Embodiment and Gender Identity in Virtual Worlds: Reconfiguring our “Volatile Bodies”
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
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Creating Second Lives: Community, Identity and Spatiality as Constructions of the Virtual. ed. / Astrid Ensslin; Eben Muse. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2011. p. 75-99 (Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture).
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Research › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Embodiment and Gender Identity in Virtual Worlds
T2 - Reconfiguring our “Volatile Bodies”
AU - Fizek, Sonia
AU - Wasilewska, Monika
PY - 2011/5/9
Y1 - 2011/5/9
N2 - Since the emergence of graphical virtual worlds, such as Second Life™ (Linden Lab 2003) and Entropia Universe™ (MindArk 2003), the creation of our Second Lives in cyberspace no longer relies predominantly on textbased means, as it was in the case of MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) or MOOs (object oriented MUDs). The focus of the online existence in VWs (virtual worlds) shifted from text-based descriptions to graphical representations of ourselves as avatars and of the virtual reality surrounding us. The customization of our virtual personas (choosing the name, adjusting body parts, and selecting clothes) entails above all gender specifi cation. As it turns out, coexisting in virtual communities as avatars, the majority of us seem to project an equivalent of reality onto our cyber bodies. Despite the fact that the Internet itself constitutes a fl exible tool, which could be used to implement revolutionary ideas contradicting stable and fi xed gender boundaries, the traditionally defi ned gender identity based on binary oppositions (male versus female; heterosexual versus homosexual) is still being reinforced online. We are more likely to fi ll the virtual worlds with unusual objects or imaginary scenery than to populate them with gender ambiguous creatures. Oftentimes, in the most fantastic virtual spaces, our avatar’s gender identity constitutes the most stable point of reference.
AB - Since the emergence of graphical virtual worlds, such as Second Life™ (Linden Lab 2003) and Entropia Universe™ (MindArk 2003), the creation of our Second Lives in cyberspace no longer relies predominantly on textbased means, as it was in the case of MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) or MOOs (object oriented MUDs). The focus of the online existence in VWs (virtual worlds) shifted from text-based descriptions to graphical representations of ourselves as avatars and of the virtual reality surrounding us. The customization of our virtual personas (choosing the name, adjusting body parts, and selecting clothes) entails above all gender specifi cation. As it turns out, coexisting in virtual communities as avatars, the majority of us seem to project an equivalent of reality onto our cyber bodies. Despite the fact that the Internet itself constitutes a fl exible tool, which could be used to implement revolutionary ideas contradicting stable and fi xed gender boundaries, the traditionally defi ned gender identity based on binary oppositions (male versus female; heterosexual versus homosexual) is still being reinforced online. We are more likely to fi ll the virtual worlds with unusual objects or imaginary scenery than to populate them with gender ambiguous creatures. Oftentimes, in the most fantastic virtual spaces, our avatar’s gender identity constitutes the most stable point of reference.
KW - Digital media
U2 - 10.4324/9780203828571
DO - 10.4324/9780203828571
M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies
SN - 978-0-415-88420-4
T3 - Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture
SP - 75
EP - 99
BT - Creating Second Lives
A2 - Ensslin, Astrid
A2 - Muse, Eben
PB - Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
CY - New York
ER -