Imaginary Self: Virtual Women Personae in Second Life (SL) (original) (raw)

Second Life (SL) is one of the best known virtual lands, and enables online personae called avatars to live out and experience a second life. SL symbolizes a utopian world- the place where the femininity is free from the restrictions of political and societal norms built upon obedience, devotion and classification. The authors hope that this paper will elucidate and highlight how conservative, suppressed or geek woman identities in real-life can turn into free spirited three-dimensional avatars desperately willing to lose ties to real life. How and why the digitally living-pictorial women characters embody themselves? What are the driving forces for the altered egos to create their ideal selves on changing their docile bodies into winged creatures with stiletto heels? Keywords: Second Life (SL), fused identities, online personae, feminine personhood