Race

Race is defined as: 1: a breeding stock of animals
2 a: a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock b: a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics
3 a: an actually or potentially interbreeding group within a species; also : a taxonomic category (as a subspecies) representing such a group b: breed c: a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits

My encounter on Second Life has been pretty much mediocre. The experience I got from Second life was basically, I could choose my hue and tone. I didn't have to be completely black or brown or white. But it's kind of obvious by now that I am African American. I chose to keep my race, because I can identify more as a black person than I could with any other. Seeing that most of my life I've experienced the classification of being black. Usually like most you get your first taste of it in elementary by someone that isn't black calling you nigger or nigga. Funny that it doesn't sting as hard when coming from a black person. But then there's that gray area of making fun of how dark someone is. The blacker you are the more hated and feared. There tends to still be an attraction, but that has to do with elitism steaming from Slavery. The lighter skinned are favored by Master, while the dark skinned was the pack mule, work horse; yet physically fit and practically naked, the big black and strong forbidden fruit to Master's wife.

Ok, I hope you are still following me... The black person has always been an object of mystery and amusement; for some sick entertainment, whether its sexual or athletic or music. The problem is most people have gotten used to the images of the black athlete, due to strides in racial equality, but have yet to see the homoerotic fascinations with American football, basketball, and in some cases baseball. You may ask where am I going with this... the way athletes are marketed as Elite Chattle. Work em hard, work em long, if they do something that a low class person would do and get caught then they are fined and made to look like a fool to all American as the nigga.

My question is: How does someone truly identify race with avatars online? Do you simply choose or create your own?

Sexuality

This seems to be an on going theme: As quoted from Webster-Merriam's online dictionary, Sexuality is defined as... :the quality or state of being sexual: a: the condition of having sex b: sexual activity c: expression of sexual receptivity or interest especially when excessive.

I don't know where to truly start. There was no sexual activity, as far I could see on Second Life. Just places I was blocked from because somehow I neglected to state my age. As I wrote in a previous blog, I already stated my age, b/c they require you put in your date of birth. But I have to log in to their site to see what I must do. At this point, if I am going to continue I really need to see how sexual the adult aspect is. But pack on topic, there wasn't anyone that was receptive to my advances. I mean I blew kisses. I wore tight or form fitting closes. I even went as far to ask where could I "get it in" at. But there was nothing.

As a online person, visually and the way I presented myself I feel I expressed my "sexuality" as a black woman.

Yet my concern is that I have yet to make a connection on here. I'm not trying to make light of the fact that many people go online to find hookups, the discrete relationship of casual sex, or for this whole new world of cybersex. I mean when I think of sex online I think of the chat rooms where people go and let their minds run wild. In my observations outside this project, I have notice a culture of people online that truly find their identities through social networks - networking and adult. A place where you don't have to show your face to be popular, in some cases it can be the genitals or an avatar. What astounds me is the amount of site modeled after facebook and myspace that cater to sex. But to get back on subject, I would like to say that all the hype I've heard about what you can do on Second Life intrigues me and kind of led way for the creation of Salika, the wondering black mistress, Sex goddess, loved by all, lol.

My question(s) to whomever read this is...
What do you consider as Sexuality? Does the way you act on line in virtual worlds or social networks truly reflect you? Is it something that becomes apart of you? And how does this second identity or sexuality effect your everyday life?

Gender

Webster-Merriam online dictionary defines Gender as: 1 a: a subclass within a grammatical class (as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and selection of other words or grammatical forms b: membership of a word or a grammatical form in such a subclass c: an inflectional form showing membership in such a subclass
2 a: sex b: the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex.

Gender Bending (Webster-Merriam online dictionary)
A person who dresses and behaves like a member of the opposite sex

To save you the trouble of over analyzing lets just use the second definition of gender and keep in mind the term gender bender; the behavioral, cultural or psychological traits of a particular sex. In my adventures into Second Life I chose to create a female avatar, black, curvaceous and as well a lesbian. My reasons for doing so were partly to see what it would be like, as well as how the media has sensationalized the black woman as well as lesbians. The combination is like a powder keg in marketing and sex appeal; just think of Girls Gone Wild. Who doesn’t want to see lesbian sex, well as long as the women are extremely beautiful? If anything that’s probably the biggest seller in porn. But I digress, the only things I have in common with this avatar is that I am black and I love women. Second Life hasn’t proven to make my inquiry very informative. I have been able to make friends and as far as I can tell they think I am a woman. There aren’t many conversations that would arouse the question of Am I a Real woman? Most people go about their business, offer help, and talk to me, as I am just a person. I think when it come to Avatars, people just assume you are who you say you are and don’t try to go past it.
Now on the other hand I have yet to make it to the all-adult version of SL. Maybe I will encounter this once given entrance. But my age verification for some reason wasn’t remembered when I created the account. So my current dilemma is do I want to go through that process just to finish this experiment. I have been told some interesting things about this World and I kind of want to see it myself. I will say this; SL is totally gender friendly, if that is a term. But as regards to other people’s preferences and lifestyles, they are totally friendly and ask you to respect everyone in the various subgroups throughout Second Life. It’s basically whatever you want your life to be. Welcome to the Matrix kids!

Do you consider your gender as your identity? If you chose an avatar opposite of your sex, does this avatar still reflect you in personality, behaviorally or culturally? How do you define your gender in relation to yourself?

Identity

The first few nights I've been on second life was kind of interesting. There are so many choices to select from. I kind of wasted some of the time I allocated to this just in the tutorial. Thank GOD it is easy to maneuver, during the tutorial I met several people, one was an aide I think maybe a admin, the rest were either new avatars or established "Lifers". I met a interesting white woman that gave me some basic tips, I tried some of the limited gestures I had to see if I could get something started, but nothing jumped off, lol. But I got a chance to make some friends and test my character. I redefined her looks, made her breast shapely, accidentally got rid of her hair but I think it adds to her sex appeal now. At this point I'm still learning and have limited interaction, so to truly speak on identity, it's still growing but I think I have some presence on there - it's not hard to communicate with people. I still feel a detachment because I haven't fully immersed myself in this, but I have been asking where is the sex was happening at, but no help. I think there on to me, lol.

intro

I am about to embark on a journey that I'm not sure what the outcome may be. The identity I choose may be questionable, but this is all for the sake of research. I will try to be off the wall and interesting as I can. In hopes to get a better understanding of virtual life and the psyche of sexual deviants, lol.

I mean POP Cult life

My avatar's name is Salika Topaz
and you can find me in the LGBT community on Second Life. I am an African American Lesbian, 20's and very jetty.