Tonight I played as both Petunia and Bailey in the same places

• Pier
• Philosophy House
• Neva Naughty

I think of Pier as a "neutral" zone. It's a heavily trafficked, very diverse atmosphere. The most popular are of the place is the dance floor where a wide variety of music is played and the people are very friendly. It is heavily staffed with DJs and bouncers and very respectful. Tonight, both Petunia and Bailey were greeted by staff. Petunia received a compliment on her name. Bailey danced "in sync" with a friend named Mette. The two didn't communicate.

Philosophy House is a location frequented by the more unique avatars. There is a fox avatar that is a regular guest as well as a man dressed as Robin Hood and a tall pink alien with angel wings. Petunia was greeted by two of the guests and maintained small talk with one. Bailey was greeted by one guest and was not spoken to after that. She was not the most scantily clad avatar, though. There was one more conventionally "hot" avatar in the Philosophy House tonight. She was not active in the discussion, though.

The biggest difference between the two avatars' experiences tonight was at Neva Naughty. This is a very adult location that encourages sexual activity with strangers. There are different pose balls all over with various sex acts labeled. I am very very uncomfortable in this room, especially as Bailey. Petunia was IMed privately by two male avatars. One asked if she was latina, the other said, "Wanna f***, pixie?" I didn't respond to either. Bailey, on the other hand, was propositioned by a number of male avatars. After initially running into someone while resing, he responded with objectifying language: "Nice tat" and "Nice ass." Another asked me to a threesome. Another used the age-old line, "Come here often?" which amused me but ended the conversation with "If you get horny, call me." In 15 minutes, Bailey was IMed privately by four different male avatars.

As Bailey, I feel compelled to giggle in my private IMs. I use the phrase "hehe" a lot more than I do in regular conversation. I feel as though Petunia's speech is more similar to my own.
I am very shy as Petunia. When propositioned in Neva Naughty, I did not respond. However, with Bailey, I would always respond with something generic because I don't want to encourage graphic behavior, but I want to see how the other avatar goes about initiating it. It's much easier research when playing as Bailey, but I HATE the attention she gets. I can only play as Bailey for so long before I get anxious and upset.

Lastly, I'm pondering what to do about chat transcripts. I've started saving them but I hate to post them as they use the characters name. I suppose I'll compile a folder on my harddrive.

http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/modern/Imagined-Bodies-Imagined-Communities.html

Misogyny online takes on Hillary (duh)

"In times past, this coarser conversation would have remained mostly personal and subterranean. But now we have a blogosphere, where no holds are barred and vituperative speech is prized. We have social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, with their limitless ability to make the personal public.

There are no rules. And so far there is little recognition in the political and media mainstream of the teeming misogyny only a mouseclick away."

Take back the Tech: http://takebackthetech.org/frontpage
Reclaiming ICTs (information communication technology) to end violence against women
November 25-December 10

SecondLife update

I'm currently playing as two different characters. Petunia Pinion is a character I've had since May and I'm very much attached to her. She represents a more creative side of me - purple skin, spritely, funky.

Recently I created Bailey Dumpling, a bit of a sex kitten... think Paris Hilton as a brunnette. The reason I created Bailey because, as I played with Petunia, I noticed that the majority of female SecondLife characters I run into are reflective of our beauty-obsessed culture. The female avatars on SL are created to appease the male gaze- tall, white, large busted, long hair, minimal clothing. I was very surprised to see this blatant heteronormativity and sex-obsession seeping into the "utopia" of SecondLife. I'd been under the impression that SecondLife is where you go to be someone else or to be truly yourself... Maybe my true self is a purple fairy. And maybe everyone else's true selves is Lindsay Lohan and Heidi Klum.

As I mentioned, I've been playing as Petunia for about six months. Aside from the occasional welcome message, I haven't had anyone strike up a conversation with her. I visited popular dance clubs, recreations of Paris and Rome, and malls, among other things. The only times I ever feel comfortable are when my boyfriend's avatar (Arturro) and Petunia go on virtual dates or when I visit a philosophy island. (I came across a discussion island a few days ago that is mostly scholarly with very unusual and interesting avatars.)

On the other hand, I've played as Bailey only a few times and she gets LOTS of attention from male avatars. I've frequented the same establishments (except the philosophy island) and do not initiate conversation. Before long, male characters are asking me to dance, messaging me privately, and asking to leave the dance club with them (presumably to find a place where our characters can simulate sex acts). I'm very reluctant to play as Bailey. I really do not like the attention. Petunia flies under the radar so easily. I can explore different regions with her without anyone accosting me. Bailey attracts unwanted attention... Go figure.

I have also created a very non-descript male avatar named Hawk Henhouse. I plan to play as him in the next week or so and see what I find.

Saw this on CNN:

Young teen girl gets a MySpace account, receives nice messages from a boy but they quickly turn into violent messages, girl gets so depressed that she hangs herself.

It turns out the "boy" was actually a mother down the street who wanted to know why the teen was in an argument with her own daughter.

Prosecutors, sheriff, and FBI aren't investigating. A year has gone by since the incident.

What makes this legal? If the violent messages were received in the mail or in a note, would the outcome still be the same?

Invisible audiences: While we can visually detect most people who can overhear our speech in unmediated spaces, it is virtually impossible to ascertain all those who might run across our expressions in networked publics. This is further complicated by the other three properties, since our expression may be heard at a different time and place from when and where we originally spoke.

boyd, danah. (in press) “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.” MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning, Identity Volume (ed. David Buckingham).

I've been wondering what it would be like to play Second Life as a male character. I think I'm going to create one, spend a week as a female and then spend the following week as a male and see if I'm treated differently.

List of Terms

an ongoing list of terms and hopefully their definitions as they evolve

• Harassment
• Sexual Harassment
• Gender Harassment
  
• Misogyny
• Virtual Communities
• Second Life
  
• Social Networking Sites
• Facebook
• MySpace
  
• Blogs (Weblogs)

In Linda Berdayes' New Media class, we read the article "Gaming Pink: Gender and Structure in The Sims Online" by Jennifer Stromer-Galley and Rosa Leslie Mikeal from the book Digital Media (ed: Paul Messaris and Lee Humphreys). The Sims Online is a virtual community similar to Second Life. I believe the difference between the two is TSO does not allow the gamer to control exactly what the avatar does and says in the way SL does. Maybe I will have to create a TSO account and play around.

This article discusses the perpetuation of gender stereotypes in this community and attempts to explain why they exist. It also explores the tension between online and offline identities and how the offline identity can become a target for online harassment. Interestingly, though, the authors conclude that TSO is an empowering game for women.

This article, in regards to my comp, begs the question- do traditional gender roles and stereotypes create a conducive environment for gendered harassment?



Note to self: begin list of terms that need to be defined and start creating definitions