Gender stereotypes in SL: "Real" women

There's a difference between "real" and "real life"? Meaning someone could be "real" woman but not a "real life" woman? Wait, what?

Now there's a quote for the future

How do you know? Do you ask? I'm afraid something like 90% of your hunches are non sequitur. In my office the highest ranking IT people are women. When women arrive at the office in the morning many greet the entire office with "Hello ladies" even if I'm there too -- except for the charming lady from India who says "Hello gulls."

See...

This is sort of thinking is 2003 and i thought much of that back then.

I installed Ubuntu Linux on my own. A friend from SL walked me through learning all the basics.

There are at least a few women in this forum - who i think are women - who also used Linux. Linux is not like some command line nightmare. I am using Ubuntu because it reminds me of having a Macintosh back in the 80s-90s, that cutting edge, small community feel - and EVERYTHING IS FREE! - Free OS, Free Office wares that run all the Microsoft junk! Free Free Free!

A LOT of people will not do voice or cam - it is invasive and for an immersionist like myself, it breaks my vision of everyone. I have cammed for 3 people in SL, and see no reason to do so in the future since it really is only for one purpose in SL...Same goes with voice. The people i hang around with, never use it, not the men or the women - though the people at all the Adult Sex places LOVE to voice/cam. Granted there are those that use it for meetings and such and cool group discussion chats too. But if i wanted to be voice chatting with everyone in SL, i would just pick up the phone and call my friends in California - its a free call and I am used to their voice and know who they are.

And i know plenty of women who say "Ladies". Heck, on Hells Kitchen one guest chef said "I have to vote with my ladies".... Since when was saying "Hi ladies" or "buddy" a male thing?

A lot of people have out of proportion avatars which in and of itself is not a sign of being male. I have come across many female avatars with male'ish hands and shoulders - that is just how they are - just like RL, there are plenty of women with male'ish attributes/proportions.

Well, i have always thought scripters were male...in 2003-2005. Now SL is sufficiently saturated with both sexes from all walks of life that you routinely run into women who can script - that are not men and have done voice.

As far as changing clothes goes...........maybe some people do not care so much? Or are not here for playing 3D dress-up barbies?

Those stereotypes you listed are old and stale and sound like they come from someone who is brand new to the internet. I do not know any women in RL who do the things 99% of the women in SL do when it comes to TechnoSkills and Programming stuff - but LL attracts people with those skills so you are far more likely to run into women with those skill sets here in SL than ever in RL.

I have met one person from SL who lives in my city and we were working on a political campaign together, and just happened to know each other in SL, and we were both talking about the campaign in SL that we were both working on in RL and when we realized this, we both went silent...You know why? A LOT of people like to keep there SL and their RL silent. I knew exactly who she was, she knew exactly who i was, and even when i saw her again in RL she did not bring up SL or act any different than how she did before we both knew of each others SL personalities. People like keeping SL in SL and RL in RL and it does not make you a man.

Those stereotypes you listed are all invalid.

Yes. Or they tell me after some while. I have like, umm, 20+ female avs on my list who are in fact guys. (None of the opposite mix though. Never met a straight woman with a male (main) av, just one lesbian.)

Oh and being a Neko or Furry, you definitely run afoul of the "All Furries are Men" stereotype. Which in 2003, it may have been right about SL. In 2009, less so, especially since i have met male/female RL furry couples in SL.

Even that isn't reliable. I was talking with a female av in the store a while back. She said that she's Brazilian. For "thankyou" she said "obrigado" which, having lived in Portugal for a few years, I knew was the male way of saying it. The females say "obrigada" - as do the petrol pumps

But I wanted to be sure, so I checked here in the forum, and a Brazilian guy told me that some females in Brazil do say "obrigado". So that was my theory in the ditch.

As I said, stereotypes are never true, and sentences with "all X" are usually wrong. It's called overgeneralisation. Nonetheless it's simple statistics. More males play PC games like counterstrike than women. More males use Linux than women. A female avatar that never voices, is on linux and does good scripting is is more likely to be one of the 20% of female avatars who are guys than another female avatar. Simple as that. I would never say that EVERYONE on linux is a guy, nor that ALL guys know about linux. Both are wrong conclusions. (Now I sound male, don't I? *lol)



Many many, if not most, women in SL are, in fact, here for exactly that. Plus the socializing part. It is the reason why SL is so appealing to a female crowd, more than, let's say, WoW.



I've been online since 1994. And sadly, the stereotypes haven't changed much.



LL sure does, and there are many female developers there, but Lindens are not the general population oF SL.



As are all stereotypes. That's why they are called like that. They are never valid if taken as "All x are y" expression.

Edit: typos

I have been suspected to be a guy several times *because* of being a furry and not using voice (at that point at least). As a furry you get suspected of many other things as well, like "likes to have RL sex in a fursuit". I certainly don't . Those are stereotypes, after all. If someone can't handle them, don't be furry.

If you don't like Scotch you MUST be female!

Pep (Or a really wimpy bloke )

I would think that gas pumps are male and gas tanks are female.

" 'Real' men don't eat quiche". I eat quiche in "real life". What does that make me?

Pep (Can't wait to hear the answers queuing up. )

Well, you did ask

If that person thought *you* were logical it must have been a woman.

Pep (Your over-reaction confirmed your own gender of course.)

A quiche eating blow hard?

.d

2/10

Pep (Could do much better)

I don't think you can really make any stereotype assumptions in SL, except possibly that newbies don't understand the world as much as they will do when they've been here a few months!

Strangely, I would guess that furries and Nekos would have a majority of female RLs. I might be totally wrong, of course.

How about: People with robotic alts tend to come from Cornwall?

Pep (Second generalisation: People named after trees have a bark worse than their bite)

I have a robotic alt - well, less than robot really, because it never does anything. But I don't come from Cornwall although I love the place and I do have a Cornish flag top I wear sometimes.

Woof, woof, woof, grrr, this quiche is a bit tough, I can't bite it properly.

I can certainly see your thinking, but the gas pumps in Portugal always spoke with a female voice

Nah und?

Thought that since my english is not up to your academic standards, that therefor my replies had no value for you. So why respond to my answers?

Unless insulting me is a way for you to feel superior to me.
Read the confession post buddy, I did confes I am slightly dyslectic and english is NOT my native language so please stop insulting me.

BTW Einstein was dyslectic too, so his work has no value to you either I suppose?

I am not insulting *you*. I am pointing out that your post is content free because of your incomplete understanding (I presume) of the meaning of the word "some".

Pep (I know you claim to be dyslexic - perhaps you should note the correct English spelling for the future - and that you are an ESLer, but if you are wasting your time posting and my time reading it then I think you should know.)

PS Einstein didn't say, did he, that e = c x m squared (oops)

It just annoyes me that you constantly 'correct' my post while the mayority of this forum seems to have no problem to understand what I say.

Wake up, the world is not perfect and neither is my english. That however does not mean I have no right to post here. You have every right to ignore my replies, however seems you cannot resist to constantly correct me. And that is annoying behavior and where I come from it sure is considered an insult.

The reason why I find it highly insulting is also simple, look around on the forum, there are a LOT of people there that have much more problems with english than I have, however I don't see you correcting them all the time. But somehow you cannot resist doing so with my posts. So what else should I conclude?

A very angry and upset Benski.

Benski - don't waste your breathe on it. He insults people regardless of their spelling and grammar. Repeatedly. It's not personal to you....so don't waste an emotion on it.