Why Some Men Gender-Bend In Online Worlds - Classic NWN Quote

Some men may roleplay as female avatars in MMOs to meet the real life woman of their dreams, but other males have a very different reason to do so:

In real life, I'm in my thirties, overweight, balding, married with children. I'd blend in flawlessly at Penny Arcade Expo or any renaissance faire of your choice. In Second Life, I am a flirty cyberpunk chick who hangs out at clubs and has hundreds of folders of clothes. Yes, I know I am a stereotype. I am THE stereotype...

I am gender dysphoric. That is, I'm not comfortable with the gender I was born with. I look in the mirror and am always surprised that the guy staring back at me is actually me. I've been in and out of therapy over the years. But I live in a liminal state -- half in my body, half detached from it, half male, half female. Second Life is a haven for me. I can look at the screen and actually see a part of me that I always knew existed, but could never point at. I can sit and talk with other women and be treated as a sister, not a potential predator. I can enjoy being beautiful (a feeling I've never had in RL), because even if that beauty isn't real and I bought all the parts off of [the SL Marketplace], the combination is something that I created and expresses me. It's a "me" that cannot exist in any other sort of environment. I'm not trying to deceive anyone. I am not trying to live a lie. I am trying to live the truth, in its entirety.

From "Second Life's Strength Is Its Power To Transform Identity -- And The 'Weirdos' Who Embrace It", a NWN guest post from 2010.

Comments

[JohnC]

SL is the ideal world for this. I am not gender dysphoric at all, I am very happy with my RL gender. But I totally understand the feelings expressed in the post and have felt them myself.
I have created Female avatars and found them in many ways more enjoyable to inhabit than male avatars. Especially when in the company of other female avatars, the vast majority of whom are no doubt themselves male.
Lesbian clubs in SL have a far softer and safer feel to them than heterosexual clubs, where almost always sex is the intended outcome of any interaction. Of course the same is true often for Lesbian clubs. But it is just far less one dimensional.