| Abstrakt: |
In the mid-2000s, the virtual world of Second Life was heralded as a location of the future for business, educational, and social endeavors. Second Life was marketed as a utopian space where users could make money from entrepreneurial ventures, engage with other users around the globe, and ultimately create an alternative life for themselves. One of the critical draws to Second Life was the opportunity to create an avatar, a visual presence of the user in the virtual setting. This article examines how the avatar is presented as an opportunity to engage in identity performances that are freed from bodily constraints with regards to gender, race, ability, and other identity markers. While the performances of online identities have been critiqued for reifying stereotypes, this article considers the motivation and experience of these users who purposefully adopt different genders for their characters. By focusing on the experience of males who "gender bend" by adopting female avatars, this article argues that gender bending provides male users an alternative identity performance outside of hegemonic masculinity. This gender play may make the constructed nature of gender performances more apparent and begin to denaturalize assumptions about identity performances in online and off-line settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
