Ethnicity & Avatars

Nah. I'll go to bed ...

to bed for some fun?

no you havent offended me in particular. but keep in mind not all black women are dark skinned, just like not all caucasians are white. we are all spectrums of color from red to deep ebony. the issue is there aren't many decent looking ethnic skins out there. and the ones that are, cost an arm a leg and a couple of prims. the skin i have my hubbeh got me based on my description is pretty close to me in real life, give or take an shade.

---------to the OP:
and like another poster put it, where are you hangingot at where you see so few? we be everywhere! but since SL is sadly starting to imitate RL, many gravitate to what is familiar and comfortable for them. go to Shaft's Mall, South I, or im me in world and i'll give you a bunch of lm's. good luck on your quest

one way to stop it is to not feed it

Honey, ANY decent looking skin costs an arm and a leg.

*hobbles away minus a leg*

lexxi, may i ask where you seen or gotten that skin?

LOL, you are sooo right!!

/me gets the machete....and the hubbehs credit card

The hell you will.....

LOL! Oh BAD Maggie! You're not supposed to post about your SL habits in the forums!

I am Italian and when I started looking for something better than the newbie look I got myself something close to the real me.

My shape is selfmade and I think it describes pretty well the ethnic group I belong to. Over the centuries we had many invasions, wars and foreign armies here. For example to the South (Sicily) you can find natural redheads and pale, freckled complexions, an heritage of the Middle Age. Just an example.

The picture here:

http://img516.imageshack.us/my.php?image=calcio003tp5.jpg

It's me, skin is more tanned than it is in RL, but it's because I have some issues with suntanning... Without that, My skintone in late spring/summer would be like the one in the picture.

The eye shape is maybe more "exotic" than the real one (and the makeup adds to it, but this was the best picture I had handy, right now). In RL my eyes are dark brown, someone convinced me to change to green.

What I have seen in SL theres seems to be a lot of stereotypes, up untill a weeks ago my SL AV looked almost exactly like me IRL, Im a WHITE, 30 something bloke..
Note im WHITE.,.... not caucasian... etc, My parentage is Scottish Irish. Mederterainians have a TOTALLY different colour to me as do folk from norway etc.
Terms such as Hispanic .... or African American are all crap ... political correctness. in the Uk ... if ya black, your black... not Coloured... or African English. but back to topic... I now have an AV which I suppose is light skinned black... it sort of ties in with my RL alter ego of a Dancehall/Ragga loving, Two earing wearing guy who's god kids are ALL mixed race, 95% of my friend base is black or etc....

To many its not a skin colour....., its a culture, no different to furries, gor or mech. Black folk might be white in world... or theres many that are white and are black in world isnt that supposed to be the wonder of SL.... you can change YOU in world to suite your own personal image to what ever in what ever mood.

On a lighter note though ..... asI know I have a black AV with Hazel eyes, I REALLLLLY want to get one of those dred hair styles, I remember there being one store hat specialized... cant remember where but they were pretty much spot on


Marty

this is sexualisation of the avatar. black men and asian women are highly sexualised by western culture, while black women and asian men are not.

Having twice been in a relationaship with black woman...both long term... I can say thats rubbish ... Black Woman are as sexy as HELL!!!!!!!, not so much into the REALLLLLLLLY dark girls, but my ex for from barbados so she was pretty normal and not te US Beyonce type of BleachBlack

im not saying there arent sexy black women and sexy asian men. but generally speaking, the black male appears to have a higher sexual value overall than the black female, just as the asian female appears to have a higher sexual value than the asian male. if there is any doubt, take a trip to the local xxx store. you will find black men and asian women featured in numerous titles. black women may appear in titles, but will often be degraded far more severely than other women (portrayed as 'crackwhores' and 'ghetto bitches' for example). asian men will not have much of a presence at all.
i dont personally rate these people this way, but i do recognise that society generally does. even you yourself qualified your admiration with 'not the really dark girls'.

Think the op is waiting for a certain answer. I'll have a go at ringing his bells with these two.

a) There are not many blacks using SL

b) Blacks using SL choose white av's because they endure racist abuse in RL and feel if they had a blck av in SL they would be griefed more.

One or both of these points maybe true or may not be true I don't know. You too will not know because of the annonimity of SL, so trying to guess is pointless. Why not just get on with your SL and choose your friends on how they interact with you and not on what thier av looks like.

People choose to play SL, and choose how they want to look and that is thier business.

BTW Brenda do you know where I can get an Inuit skin and one of those furry coats they wear?

No, but a friend of mine does. Al-saka next time I see her.

i read a blog once where this girl relayed her experience of wearing a black skin that she was reviewing for a skin designer (i believe chip midnight).
i dont remember the specifics, but she had a negative experience and encountered ill treatment by various residents.

Thanks thats really n-ICE of you.

Of these I think A is more likely - (on a proportional basis)

Since Blacks only make up about 15% of the US population It stands to reason theres going to be significantly less Blacks than whites of US residents.

In European countries the Proportion is much smaller.

African Countires are not heavily represented in SL yet.

The number of hispanics would be pretty close to blacks for the US, while other Minority groups are smaller.

However SL is a hit in Argentinia and Brazil. I have met quite a few people from those countries.

And of course there are quite a few Residents from Japan and China.


I kind of think as SL becomes more popular with places out side of the US and the EU non caucasian avatars will increase in numbers.

-------------------------
Whites are still 2/3 of the US population. Though the percentage has been decreasing over the years.

From http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=July&x=20060707160631jmnamdeirf0.2887079

As of July 2005, the Census Bureau reports a total U.S. population of 296.4 million. Of this total, Hispanics comprise 42.7 million Americans while blacks, including both African Americans and more recently arrived Africans and blacks of Caribbean origin, total 39.7 million. The Census identified 14.4 million Asians, 4.5 million American Indians and Alaska natives and nearly 1 million native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders.

--------------------------

I was unable to find any similar statististics for the European Union as a Whole - But for the UK it would seem that 87% of the population in England and 96% in Wales is White.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/commentaries/ethnicity.asp


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Since the US has such a huge mass of urban/sub-urban sprawl there no reason to think that just becuase cities have higher concentrations of minorities that they will be more likely to be represented.

I think you are right there Collette,
We in reality need to look at the user base... I should imagine that SL isnt high on the average black male priority list, and certainly if we look at media coverage etc about professional black males... there are very few. Brazil and Agentina are racing ahead as being HEAVY SL Users. As time progresses I can't really imagine SL beng on a Masai to do list, but northern africa we get more and more popular... as well eastern europe etc.
I suppose proportionaly wise it reflect most 1st world i.e europe and USA and I would love to see even more variety... BUT where in real life do you get talking animals.... robots with full AI, human animal hybrids, alien slave masters. Maybe its our concepts of diversification... we proberly have as many cultures in SL as RL ... just differnet

Actually Collette in Wales 96% of the population would be SHEEP ..... so thats the Furries sorted *giggle*

Baaaaaaaaaaaa

What Cristalle said.

My experience with finding the perfect African/American skin has been a definite adventure. At the moment, I'm in love with my Nora Bodyskin, though someone told me about Makeda Cole the other day and I may give her skins a try when I'm more flush.

There is also a lot of validity to the points made regarding the demographics of SL. There are plenty of people in world interested in seeing to it that their avies are representative of their rl selves...only better. And for those who like fooling with ethnicity, gender, etc...well, for a long time African/American women have been all but absent in popular culture, this is in the process of changing. But when it comes to the hearts and minds of society in general, we're not exactly the first stop on the train. Not a complaint...just an observation.

What I personally have found interesting in my sl travels as an obviously black woman, are the number of us hiding out there. One experience in particular stands out in my mind. I was chatting with a woman while out buying land. She was...well, you know the sl stereotype; blonde, blue-eyed and 7 feet tall. We talked pleasantly for a few moments and then she started saying that she had the feeling that I was 'like her'. Having *no* idea what she was talking about, we talked around the issue for a few minutes, while I wondered if when she said she was from Georgia, she meant the country and not the state. it was we were literally speaking different languages. She finally came out with it and said that she thought I might be black in rl.

She seemed inordinately proud of me for going with my rl ethnicity, but as far as I know, to this day, she's still a tall blonde. There are all kinds of reasons for playing with ethnicity in sl and I respect everyone's right to create their own experience.

It is a very interesting topic though, for all kinds of reasons.

True. Both black and my hispanic sisters are very sexy. For the most part you will always see them very shapely which it turn adds to their sex appeal. Not to mention that's what their men love to see.

It is called: Fresh Eclipse Sin Skin. I assume that means that it is a Sin Skin. I am fairly certain that it was an under 30 day package.

2 more:
Sin Skin Dusk


RaC - Trisha