[Note: I make no claims as to the pertinence or value of this diary. But since I am knee-deep in this at the moment and there appears to be a need for some light-hearted fun around here, I am bowing to public pressure and posting something frivolous and a little bit personal. This is not fp worthy, so don't promote it ;} And, just for the record, my spouse is also in SL and is enjoying the experience as much or more than I am.]

Second Life (SL) can be thought of as the next step in online communications or social networking. Communication technology constantly evolves, from the telephone, which undoubtedly seemed strange at the time, to this chatting via cartoon avatars. How people react to this new form of communication is very interesting, and it is one of the things I like most to explore in SL. Asking people "why are you here" gets me a whole mess of quite interesting responses.

The first thing that struck me was the gender/sexual role issue. Sex is a big deal in SL. One cannot help but notice this fact. That is not necessarily an original observation, because, quite honestly, sex is a big deal in real life also. But how people choose to approach and experience gender and sexuality runs the full gamut in SL and could fill pages. So I'll try to limit my scope.

On this blog, without an avatar, I did not have to assume a gender identity, and this passed unnoticed. But on SL, I am finding that the mere act of choosing a female avatar is reinforcing my underlying gender role and persona. Now, throw into the mix that a good portion of men choose female avatars in SL, and some choose amorphous asexual avatars, what does that say about the nature of this form of online interaction? Do pictures make a difference? Is it the, um, more basic nature of much of the SL world, or the inner workings of the specific individual, or something else, that provides that reinforcement?