Strawberry, Unbound: How a Virtual World Helped a Young Muslim-American Woman Become More Politically Active in the Real One

In 2007, a young Muslim-American woman tentatively downloaded a new program called Second Life that her friend had recommended. SL was at its peak in media hype at the time, but after creating an avatar called "Strawberry Singh", she hesitated to return. "When I first logged in I was so lost that I logged out and didn't log back in for a week," she remembers. "But a week later I logged back in and was hooked."

This week she's celebrating her 10th year "rezday", and while the media has mostly wandered away from Second Life, Strawberry has since become an mini-media empire in her own right, with an extremely popular virtual fashion blog and a widely-followed YouTube channel. She was recently featured in the top media outlet Vice for the Avatars Against Trump viral social media campaign (on Flickr here) that she launched with fellow SL blogger Cajsa Lilliehook.

As you might imagine, she has a deeply personal stake in protesting Trump -- and very good reasons for making that dissent known through an avatar-based pseudonym:

"I need to restrict myself in so many ways at times in the real world in work and social situations and at times personal situations with family as well," she tells me. "But in Second life there are no restrictions. I can be myself and express myself without caring if i get fired or judged. Also the safety of using a pseudonym also protects me from crazy lunatics Trump supporters that would otherwise threaten or try and hurt me in the real world for my religious affiliations or political beliefs. How many female reporters are attacked and threatened on a daily basis by men's rights activists or Trump thugs?"

It was actually Second Life itself which encouraged her to become more publicly forthright about her political opinions -- not because she's suffered real life anti-Muslim bigotry (she doesn't live in a pro-Trump neighborhood), but for another reason:

"I have always been pretty shy in the real world but Second Life has helped me overcome that a bit," Strawberry says. "I have more confidence to approach people or be more outspoken in the real world because of my experiences in Second Life. I wouldn't have thought about sharing my thoughts on such a global or large platform. It also encouraged me to carry the fight and resistance in the real world as well by going on marches, protests, calling my local officials, etc... I was encouraged by the passion of the other members of the community, like Cajsa."

Similarly, spending so much time in a virtual world has expanded her real world connections in other ways too:

"Second Life has made me realize just how small our real world can be. I can sit here in America and fall in love and make lifelong friendships with people across the ocean. It's also given me the confidence and the platform to stand up for myself and speak my mind about issues that concern me. It's enriched my life in so many ways, but more than anything, it's helped me be a part of a very supportive global community."

Speaking of which, if you haven't already, go here to wish her a happy Rezday.

Top image courtesy Ms. Singh.

Comments

[echo kinsella]

I used to really respect Berry. But she has made really mean comments and generalizations about Trump supporters that just aren't true. She groups them all into one big lump and we are not all alike anymore than all liberals lie like Hilary. What's worse is when you mention it to her on her blog or any sort of criticism she rewrites your comment so it praises her. What happened to ethics? How moral is that? Like I said I used to really admire her.

[Lemony Oh]

Note the Muslim in front of American, they're Muslim first and that's the problem. Drop the ideology and just be an American. How about that?

And as far as so called Trump thugs attacking people. ANTIFA is not a Trump supporting organization and they have been attacking people all over the place. So somewhere there is a disconnect with reality and what she believes.

Just because people stand up to your chosen religion does not mean they hate you. I can hate your religion and not have anything in the world against you. But, here's the issue again, you cannot mentally separate yourself from Muslim-you are, alas, Muslim first!

Lastly, yes we are a pround nation of immigrants. We are not, however, a nation of unwanted unvetted regugees. When the masses arrived on Ellis Island, they were vetted-the dregs returned to their country of origin. We need to get back to that today!

[Gin Perdide]

Wonderful write up on our Berry.

[YsabelleStewart]

Her blogs and videos are great and very informative. Interesting to see her 2007 avi too.

[Bacon & Eggs]

@ Lemony Oh

Exactly those are great points!

It really annoys me those who claim to speak for an invisible god who does not exist.

[Roslin Petion]

I'm not going to even touch the whole "not all Trump supporters" thing. I will, however point out plenty of generalizations are made of all different kinds of groups. And before you judge someone, honestly ask yourself if you are 100% innocent of this. And if so, please teach all of us your ways.

As for taking issue with one identifying as a Muslim American, ask a Christian American to drop THEIR ideology. Last time I checked, the constitution promised freedom of religion. ALL religions. It didn't say just the ones that certain people think are good. Not to mention, Christianity has a long, bloody history of hate. Please, you can't use that as a distinction. That said, I am very pro separation of church and state, which is in my opinion, the bedrock of our democracy. I've never read anything from Berry that suggests she (and this goes for most Muslims living in the US) wishes to live in a Muslim theocracy.

Now to address the vetting process. There already is a 20 step vetting process. http://www.businessinsider.com/vetting-process-refugees-enter-us-syria-iraq-executive-order-ban-libya-sudan-2017-1 in place. Also, when it comes to illegals Obama's policy was so strict, even Trump was critical of it. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/21/donald-trump/trump-right-deportation-numbers-wrong-talks-about-/

Our politicians are not gods. They are not sacred. They are flawed human beings. It is not only our right as American citizens, but our duty to call them out when we see them doing wrong. And anyone who disagrees should open up a history book and educate themselves about the founding of our nation and our constitution.

[Lemony Oh]

@Roslin

I just knew someone would come along with the whole false equivalence attempt to normalize behavior in the modern world with 'but but but the Christians!' Absolutely no. Nowhere in modern times are Christians throwing homosexuals from rooftops nor are they openly and without abandon slaughtering other religions just because they are not christian nor are they inflicting terror on the masses, subjugating women and the list goes on. Nowhere.in.the.world!

You can bring up the crusades all you want but this is modern times. Get out of my face with that foolishness!

I agree with the ban and I would wish it would go further. Unless you can prove your allegiance to THIS COUNTRY, the United States , you can't come in, simple as that. Assimilate or get out. It really is that simple.

And yes, there is freedom OF religion. That is not what any of this is about, so again false equivalence on your part. The constitution also guarantees freedom FROM religion. I have a right to not be subjected to any religious ideology, even in the attempt of forced 'diversity' simply because many of its followers are non-Asian minorities.

The problem with Miss Singh is that she has probably never really experienced any kind of intolerance but makes it up for whatever reason. There are many stories like this in the news of people burning their own houses of worship or creating fake attacks just to garner sympathy. I have to question her motives.

[Wagner J Au]

Actually Putin's regime has been harassing and suppressing gays and women of Russia, working in league with the Christian right there and with the support of the pro-Trump Christian right in the West, for years:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/how-russia-became-a-leader-of-the-worldwide-christian-right-214755

In the first 18 months after his return to the presidency in 2012, Putin corralled protesters, smothered many of the remaining independent media outlets, and dissolved the distance between the Kremlin and the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church. All of his moves pointed toward a hard-right shift in outlook—to a return to Tsar Nicholas I’s triumvirate of “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality.”

America’s Christian fundamentalists followed Putin’s moves with glee—all the more after then-President Barack Obama earned a second term, and same-sex rights charged forward. In 2013, Moscow pushed an “anti-propaganda law” specifically targeting the country’s beleaguered LGBT population. Despite widespread condemnation throughout the West, members of America’s Religious Right tripped over themselves in supporting the Kremlin. Likewise, as a Daily Beast report found, the “anti-propaganda law,” like the anti-abortion measures before it, didn’t arise in some kind of retrograde ether, but “had emerged from a years-long, carefully crafted campaign to influence governments to adopt a Christian-Right legal framework”—stemming from the efforts of both American and Russian WCF officials who had “successfully disseminated a U.S.-born culture war that’s wreaking havoc on women and queer folks all around the world.” Even Moscow’s ban on Americans adopting Russian children that year managed to gain support within the U.S.’s far right, with Christian fundamentalists praising Putin’s move as preventing children from living with same-sex parents...

[I]t’s not as if it’s difficult to unearth the fundamentalists fawning over Putin’s putative turn toward God. For instance, according to Bryan Fischer, who until 2015 was a spokesman for the American Family Association, Putin is the “lion of Christianity.” Evangelical Franklin Graham has likewise lauded Putin as someone “protecting traditional Christianity,” while Buchanan only continues praising Putin. Even recent frictions—see: Russia’s recent legislation against non-Orthodox proselytizing—have hardly dampened US fundamentalists’ newfound fervor for Moscow. And if Trump decides to deprioritize rolling back same-sex or abortion rights, the U.S. far right will look to Moscow even further support, ensconcing the Kremlin’s position that much more.

We might not know, per Buchanan’s early questions, whose side God is on. But those in Russia are happy to return the support from America’s radical Christian extremists—and clutch the mantle of Christian fundamentalist leadership as long as they can, even after Trump’s election.

[melponeme_k]

I like Singh's youtube channel. But I was unaware she was living in a delusional bubble afraid to step out her door. This is someone who has been watching too much propaganda.

The only violence on the streets have been from the far leftists. They are the ones covering their faces and vandalizing property not Trump supporters.

Trump won by a landslide EVERYWHERE. Don't believe me. I know most New Yorkers went for him. To prove it, I only have to look at my various local Starbucks. EMPTY. Every one of them. When before they were the busiest stores in the city. But the powers that be would rather go down in flames than take a more centrist stance over a far left, communist (for businesses not people) view.

[Beatrix]

I'm not sure what you mean by a landslide.

In North Carolina he won 49.83%. Michigan was 47.50%, Pennsylvania 48.18%, in Utah he won by 45.54% because 21.54% voted for a 3rd party candidate (of they'd voted for Trump it woyld have been a landslide but it wasn't), Wisconsin he got 47.22% of the votes.

Maybe you have a different idea of landslide.

Another tidbit. Colorado has 9 electoral votes and Indiana has 11 but more voted in CO than Indiana.

[Dingleberry]

I know that Strawberry is a recruitior for ISIS she is now working closely in Sansar with her jihaad experience. She claims shes never bought lindens to which is a lie. She and Draxtor are both radical islamic terroists and need to be banmed from SL.

[Joey Blackmore]

The Lindens will never see a dime from me again bring politics to sl shame on you berry just lost thousands of dollars from me tell your boss bc of you big disappoint you are get your facts straight SMH keep sl in sl WOW!!!!