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Away from stereotypes and gender expectations we must flee. But is hiding from the problem really a solution? For many, it was said that they chose Second Life as a place of refuge, away from prejudices, racisms, sexisms. It was a place where men and women could experiment with their gender and sexuality anonymously, without face to face judgement of their peers, relatives or friends.

Many have studied gender and sexuality on cyberspace. Arguably, cyberspace is a safe space to explore one’s sexuality and to even question and manipulate one’s virtual gender. In real life, these individuals often identify themselves as gay, lesbian, queer and transgender. When individuals do not feel comfortable with public displays of their sexual and gender exploration, they now have the opportunity of playing out these explorations online, relatively anonymously. However, is this really enough? Is it enough to be living as one wishes in merely their Second Life, and still miserable in their First?

Even if some may contend that they are content in their Second Life virtual identities, it has also been argued that Second Life is in fact no utopia. There are unfortunately still these stereotypes present in one’s avatar and online environment. Further, though individuals have the opportunity on cyberspace to resist stereotypes, their identities “perpetuate the established norms of gender and sexuality” [6].