch of weirdos". I also have an avatar, granted it's a furry, that is both male and female like yours. I stay inside the furry community and nobody treats me awkwardly, being a lot more open-minded. Furries already had to experience a "coming out" of some sort, so they can relate.

Even in the middle of a crowded cafe area where the majority are human avatars, the furries don't get called its, at least not PUBLICALLY.  It might happen in IM.  I just know that my avatar, which is purely androgynous, gets publically called an it and I get asked all sorts of nasty questions.

Yeah I believe you. Androgynes are not as well known as furries so people don't know how to react. It makes me sad.

[Kai]

Hmmm...I just signed up for SL the other day and was planning on having a pretty androgynous looking character.  Now I'm curious to see how people treat me.  I used to play on SL a couple years ago, but had a distinctly feminine looking character with a very feminine name.  It'll be interesting to compare the two experiences. 

From personal experience, when I had long hair and looked like a girl, people treated me a lot differently than they do now, with short hair and rather ambiguous gender presentation.  With long hair and girl(ish) clothes people were perfectly polite at all times, now with more androgynous/guy clothes and shorter hair (I've gotten "sirred" with hair as long as chin-length, and now it's really short, so I get "sirred" alllll the time) people are much cooler and don't exactly go out of their way to be polite, even if they know that physically I'm female.  Point being, it really doesn't surprise me that people see androgynous avatars as not trustworthy.  It frustrates me a lot, but that's the world we live in, sadly. 

[RebeccaFog]

Someday I'm going to try one of these games.  I've never been in one.

[Tay]

I get sirred even now, sometimes, and this is what I currently look like.

(excuse my stupid right now.  I'm sorta kinda drunk.)



I don't know where people are getting sir from.

I need a haircut.  Badly.  I can ponytail my hair.  it's gross.