Why is the slutty look so popular

Something for the stereotype rote repeaters to consider:
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I have over the years known people who visit other SL players In real life. Since no one they visited claimed differently, I assume that they are actually women.

Of those -

One who met several different people recently and has a SL male player that lives with her. She was a former SL escort and stripper

One is a Madam at a SL brothel, she has tried unsucessfully to bring 2 different SL relationships to RL. She has several RL friends who also play SL. This one has giant SL boobs.

One ran a SL sex club. She acctually went on a freind meeting tour.

A former SL Escort/Striper I know moved in with a guy she met in Second Life, moved out a little later.

A former SL stripper/escort I know accidently met a guy she was having an online affair with. They had actually known each other for years IRL.

Running through a quick list in my head I came up with 8 Gorean Sex slaves that I knew fairly well who were either RL wives of other players, or had gone on to meet their SL masters IRL.



IN CONTRAST -

I do know One "non slutty" woman who has met her SL boyfriend in Real life.

I know one man who has long time played as a woman who visits a freind of his once a year. He dresses and acts more conservatively "as a woman" than any of those listed above.

The most petite adult female Avatar I know in Second Life (around 5 feet, small boobs, very tiny figure) has told me he is a man in Real Life - he always wears dresses.



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While this sort of thing is anecdotal at best. It makes me wonder why the stereotypes are so deep rooted.

I do know one guy well who has Har's attitude that he assumes all the women he meets are men. He gets that from Everquest style games where evidently a fair number were. He clings onto his assumptions even though he has met and even made out with a Woman he met in one of those MMO's (and hes married IRL)

And for some reason his brain cant grasp that obviously the demographics that play Second Life are not the same as those who play Everquest.

This Thread Is Worthless Without Pics!!

To answer the OP's question:

Because you can get away with it without fear of judgment (for the most part).

Also, can you imagine how many more women in RL would dress 'slutty' or 'provocative' if everyone was a size 1? Revealing clothing looks much better on a perfect figure--and let's face it, most AVs have perfect figures.

Last Call seemed to have some of the more sophisticated look. At least it seemed to be from the little time I was able to look around its store.

Well ... I do think that a fair number of men are using female AVs in SL as well. I was reading somewhere (maybe Michael Rymaszewski's book), that there is a substantial number of men playing women in SL. Likely not as high as in other "games" ( I don't know personally, because I haven't played them), but they're around. Maybe you're right that whether a male or female is typing is irrelevant to the avatar shape they choose -- a fair point.

Awwww...Hell!

You ladies can look and dress as you please! It is YOUR Second Life!

I fall back on an old saying, that applies to me in regard to *YOUR* looks in here:

"It is just like being in a resturaunt - Just because I am not there to eat, does not mean I cannot read the menu!"

Relax! Enjoy yourselves, one and all!

Heh, actually I see so many in RL wearing that look who . . .um . . do not have the body for it in RL.

Ive never heard of Michael Rymaszewski. I have no idea if his book was well researched or repeating stereotypes. As a Historian my concept of well researched is quite a bit stricter than most.

Of course there are Male to Female Gender benders in SL.

I just take exception to those who parrot the "Gender detection" garbage you hear. Like if she dresses slutty she must be a man, or if she has big boobs she must be a man, or if shes an escort, or if she wont give out her phone number she must be a man, etc , etc.

Thats why I pointed out that I know many people this obviously isnt true for.

I also resist the notion that as women we may only behave and dress within a certain narrow window of "acceptable", either in RL or in SL.

Heh . . so, has anyone actually . . um. . . lost their . . um . . ."unit" . . in one of the mysterious "disappearing inventory" waves sweeping SL?

Um . . pictures of a head-less body? Wow . . men are weird . ..

I wish the OP had been clearer. Was it more the giant breasts, or more the tiny clothes? I, at first, thought he had just meant the clothes, but this thread seems to have focussed on the body (and on the lack of non-slutty clothes, so I guess there was some talk of that also). Interesting . . very interesting .. never thought of a body being slutty or not. I suppose I will now.

Yes, that is why I had never thought of equating body with slut. This being SL and "our world, our imaginary friends" or whatever the motto is, maybe I should. Or not. Just hadn't thought of it before.

Oh and if I shrank my breasts from the ones in the first shape I put on past the default, and then kept wearing, I'd end up . . .um . . without breasts . . . or appearing to be without breasts unless I went around topless.

/me nods . . ."You are very wise."

/me nods . . "another wise one"

The original poster is probably thinking of the rather extreme makeup that most skins come with. The usual range is from full evening makeup to painted lady; finding a skin with no makeup at all, or modest daytime makeup, is a challenge. (Though not impossible.)

It doesn't bother me so much to wear evening makeup in SL. In part, we do that because we can... wearing that much makeup in RL is a HUGE amount of work, and some people (myself included) find that their skin breaks out if they wear a lot of makeup all the time.

Similarly, we wear the outfits because we can. First, a lot of us don't have the body for really sexy clothes in RL, but here we do, so we might as well take advantage of it. Second, a lot more time in SL (in relative terms anyway) is spent in places where sexy clothing is appropriate, such as dance clubs. Third, the social norms of SL are different; there isn't the same expectation of conservative dress in some situations. (Example: I sometimes teach classes in SL. I've taught some in a rather short miniskirt, and nobody found that in the least bit odd.)

Ever have a look around in an RL dance club? Many of the women there will be wearing outfits nearly as extreme as our SL outfits. And the reason it's only "nearly" is the laws of physics; some SL outfits simply wouldn't stay on your body in RL, or the straps would have to be tight enough that the outfit would pinch your flesh unattractively unless you have 0% body fat, which even most fit and attractive RL women don't.

Haven't read all the other responses yet (popular thread!) but my response would be:

Because it's popular in the real world!

Well, I was going to start my first post in this thread "Oh no, the yanks do it again - another threadophon while the hobbit sleeps" but I got heavily rerouted when I saw a comment I identified with LOL
Does anyone else notice that these huge threads if they don't actually start on sexual content, at least graduate to them? Does this popularity go some way to answer the OPs question in fact? Because we can and enjoy it?

As you should well know, Mr. Norse.

I think you deserve public congratulations and possibly a medal for bravery under fire. I refer, of course, to the incident of last weekend, when you were verbally assailed by several ladies at the Forum Hangout and challenged to prove your Matchiness.

I, and my sisters in crime, publicly admit defeat. You rose to the occasion with great dignity and aplomb.

I think a large part of it has to do with the number of Girls in SL who are really Guys in RL. Guys have very different expectations and desires for "what looks good on a woman", or rather, for what they want to see a woman look and dress like, and in many cases, they design and dress their female avvies in slutty ways, as a 'fantasy girlfriend' that they can control. *sigh*

Same goes for clothing designers in SL. Slutty sells well to all those cross-gender playing guys, and frankly, the way the SL Skirt mesh is designed it is a heck of a lot easier to make a good looking miniskirt than even a passable looking knee-lenth or longer skirt. Ask any dress maker, and they will tell you that the SL skirt mesh is lousy for making long skirts.

The clothes I wear most of the time on my female avvies are quite "tame and respectable". Kimonos, business suits (with slacks or knee-length skirts), or jeans and a t-shirt are my most common looks. I do have a closet that contains some really slutty stuff, for the times when intimacy is appropriate. But I hardly ever wear those except in special circumstances, with selected individuals. And my figure is realistic, even understated. Ceera always looks good, but she doesn't look like a Barbie wanna-be. No huge breasts, thanks. The mere thought gives me a back ache. Ceera's waist tends to be a bit more trim than mine, but since she never has to watch what she eats, why shouldn't she always look like she is healthy and not overweight?

My male alts also tend not to go overboard on the muscles or shirtless look. They dress rather conservatively, and most have a decent fashion sense. GQ material. *grins* Hey, we girls have our fantasies too. Mine just aren't shirtless and musclebound.

Chris too. Even our Resident Android. Although Winter is mighty broad across the shoulders and about eight feet tall...

And every one of you is SOOO much more attractive than the V-shaped mannequins muscling their bulging way around the place.

Don't change, boys...we love you the way you are, "idealized a little" and sexy as as hell. Well, except for Michael...he's handsome in a mechanical sort of way, but I'm not sure "sexy" quite fits him...

like when waiting for transparent textures to rez.

*yawn*
... no, theyre real

He wrote this: http://www.amazon.com/Second-Life-Official-Michael-Rymaszewski/dp/047009608X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-5180583-4647906?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190897946&sr=8-1

Dang it . . from now on I'm just going to stay at the Hangout . . dang it . .

Because alot are men irl and they have no fashion sense.