image borrowed from: http://sljia.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/basic_avatar1.jpg

Though there is much gender stereotyping on Second Life, this correlates with the idea of “normalcy.”  The first identity that a new avatar must chose is either “male” or “female.”  This is an automatic assumption by Second Life that the user is comfortable and self assured in their gender identity.  As discussed, often individuals flee to Second Life for a refuge from just this.  However, the first identity one must chose is either/or, no exceptions.  “In SL, this dichotomy is reproduced, and these default options introduce the user into SL in the same way that a gendered subject is introduced into a RL heterosexual world divided up into women and men” [6]. 

In a different virtual world, called Active World, avatars have the opportunity to travel to different online worlds. “In Active Worlds, a collection of multiple and discrete worlds among which one can travel, the question of avatar design is worth investigating because each world contains its own default avatars” [1].  These “defaults” immediately produce stereotypes of each visited World.  When an avatar visits a world, their appearance will become the “default” form, and merely accentuate stereotypes, racisism and prejudices in each World.  For example, “In America, both defaults, Cindy and Butch, are Caucasian, blond, and overtly sexualized” [1].  This is an assumption that the so-called “American” is a white person, whereas this is definitely not the case.  America is extremely racially diverse, but this is no way shown by the default identity.  How can we escape these stereotypes then, when “normalcy” is reiterated all over?

As one scholar writes, “The problems associated with gender and sexuality are RL social problems that predate the technology of SL, and therefore we should be mindful that the solutions to those problems might lie in RL as well.” [1] We cannot escape from our world of prejudices, because it will not fix anything. And further, is Second Life really a place of refuge? For, instead of a refuge, these " … virtual selves recreate patterns of gender and racial discrimination” [6].