Child avatars

Which means that 89% are men. Sounds about right to me.

I think they're normal and sometimes even cute, and I also think this thread is unnecessary and it's funny you're creeped out by children. Go and see more RL ffs.

What about the gender nonspecific?

Leave me out of it

The definition of delusionary is believing that the truth other people say is lies.

Pep (Go on - deny that you have made several posts wishing me a long lingering painful death by cancer.)

The only real reason I posted here, was to quesion my own "male" perception of child avatars, and to ask others of their thoughts as I'm very very happy to adjust my feelings on things.

I do not EVER want to take on the mob mentality, and I'd love to only see the good things about others, esp in SL.

As a male, I may look at female avator playing the role of a young girl and my reaction is "cute" and a feeling off, well if she wants to re-inact her childhood and use baby words and giggle then that's fine and good for her do playing a role she's enjoying.

If I see a young boy avatar (I suppose I generally draw the conclusion - which may be wrong) that there is a adult male behind it, and I suppose rather than instantly thinking "ahhh, she's cute" I think it's a little strange. Though I do accept it, and chat fine to them (as I did yesterday) I feel different about (I'm guessing) a grown man playing a young boy then I do to a grown woman playing a young girl.

What I'd doing here (if you have not noticed) is questioning myself and wondering why I seem to have this in built different of feeling, and thinking I need to change (which I am doing) my feeling on this as I realise I have no reasons to view either in a different light to each other.

I HATE stereotypical branding of people. And (as was talked about a few positings ago) the way a male is deemed "up to something and not to be trusted" by the media mob mentality.

For every weird male or female there's probably a thousand or many thousand 100% genuine people out there, yet too many times (esp with males) you get branded by the one bad apple.

As I started out by saying. This different in sexes playing childern (totally innocently) is just a feeling from my male perspective and I'm trying to get past this and feel happy about both genders.

I was very interested to hear how female's here viewed this and if they had any differences in feeling when they see a male or female child avatar (and we'll assume for this there is a woman or a man playing the role of the girl and boy)

Do women feel a man playing the part of a young boy is exacly the same and just as cute and sweet as a women playing the part of a young girl?

I accept, people who are against child AV's totally will find either unacceptable, but to those who are ok with the idea, Esp women reading this. Do you feel any difference regarding what I asked above.

Note: I have never played (and I don't have actually) a child AV of either sex as it's not really the kinda thing that appeals. (I do have a blue meercat though who is quite a cute looking chap!) and I don't feel the need to "age play" as to be honest I would find it hard work mentally "playing the role" but I understand others might and I don't want to pre-judge anyone who does.

Whimsy - I'm sorry. I tried, but he's behaving like such an idiot that I have to ....

Let me tell you something. *You* don't know the truth. *You* don't know what caused Rhonda to write that outburst. The *only* person who knows the truth is Rhonda. You can guess, but if you write your guess down as being the truth, then you are a liar - as Rhonda said. Of course, you could take the word of the only person who actually knows - Rhonda. The rest of us do.

Now this bit. Your continued stupidities over this is fast bringing me to the stage of thinking that you should be lined up against a wall and shot. I'm sure you'd prefer that way out. If the others who read your crap about this are anything like me, they'll now be laughing that you were wished a long, slow, painful death. The more you keep bleating about it, the more I find the content of Rhonda's outburst acceptable and funny.

I've never known anyone so badly hurt, for so long, by something that was written in the forum. You can deny it all you want but your actions speak louder than your words.

The OP was already degenerate. It singled out a social group in SL, thus identifying themselves as discriminating against people who pursue something different.

No I'm not against gay marriage, but does that mean I'm gay? Or if I were gay and didn't want to get married, would that mean I feel no one else should

We can however delve into the mind of someone who is creeped out by people cooperating to enact a happy family.

If there's anything I'm put off by with any sl kids, it's proportions (which is more SL's fault and an ongoing issue for the kids than a social problem; most try their best to overcome the slider limitations) and some who mix their intended ages with size, clothes, and accessories. For example going to school with a pacifier in one's mouth or saying things at their age which by then a kid would not say.

But those are personal preferences. If the kids are redefining and making a unique persona, it's my own experience which is judging them and I'm aware of that. They still have every right to do what they do however means they wish to do it. They certainly don't need my approval any more than yours.

Child avatars are cool. The content and range of activities they add to the grid as a whole is fantastic.

I wear a kid av now and again. I don't RP - I have discovered I am just not very good at it and I would not want to be part of an adopted family because of this, but when I wear that av (which is very young - 4 or 5) - I find I am much more creative ... less self-censoring.

A lot of the people who have a real thing against child avs seem to be heavily invested in the Adult side of SL. Nothing wrong with that, but I know from my own experience that it's easy to imagine that what YOU get up to in SL is pretty much all there is, whereas in reality one of the most powerful things about SL is its ability to be (almost) all things to all people. Go on, try out a non-sexy av for a day (doesn't have to be a kid, try a robot or a quadruped) and see what else the grid has to offer .

Piggie ... thoughtful posts ... I entirely agree with you about how hard it is for men to relate to kids in the current climate. I have seen loads of examples of this, from my ex-husband being ostracised by the local mother-and-tots group (what an inclusive title!), to my current partner's experience when next-door's little girl ran screaming to mummy because "the man touched me!" (he had attempted to lift her onto a garden bench to read her a story ). My partner bears the added mark-of-the-beast: "stepfather". I don't want to play down the seriousness of child abuse. Terrible things do happen, and children MUST be protected, but something has gone badly wrong if normal men cannot interact normally with normal kids.



I think this way of viewing child avatars may be more common among men than women. Here's my theory of why, based on vast, sweeping generalisations about men, women and children ...

stereotypes about men: they are strong, powerful and in control. They are not cute, they are rugged. They are serious and efficient.

stereotypes about women: they are weak and not in full control of their lives. They are cute. They are frivolous and scatterbrained.

stereotypes about children: they are weak and not in full control of their lives. They are cute. They are frivolous and scatterbrained.

So, a man playing a child is stepping much farther away from their usual stereotype than is a woman.

Now, I have no idea why, but it is my experience that a lot of otherwise very decent and thoughtful men feel somehow threatened by other men who won't play the macho game (hence homophobia, although obviously things have moved on - most men these days can cope with un-macho men if they can identify them as gay, but that's not what a child avatar is doing, generally, is it?). I think this type of macho behaviour is more akin to antler-locking than to peacocks' tails (i.e. more to do with driving off other males than attracting females), so it's something that bothers men much more than women. We are largely indifferent to men's macho-play, except when it becomes funny (one of my favourite games in the good old days when you could smoke in pubs was to go to the bar and buy the smallest cigar they sold, just so I could watch every bloke at the table have to go and buy a bigger one. Their faces were a picture as they had no idea why they felt so compelled to do this ). Women, on the whole, are much more comfortable with un-macho men and just accept them as honorary girlfriends. They are similarly un-bothered by male child avatars.

For women, swapping female stereotypes for child stereotypes is not such a big deal. It's the same set of stereotypes, minus sexuality, really (Scylla, can you add something about the infantilisation of women, here?). It requires much less of a mental gear-shift for men to relate to a female child avatar than a male one.

God, that's depressing

ETA: (it wouldn't let me add this to the previous post because the software is a git) Where my theory falls down is that the very few serious anti-child-av ranters I can think of are all female .

Well, female avatars at least.

I am afraid that you can not speak for "the rest of us", which does not necessarily make you a liar, merely delusional. Especially if you are going to take the word of someone whose grasp of reality falls apart to such an extent that she wishes death by cancer on another.

So *you* are joining the ranks of those who wish others death, eh? It's taken you some time to show your true colours in this issue. I trust others will note your descent into madness and I hope you enjoy the depths with Rhonda.

As I apparently have to keep repeating, I am not personally hurt by Rhonda's horrendous utterances, but I am concerned that others in the forums should know what sort of a monster they are dealing with . . .

Pep ( . . . and now you can go on that list as well.)

I went and seen the new movie 2012 and none of this will matter soon..
We are all doomed
If you see John Cusack running by..Try to keep up with him..Trust me..Unless you have a billion euros

well, one I can think of is a female av, another is a male av run by a female.

I'm not entirely sure that's been proven.

Oh, dear God! You are personifying a forum rant to very unhealthy levels, and taking things way too literally! I have frequently told people to "go die in a fire".... but that does not mean I honestly, sincerely wish they would do so!

How do you get that her grasp of reality has fallen apart from that? Don't you think that people can wish you harm? Huh. (You're not doing very well, are you )

I certainly wish you something, that's for sure. You behave like a prize dickhead here but you are too stupid to realise it.

You do keep repeating that, but your actions speak louder than your words. The only person who comes close to being a "monster" in all of this, is you, although I'm not certain - is a monstosity the same as a monster? Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh though. You behave more like a big baby than a monstrosity.

If anyone is interested, I got back into it because I watched him continue to post his crap wherever he could, but more than that, he's actually stalking Rhonda in this forum and I can't sit back and watch it without speaking up.

arrrgh! Please stop arguing! Coz THIS IS arguing! I used to really get upset when adults argued. I get upset even reading this. I bet many younger people are also.

Just be friendly with each other. Be KIND!!!!

You need to persuade him to stop. I already stopped once when we were both asked to, and I posted that I'd stopped. I didn't expect him to stop and he hasn't. He still posts his drivel everywhere he can AND he is stalking/victimising Rhonda (responding to a high percentage of her posts with his drivel). Is that what you want? Leave him to do all that without anyone speaking out about it?

Yikes, where to start? On studies that relate to gendered differences on how health care recipients are kept informed? On advertising images that encourage an infantilized view of women (as in this Kenzie ad)?



Or in the popular media? Here's an interesting little clip on the gendered differences between a popular TV show's approach to men and women participants:



All that said, though, spinster, I thought you rather nicely summed the issues up.

No - I experienced a Pep-stalk also. It's just upsetting. We dont need to all be so conflicting except in fun. Wait ...

PEP, LISTEN, STOP ALL THIS ANTI-FEMALE TOSH. It's outdated and puts you in teh stone age. Bully me if you like coz I've learnt your rickeris.

Let's see.

Amara. Elora. Both left the forums because they couldn't stand to be in the same place as him anymore.

Ghosty left because of him as well.

Damien left when Amara did.

Key left the undying thread because he decided it was a good idea to post pictures of dead animals.

He's also stalked 3ring pretty mercilessly, but she's not about to let him run her off.

He also went after Eli in a big way, but only after Eli started defending 3Ring.

Everybody reacts differently to him. But he's done his share of damage through stalking.

So Jig, where is the fun again?

The behavior won't stop as long as someone responds. And because he is so adept at pushing people's buttons, someone will always respond...

Too bad he had to hijack this particular thread; despite the OP, this has been the first discussion about child avatars I've seen here that's actually been civil enough to be interesting.

You really think he would stop anyway?

I think we will never have the chance to find out.