A Black Woman in Real Life Reflects on Being Black in Second Life

Martin Luther King Jr. day should not be the only day we think about addressing racism as it occurs in virtual worlds, so these thoughtful videos from SL blogger Emuna Zamani, a black woman in real life, are worth a watch today or any day. Emuna has a warm and chatty presence, even through her avatar, which helps her broach potentially touchy subjects in a gentle way, including:

• She argues that it's not necessarily offensive when SL skin makers don't offer black-skinned avatars, as they can take time and special effort to make well -- while getting them wrong can cause offense.
• It's not offensive "blackface" for non-black SL bloggers to depict black-skinned avatars in their images -- but it can be disrespectful/borderline blackface when those images incorporate stereotypical aspects. (Which, unfortunately, she's encountered within the SL blogging community.)

In Part 2, she addresses reader comments, including one who insists that there's no racism in virtual worlds (very much not the case), then goes on to discuss other provocative topics:

Emuna discusses the preference for many black virtual world users for lighter skin avatars, which she says is not necessarily a negative -- but then on the flip side, notes the criticism she once received after she switched to a darker skin which resembled her appearance in real life.

More reading on these topics and more here: 8 Posts On Confronting Real Racism In Virtual Worlds.

Comments

[Emuna Zamani]

Your article brought tears to my eyes. I hoped that everyone would see my videos as you have but that has not been the case. Most of us have been guilty of being ignorant when it comes to what is offensive to other groups. The beautiful part is that we do not have to remain ignorant.

Understanding, change and coexistence is all that I want in virtual settings just as I want them in my real life. I am not naive enough to think that those things will happen in everyone but I do believe it can happen in those open to them.

Thank you so much for always providing reputable reporting.

[Wagner James Au]

Thank you! And that's all very well put. I hope you make more videos on this important topic!

[truthmustbetold]

I deeply respect the comments of this kind lady and all people and cultures, but the racial topic is weird in a VIRTUAL world. I understand some people may feel uncomfortable, but honestly I don't understand why they may feel offended. I don't understand why some people in the black community may feel offended if a caucasian, latin or mediterranean race etc. wants to use a black skin. SL is a VIRTUAL world!!! It has nothing to do with the real world!!! Nobody is going to get an idea of the real world or about a ethnicity with what they see in a virtual world. I am not saying this lady is offended or wrong, I only wanted to use this opportunity to comment about racial diversity in SL.
This reminds me when the Brazilian body appeared in market some girls from Brazil were offended because they considered that the real beauty of the woman of this country was not reflected with the proporsiones of this body. But everything stopped and the women in Brazil who felt offended simply continued their virtual life being happy. I wonder why some people in the black community of SL feel offended (Yes that happen a LOT).
Does a woman feel offended because a man in RL uses a woman avatar and this woman avatar is not as aesthetically correct as a true woman? or a woman in RL when using a male avatar mens feels offended? Can an obese person feel offended that thin people wear overweight avatars with dirty underwear (check the MP for those avatars)? They have dirty underwear, has anyone seen obese people complaining about this? Thin people in RL would be offended if an overweight person uses a thin avatar because they are not sincere with their true appearance? A person who has suffered in RL an aputation and must use a prosthesis, may feel offended because people are using mechanical arms or legs in SL and they have no idea of the suffering that this implies?
To say that Asian people have suffered and they continue to use their skins. You are doing a survey to find out if these people with Asian skins are from other ethnicities but use Asian skins because they simply love this culture and don't mind not using their real skin? What suffering are we talking about? Is it a suffering that is only experienced by Asians? Is it not experienced by other ethnicities? Can those ethnicities who suffer the same from the Asian ethnic groups find skins in the market to be like the Asians a "visible pride"? Dont get me wrong, I respect her opinion, but I believe here a concept is being built as a "racial pride" that cannot be legitimately represented by the small number of skins of different ethnicities created within the market.
Why i'm saying all this? Well... I had a friend who was threatened with being hacked because in RL he is white from Germany and he simply loved black music and culture, but sadly he thought that "Your World. Your Imagination" is a reality in SL he used a black skin, but the pressure he felt was constant, he preferred to leave SL and everything began visiting a well known place of SL whose owner wishes to make a "racial sanitation" where everyone should use in SL their RL skin. Pretending this is ridiculous, how many latin skins exist in SL? a person from the Philippines can find a skin in SL? Korean, Chinese and Japanese are the same ethnic group?
Let people use what they want and if something in a virtual world it offends you, I'm so sorry, but think you have a problem, the problem is not those people who use skins different from their true racial ethnicity. I will never understand the "double moral" of some people in SL, in their profile you can see in the "Real Life" something like "Error loading" or "Sl and RL are separated" and they offended in SL. I have news, if it offends you, you are not separated RL and SL.