Gender-Swapping

Sherry Turkle wrote an article regarding gender-swapping called “Tinysex and Gender Trouble.” The idea of the article is about creating an identity online while gender swapping. Though this may seem very unusual and uncommon to many people Turkle makes a very good argument on the subject.
Online when you gender-swap you are wiping away social constraints. Many people wonder what it would be like to be the opposite sex and this is the perfect opportunity to experiment with it. Gender inequality is something that is very apparent in society, therefore if someone were to be the sex of a female and wonders what it is like to be treated like a male they can do it online. You create an identity completely different than yourself and see how others perceive you. The virtual life that you create is all up to you. In the online world you can say and do almost anything you want and don’t have to suffer any consequences. While creating your identity you also learn and act to be a different gender. For instance there are some things that males can get away with saying while if females do or say the same thing they are often judged or looked down upon. In my opinion the virtual world allows you to explore and act in ways that society would frown upon.
In the lecture we discussed how gender-swapping encourages personal growth and self-awareness. As I sat in class and listened to students comments I became very frustrated with their lack of being open minded. Students did not understand why someone would want to experiment with gender-swapping, but instead of embracing it and learning about it they were looking down upon it. I chose not to comment on their narrow mindlessness but as I sit here right now, being hidden from their judgments, I feel like I can say what I want. In my opinion this reflects what gender-swapping in the virtual world also does.
Some may think that in the virtual world gender-swapping only relates to people who are interested in becoming a transsexual. I do not believe this to be the case. As our teacher has explained through her research she too has experimented with gender-swapping, and to my indication she is not interested in becoming a transsexual. Learning how others treat you as the opposite sex is a very interesting subject. Like discussed in class, I believe it can be a sort of therapy session. In real life you cannot act a certain way without the consequences but in the virtual world you can. I have not played around with the virtual world but in time I may check it out. Sometimes people need to just get away from reality and try new things and I think the virtual world regarding gender-swapping is just the place to do this.
I found a study online regarding gender-swapping in the virtual world, and like Turkle, it brings up some very valid points. It talks about MUDs and MOOs and also gives reasoning why people choose to gender-swap in virtual worlds. There are comments and scenarios from people who have gender-swapped online and what they experienced. The outcomes are similar to what we discussed in class but again I would like to reiterate that the encounters that people have experienced are very interesting.

http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/Computing/Articles%2BResearchPapers/gender-swapping