Gender and Identity.

Now, not being an expert on child development I can only say that one of the earliest steps we make on our path to self knowledge happens around the age of 2 (ish), namely, a recognition of our gender. I am not suggesting that we know what gender is, but, shortly after we learn our Name we learn that we are a Boy or a Girl..... our first step (or second, after Name) towards an Identity....and probably well before we are conscious of our Race.

As one two year old said to me...”I know who is a Boy and who is a Girl”.....”oh” I replied “how do you know then?”....”it’s very easy, girls have hair slides and boys don’t.”

Now, as a child we realise these are two exclusive clubs you belong to, one or the other, it’s easy. There are those in later life who would like this easy state of affairs to continue as was seen recently with the attempt to outlaw same sex marriages. Some religions and cultures are very keen to segregate these two clubs, one or the other...it’s easy.

Cross-overs are rarely welcomed, some are tolerated. Of all the cross-overs, a ‘tom-boy’ is probably the most internationally tolerated gender subversive. Boys that play with dolls or dress in girls clothing are possibly the least welcomed in a community or household.

Now, coming into Second Life where ‘anything is possible’ there are those who decide to do a bit of experimenting with their identities, fair enough. No one gets very excited about a dragon in SL if they find out that he/she is not in fact a dragon in RL. This is not the case with gender experimentation.

I have two avatars, one male, one female, so, in one incarnation I am role playing a gender specific ‘game’. Unlike the dragon, I have heard gender role-play referred to as ‘deceitful’, ‘dishonest’ and other generally negative connotations. This interests me, as does anything that excites a rather illogical response.

Why does this disturb people more than the dragon?

Now, being an amateur Jungian, I always refer to the good doctor for words of wisdom as he has helped me often sort out my ideas. Jung is of the belief that the gender we are not, the opposite gender, is repressed and hides in our personal unconscious. That means.... if I am a girl, all the male parts of my psyche are forced ‘underground’ where they coalesce into an archetype he called the Animus.....and for a boy, his unconscious female psyche, Jung called an Anima.

These unconscious elements, because they are beyond conscious control (by definition as they are unconscious) are autonomous. They appear in dreams and fantasies (though we often call them by names of people we know in waking life) and take on various helpful or demonic qualities depending on the circumstances.

That means, in easy speak, Girls have boy psyches and Boys have girl psyches.

That means, in easy speak, we are both sexes.... one is conscious (biological) and one virtual (psychic).

Is this what disturbs us when people gender role-play? It shakes our (2 year old) belief that its easy to tell the difference?

For, in reality there are, one assumes, exactly the same proportion of deceitful dragons, foxes, lesbians and robots. The playing of a role does not make one more deceitful than someone who is glued to their personna.

I have a friend who has 30 alts. For me she is a sort of hero because I firmly believe that the psyche is that diverse and fragmented that choosing to represent the whole of our psyche with just one or two avatars is a poor show, the psyche is richer than that.

I would have more alts (I have 3 currently) but I forgot where I put that invitation to that Memory Enhancement Seminar as I would forget all my passwords...... that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

I can tell you from my experience of 3 years of being female and male, sometimes at the same time, that it is quite possible under periods of extreme ‘immersion’ to experience oneself as male and as female. This may sound illogical or impossible, but I assure you this is my honest experience.

So, lighten up people... it’s a game, and a research laboratory for the psyche if you so choose.

...get more alts....... you’ll like em...


:))

Qarl

Now, I have no real idea of the sort of person Qarl Linden was, I say 'was' because he's been sacked, but from the disbelief and shock that has spread thro the blogsphere I can assume he was both talented and pleasant.

Qarl brought us sculpties, shortly after I joined SL and has therefore changed all our worlds, our clothes, our landscapes etc. and is a lover of SL.

This is the third really bad move that I have blogged about this last few days.

I want to impress that I do not have a negative "Hate Linden" attitude, but, following the messianic resurrection of Philip we are all looking for more than just nice words...

1) The decision by Philip not to attend SLCC is not a good move.

2) Making BUM 2.0 pay tier is not a good move

3) Sacking skilled staff that your customers like is not a good move.

...and as far as getting rid of the Welcome Centres...well, I am suspicious about that move too.I have no idea now how to go about mentoring noobs (an occasional hobby of mine, and many others) as I have no idea about Viewer 2.Crap..... dump them on our doorsteps if you think that will save money, Boys, but will it increase retention...?

Few people now to slog away at the attempt to bring us F.E.F..... we are all watching, The straw that broke the camels back comes in many shapes and sizes. Qarl going has been that straw for some people.

byee, and thanks.

:((

Duh!!!

...you have already taken this survey.

Well, you have already emailed me three times to take this survey...get a grip..!!


:)))

UWA penultimate month..

.....not the penultimate month for UWA, UWA isn't going anywhere, rather it's the 11th month of the artistic challenge that has resulted in the best art show on the grid, bar none. 80 pieces are on show, and all of them are worth a viewing.... not a cat or rose photo amongst em....

The awards are announced this sunday so pop over and vote for your favourites while you are there.




When you see that little white Selavy chair, you know you are in for a treat, and this chair is no exception. Identity Absent and I are arguing over a chair and, as usual I am amazed by how far ahead of almost everyone Selavy is in her work. She just stretches again and again what is possible with SL and is the Foremost Frontrunner in my opinion.

Anyway, Identity Absent was a little less argumentative this time I visited, not sure if he/she/it was having a down day, but I did try and friend her ...hehehhehehe/him/it......... priceless.





On the other end of the scale a very nice piece of classical sculpture by Yabuska Loon with some beautiful prims.....





...and Markus Inkpen with some staggeringly good textures, and, most importantly his piece, Know Thyself, had something which is too often lacking in SL art, it has meaning and consistency. It is a very good piece by any standards you want to scale it against.

The ancestors around the walls, the clock, double helix...all work together extremely well.





Now, Pixi Cosmos is no stranger to those of you who have read these pages over a longer period of time. This is only the second time she has shown her work in public. This piece, A Slice of Tranquility is a great composition of her lovely trees....excellent.





...and this piece by Lea Supermarine, called Neural Nonsense is exactly what happens in my head when I have a migraine...made me smile anyway...

...there are too many pieces to mention them all, Wizzy and Aliz, Miso...Rose....there are loads to see...

Fuschia Nightfire shows what can be done without scripts in her "magic wind"...


....and my 99th tree...The Happy Tree is on show for the first time as well....lots to check out...


:))

The Flower Queen Head Dress

By popular demand (tho that could be a slight exaggeration, a sin I am, as you know, subject to somewhat) I have put the floral apparel up for sale at Nishi Disposals, it's copy/mod, or should be anyway, and 300L...

Perfect for office wear, polo matches, board meetings, hunt balls, funerals, bunny sales and the PTA....

Good shopping...

:))

BUM 2.0

In a recent interview by Treet.tv M2Danger Ranger tried to give an idea and a general 'up' feeling about the Not Burning Life which is struggling to get going. Like a captain on a sinking ship the confused and rather boring Ranger tried to explain what would happen this year.... basically he has no more idea than anyone else.

The Boys are providing NO SIMS and no sponsorship for BUM 2.0, its gonna be paid for by us if we want it, and organised by us too. He doesn't know if it will be free entry or not, nor how many sims they can scrape the tier together for..

Well, you'll excuse me for not rushing to get my credit card out, this is just further confirmation, if that was needed, that in spite of Philips wonderful words about how vital builders and content creators are to SL, LL has absolutely no intention of providing one dollar of Endowment For The Arts...you want sims....rent em... good move !!

I will not shed one sigh if I never go to another Burning Life, and Rangers idea that the participants at the burn will have to go naked to stop the whole thing crashing just shows how crap the infrastructure is.....and will make it a non PG event (and non Noob). He then waffled on about possible future applications....my god if this guy is in charge .....

On the whole tho, if all those sad burners can huddle together on a sim and leave the rest of us sane people alone, it will be progress.

Sorry, I have hated it for years...

:))

Zauber Paracelsus

Well there are those who would wonder what on earth they would do with thousands of cheap prims....then there are those who know exactly what to do...







This is a work in progress at Alchemy on InWorldz grid.... Isle Paracelsus.

Now, the thing with InWorldz is, many of the 8778 residents are not really noobs... many have years of experience in SL before, for one reason or another, migrating to friendlier climes.

Zauber Paracelsus, for example, my neighbour at Alchemy.

This gives rise to a very interesting situation which is a bit akin to giving an old tree a shot of horse manure... the roots and trunk are mature but the sudden influx of fertilizer, in this case ..cheap prims, can give an unexpected growth....OK...I know thats a bit of a fancy way of putting it, but the cost of prims in SL is definitely holding some people back, and it will be interesting to see how quickly this world matures under favourable circumstances...

...and while I'm on the subject of prims.. Lalo's post.. details the early days of how the Lab made you pay for prims, (amongst other insights). It seems you were charged according to size and height...now....this may have left the Lab with a psychological block on Megas.... as I mentioned in my comment. This, enhanced by the idea that a 50x50 slab as one prim costs me around 13 cents (I pay sales tax), but thats 25 prims if you dont use megas =31x25...namely US$3.25, obviously 25 times as much ......

Bettina walked out of the LEA because of their continued refusal to allow Megas, and it has certainly contributed to my love of InWorldz, that and the sim-wide linking distance which negates the need for Rezz-Faux which is, lets face it, a pain in the bottom...... so...the few Boys left in the Lab are slaving away 18 hours a day so that Fast Easy Fun is what we have to look forward to...... (without scalable prims)...

.... but still damn expensive....

:))