I'm so pretty!
Hi my name is Michelle. I am a shy person who prefers being alone than in the presence of others. I like the 80's because of all the movies about teen angst. I prefer staying in than going out for an activity like bowling, movies, or social gathering. My whole life is planned out for me as soon as I finish school I want a family with 3 kids and 4 cats in the country.
It was fun while making my Meez, to think from an opposite gender perspective. I understand the fascination with the opposite sex and the questions we have about them. I actually liked dressing my girl in a bunch of different fashions. I don't have that option as a guy. Turkel discusses the reality that many men and women portray members of the opposite sex for benefits in communication given to that sex. (p. 211) What interests me about this is the higher percentage of men portraying women than women portraying men. You would think in a Real Life society where men still dominate the world that women would want to be more like men. Men are given the opportunity to communicate more freely by the social norms our society has constructed.
So why are men wanting to be women? Women in online communities are hounded by men while men are able to sit back and choose who they want to talk to. However, women in the online communities have all the power. Turkel hits the main reason for this in her discusion of virtual sex. (p. 223) One man is married to a woman who allows him to have virtual sex as a need for expression. The other man is now seperated from his wife because she doesn't think he should be having an online relationship. The greatest power in this world, as many psychiologists have stated, is sex. Men are so fascinated by that power that they won't admit it in the Real World because it would ruin all power we have created for ourselves socially. However, we show it in the online community by showering women with all the attention.
I think I took this blog in different direction, but the thoughts really connected as I read this article on the extreme significance in gender both in reality and the virtual world.