To the reader,

I chose this topic because I have always held a very strong passion for civil rights and equality. My idea of equality consists of people living in harmony regardless of sex, religion, sexual identity, or race. Through understanding I believe that this can be achieved, and I believe that this project helped exemplify that view. Admittedly, that is one of my main biases, yet I found that through research, people simply do not understand those things that are different than they are. Whether they are White, African American, furry, gay or straight, people just yearned for people to be able to understand them so that they can be accepted. 

Initially I wanted to tackle the problem of race in Second Life and only race. Then a friend inspired me to also explore the world of the GLBTQ community in Second Life. I began with the question What is race. I also wanted to ask the question Does race truly matter in virtual worlds.

I did not get to discover sexism in Second Life like I would have liked to, but I believe that sex was covered amply in the Gender and Race project. Though it was amply discovered, I believe that there is still more to see within the virtual world regarding sexism.

Causes and Effects of Discrimination in Second Life and What We Can Do to Fix It

Introduction 

According to W. James Au's blog New World Notes, intolerance is the twlefth most reported violation of the Second Life Community standards (September 30, 2009). The data shows that there have been 21,665 reports of violation abuses, which is less than one percent of the population in Second Life. Of all of those reports, 524 of them have been cases dealing with intolerance. Though people report violations of the Community Standards, this does not tell the whole story. Many people do not report such incidents and just pass them off as just another person. Through countless interviews and other sources of research, I have heard the stories of many residents in Second Life who have experienced racism or hatred because they were different. For the purposes of this project, I will focus on the acceptance of race and homosexuality within the virtual realm. Through this research, I have found that discrimination exists in Second Life and that some of it is serious and some is just griefing that people do just to get attention. To conclude this, I will discuss inclusivity and how it can be incorporated into Second Life and other virtual worlds. 

Second Life has Community Standards, also known as the "Big Six" (secondlife.com), and they are behavioral guidelines for all residents to follow. If a resident does not follow these specific rules, they may get reported and possibly suspended or banned from Second Life and all other Linden Lab events. The first of the "Big Six" is the Intolerance clause, and it has very strong language that explicitly outlaws prejudice, racism, or any form of intolerance in Second Life. With such a strong stance against intolerance, one would think that it would not exist in such an environment, yet residents of Second Life allow this to continue. By not reporting the problem, they are just enabling the issue and allowing it to continue. For example, W. James Au interviewed Erika Thereian (February 23, 2006) for his blog New World Notes in which he examines many aspects of Second Life from a first hand perspective. Erika Thereian changed her avatar from a blonde haired blue eyed beauty to a beautiful African American woman. She said that she experienced immense racism from her close friends. When asked why she had not reported the people that directed racial epithets to her, she said, "Better things for the Lindens to worry about." This attitude fosters the racist spirit and school of thought because the Lindens should be worried about the safety of the residents as it relates to race, sexual orientation, religion, or gender. 

Race in Second Life

Race is a touchy subject. Whether it is in Second Life or real life, race is a subject that is often averted with sayings like, "I don't see color." or "I have friends of many different races." Though all of these things are said and believed, racism still exists. Within this study, I examine the aspect of race in Second Life and how avatars interact with other avatars of different races. I have accumulated the stories of people of all different types of races, and the the results are quite shocking, because racism still exists in many places in Second Life. 

 Northwestern University professor Wendi L. Gardner and Dr. Paul W. Eastwick studied the aspect of race within the virtual world There.com (Eastwick and Gardiner, 2009). They examined this by using the "foot-in-the-door" model and the "door-in-the-face" model. They did this by having an avatar ask for a modest request and then replace it with a much larger request. They found that the avatar with the lighter skin received a greater response than the darker avatar. In analyzing their data, they said, "...the unfortunate possibility exists that real world racial biases have the potential to influence behavior in the virtual world." This quote exemplifies one of the main reasons that racism exists within virtual worlds. Second Life and other virtual worlds are meant to be immersive and another social networking tool like Facebook or MySpace. Because they are so immersive, they can become an extension of one's personal life which includes their views on life and other views. By extending their real lives and their real views into a virtual world, they create a life similar to their own, which brings the virtual world to life and harbors the ideals that they believe. The source of the problem is the person behind the avatar because they control it and they bring in their culture and ideals of racism and discrimination. 

In order to understand racism in Second Life, the aspect of race must first be examined. Race is not nearly as limited as it is in real life. In his book coming of Age in Second Life, Tom Boellstorff says, "Throughout the history of virtual worlds and continuing during my research in Second Life, the most basic way race shaped cybersociality was the assumption that residents were white unless stated otherwise." With this quote, Boellstorff makes the assertion that white is the default race in Second Life. Since it is the default setting for race, it can be assumed that white is considered the societal norm within the virtual world. This is important because a lot things get hostile when people move away from societal norms. For example, the T.E.A. Party Movement in the United States in driven by people who do not want something different than the same old thing. 

Outside of the traditional ethnic backgrounds, Caucasian, African American, Asian, Hispanic etc., there are also races that are unique to Second Life like the furries. They are a group of avatars that are dressed as animals and other fantasy creatures. In an interview with the avatar Kazaron Klata (Kazaron Klata agreed to be quoted and photographed in this project),  we discussed the furry culture and many of the reasons that people decide to become furries. Kazaron decided to become a furry because, "I had always had a fascination with anthropomorphics, such as werewolves and other were creatures in fantasy novels and such." We then began to discuss race and how prejudices effect the furries. When asked about experiencing any racist acts or incidences, Kazaron replied, "Definitely yes. I think that furries are often prejudged as sexual deviants, and perverts, as well the general prejudice from people that are unfamiliar with furries and don't understand them." Later we discussed some of the attacks on furry culture and their causes. Kazaron believes that some attacks are just griefers that just want to cause controversy within the virtual world and among the furries. In other instances, Luskwood (the main furry location) has been attacked by avatars that dislike furries and their culture because of their lack of understanding. This interview is very telling because it explores the life and struggle that some furries deal with, and it is simply based on a lack of understanding. Because these people do not understand their culture or their way of life, they begin to attack what they do not understand. Since they do not understand, the griefers try to hurt their society and then they never get the understanding that they so desperately need. 

Kazaron Klata pictured above.                                                A typical day in Luskwood.

Even though Second Life has the clause against intolerance, conventional racism and prejudice still exists. Conventional racism is the type of racism that exists in real life. At the Morris Welcome Area, I met an African American avatar named Chelsea Manhattan (Chelsea Manhattan has granted me permission to use any quotes and pictures). Chelsea gave a very insightful interview about the life of a veteran avatar. Interestingly enough, she says that she changes her avatar's appearance and skin color nearly everyday since the possibilities are nearly endless. When I asked Chelsea about her experiences with racism, she said that she has been the victim of racial prejudice on multiple occasions. She highlighted one specific instance where she was told that she could not enter a club. Chelsea said, "well let me see, a few yrs ago i was excluded from a club in sl because i spoke on voice, and the gals there said that they were having a "meeting" and "colored" people were not allowed, i tried to make fun of the situation by changing my skin to a more pale tone.. but i was still ejected along with my friend they later explained to me they were a group of young people trying to preserve their race and forbid race mixing. racism runs wild in second life" When asked about some of the causes of these racial epithets and segregation, Chelsea answered, "most of the time its only used to get a reaction out of a person, but some are really serious about it. i dont think it has much to do with ones appearance or anything like that sometimes having a darker skin tho can make a person say racist things just to get a response..." There are many claims that can be drawn from this interview. First and foremost, the first claim that can be generated is the idea that racism is tolerated in Second Life because residents tolerate it. Because there was a group dedicated simply to creating a supreme race, it shows that intolerance is rampant in Second Life. This is similar to Hitler's dream of an Aryan race, and how other countries simply stood by and watched as Hitler massacred people that were not in his vision of the Aryan race. The tolerance and appeasement of Second Life residents that commit this kind of behavior is similar to the countries that just allowed Hitler to do whatever he wanted. The second claim would be that people just want attention and a reaction. According to Tateru Nino's entry on secondlifeinsider.com, griefers do this because they want to have fun like everyone else, but they do it in a very morbid and twisted way (November 3, 2006). In order to combat this, Second Life residents should simply report these people to Linden Lab so that these instances will never happen again. 

Chelsea Manhattan pictured at the center.

In my experiences in Second Life, I have never experienced blatant racism, yet I have heard or seen racial epithets directed at a group. One night I went to the Orientation Public Island and a female avatar was using voice chat. When I first arrived there, the female avatar said, "I walked into the room and shouted you are all f*****g n*****s." After the female avatar said this, some of the other avatars in the region simply began to laugh and joke with her. This instance shows a lot about Second Life because it shows that some of the people in the virtual world are not accepting of people that are different than themselves. On another occasion, I was in the Morris Welcome Area doing an interview when a new avatar began to type into the local chat. All of his characters were Russian characters, and in response an avatar wrote, "gapon, go to your own country, scum.", "This is for English speaking people only." and "You are not welcome here." This avatar continued on a tirade of anti-Russian epithets even calling him a "Nazi" and saying, "only nonwhite people need to be eliminated. start with the asians." Once again, all of the other avatars in the area stood by and said nothing and never reported him for abuse or violation of the intolerance clause. By just simply standing by idly and allowing this to go on, Second Life residents are just enabling the problem and not being a part of the solution. Though none of these epithets were directed towards me, it does not make them any less offensive. 

Homosexuals in Second Life

Dr. Jonathan Cabiria discusses the effect of community on the lives of gays and lesbians within Second Life (Cambria, 2008). In his findings, he discovers that closeted homosexuals began to feel better about themselves and more comfortable with their sexuality after they began to interact with the GLBTQ community in Second Life. He found that many would gather in their respective communities and fell more accepted and the quality of their real lives would be increased. This shows that acceptance within a group is very likely and happens a lot. Yet, through my research I found that the residents' attitutdes toward homosexuals is different than the view of different races. Through many interviews with members of Second Life's homosexual community, I began to see that Second Life is much more accepting of homosexuality rather than racial diversity, though they still go through some of the same struggles as minority races in Second Life. 

For these interviews, I went to a club called the Tristar Gay Club and sat down and interviewed several avatars. The first interview I conducted was with an avatar that chooses not to be named, therefore I will call him "John" ("John" granted me permission to use his quotations). In our conversation, "John" and I discussed his experiences with discrimination in Second Life, he said that he "had some problems before,but dealt with it quickly. i made it clear that i`d report them. ("John", 12/10/2009)" When I asked him about what he thought overall about the acceptance of people in Second Life, he replied, "i found that most people are cool and accepting,but you are bound to have jerks anywhere." This same tone was carried throughout some of my other interviews at the Tristar Gay Club. In a similar interview, I was discussing discrimination and griefing against homosexuals with an avatar named Randy Burt (Randy Burt gave me permission to use quotes and his name). In my conversation with Randy, he told me that he has been a resident in Second Life for over three years and has never once had an incident where he felt threatened or as though he were being discriminated against. I asked him whether or not he thought that the GLBTQ community was accepted he replied, "yes, we even get invited to str8 parties so they have the appearance of being in by having a gay couple,  lol." Both of these interviews tell a very interesting story about Second Life and its tolerance for sexual diversity within its community. It shows that homosexuality is accepted much more readily than different races.  Though they have similar struggles, one decided to report it and the situation has not arisen since. 

Another view that I received from an interview was very different. In an interview with Hoshi Halcali (Hoshi Halcali has given be permission to use his quotes and picture in this project), we discussed sexuality in Second Life. He said that there have been times where people have propostioned him for sex or just assumed that he would have sex with them because he was a gay man (Halcali, December 10, 2009). Hoshi told me about a relationship he had with a man and how the man would only ask about his "privacy" and only wanted to be with and around him for sexual purposes. He then added, "they only want to making sex-partner here." Hoshi's experience is very disappointing because he clearly desires companionship and other avatars try to take advantage of him because he is a gay man. Because many people in society do not understand homosexuality, they may think that they are simply sexual deviants that just want to have sex with anyone in Second Life. This shows an example of how the views that people have about a lifestyle can transfer from the real world to the virtual world. Because they do not understand, they generate their own opinions and assumptions based on neither nothing. 

Hoshi Halcali pictured in the Tristar Club.

The last interview was with a former Second Life fashion designer named Celeron Voom (Celeron Voom has granted me permission to use his quotes and his picture). I asked him about times that he has been griefed or discriminated against, he said, "3 times when i was on a date and a few times when i dress what ppl call too gay." (Voom, December 10, 2009) When I asked Celeron about how accepting the Second Life community was to the GLBTQ community, he thought that the community was a little accepting.  When he elaborated further he said, "well  like websites ppl get away with saying things cause their faces arnt conneted to it , so when they ar enice they are nice but when they are mean ...they dont hold back." This interview was very telling because it discussed why people do what they do in Second Life. As Celeron said, faces are not attached to the avatar, therefore things can be said in Second Life that no one would ever think to say in real life. 

Celeron Voom pictured above.                                         Celeron and Jozi during the interview.

Conclusion

In conclusion, discrimination is still a problem that effects residents in Second Life on a daily basis. In order to fight this, avatars should always report someone who offends them by using racial slurs to them or to another avatar. The person who does not report the issue is enabling the problem by not being a part of a viable solution. Racism and all other forms of discrimination can be completely stopped with the help of the entire Second Life community. 

Works Cited Page

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