Virtually Queer: Subjectivity Across Gender Boundaries in Second Life

Abstract

This is an autoethnographic study of one person\u27s experience performing across gender lines in Second Life. Although there is a rich literature on gender crossing in virtual worlds, dating back to the text-only days, there are few ethnographic reports and fewer still from the vantage point of the performer. The paper is presented as a narrative recounting, alternating voice between the performed female persona in the virtual world and the author\u27s performed male identity in real life. Taking the perspective of Queer Theory, the paper problematizes gender performance in any world, and takes tentative steps toward expanding the notion of identity queering to nonsexual aspects of the individual as well as the prospect of queering reality itself