Abstract
Abstract. The present study explored the influence of avatar appearance on cyber-harassment in a virtual world. Specifically, this research examined how avatar gender and sexualization were related to the experience of sex- and non-sex-related harassment. An international sample of Second Life users (N = 216) completed an online questionnaire about their avatar’s appearance and virtual world experiences. Objectification theory and the disinhibition effect were used as theoretical grounding for the study. Results revealed disparate virtual experiences for male and female avatars and indicated that avatar sexualization was related to experiences of cyber-harassment for female avatars. The implications of this research extend beyond virtual worlds like Second Life to other Web-based communication applications that utilize avatars.
References
(2004). The impact of media exposure on males’ body image. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 7–22.
. (2010). Report of the APA Tasl Force on the Sexualization of Girls. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report-full.pdf
(2008, August 22). Generation why: Is the Second Life experience fundamentally Gen X-centric? New World Notes. Retrieved from http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/08/generation-why.html
(2006). Effects of sexually-objectifying media on self-objectification and body surveillance in undergraduates: Results of a two-year panel study. Journal of Communication, 56, 366–386.
(2005). Sexual harassment on the Internet. Social Science Computer Review, 23, 77–92.
(2010). Personal conncetions in the digital age. Malden, MA: Polity Press.
(2013). Mirrored selves: The influence of self-presence in a virtual world on health, appearance, and well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 119–128.
(2007). The ideal elf: Identity exploration in World of Warcraft. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10, 530–535.
(2002). Sexual harassment in online communications: Effects of gender and discourse medium. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 5, 33–42.
(2013). Face, authenticity, transformations ans aesthetics in Second Life. Body & Society, 29, 52–81.
(2008). Coming of age in Second Life: An anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
(2009). Sex lives in Second Life. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 26, 145–164.
(2009). Objectification processes and disordered eating in British women and men. Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 394–402.
(2009). Law’s expressive value in combating cyber gender harassment. Michigan Law Review, 108, 373–415.
(2006). Workplace worries: A preliminary look at online sexual activities at the office. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 9, 22–29. doi: 10.1089/cpb.2006.9.22
(2003). Sexual double standards: A review and methodological critique of two decades of research. Journal of Sex Research, 40, 13–26.
(2010). The drive for muscularity in men: Media influences and objectification theroy. Body Image, 7, 32–38.
(2011). Has cyber technology produced a new group of peer aggressors? Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 14, 297–302. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0108
(2001). Sexual harassment as dysfunctional process: A feminist standpoint analysis. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 29, 372–402.
(2006). Gendered discussions of power during discourse about sexual harassment: negotiating competing meanings. Sex Roles, 54, 495–507.
(2012). My avatar and me: Gender and personality predictors of avatar self-discrepancy. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 97–106.
(2010). Cyberbullying and its correlation to traditional bullying, gender and frequent and risky usage of internet-mediated communication tools. New Media & Society, 12, 109–125.
(2010). Technologies of sexiness: Theorizing women’s engagement in the sexualization of culture. Feminism & Psychology, 20(1), 114–131. doi: 10.1177/0959353509351854
(2011). Reconstructing power in Second Life: Controlling the virtual mayhem. Journal for Cultural Research, 15, 55–74. doi: 10.1080/14797585.2011.525103
(2012). A longitudinal study of cyberbullying: Examining risk and protective factors. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 168–181.
(2013). The embodiment of sexualized virtual selves: The Proteus effect and experiences of self-objectification via avatars. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 930–938.
(2011). Unwilling avatars: Idealism and discrimination in cyberspace. Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, 20, 224–248.
(1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173–206.
(2003). Television viewers’ ideal body proportions: The case of the curvaceously thin woman. Sex Roles, 48, 255–264.
(2011). Equal opportunity objectification? The sexualization of men and women on the cover of Rolling Stone. Sexuality & Culture, 15, 256–278. doi: 10.1007/s12119-011-9093-2
(1999). The rhetorical dynamics of gender harassment online. The Information Society, 15, 151–167.
(2012). Virtual lives: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
(2010). “I feel more connected to the physically ideal mini me than the mirror-image mini me”: Theoretical implications of the “malleable self” for speculations on the effects of avatar creation on avatar-self connection in Wii. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 13, 567–570.
(2007). Adolescents’ exposure to a sexualized media environment and their notions of women as sex objects. Sex Roles, 56, 381–389.
(2011). Understanding the role of sense and presence and perceived autonomy in users’ continued use of social virtual worlds. Journal of Comupter-Mediated Communication, 16, 492–510.
(2009). Cyberbullying: Who are the victims? A comparison of victimization in Internet chatrooms and victimization in school. Journal of Media Psychology, 21, 25–36.
(2011).
Virtual worlds as a regulatory challenge: A user perspective . In K. CorneliusD. HermannEds., Virtual worlds and criminality (pp. 1–18). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer.(2012). Effects of anonymity, invisibility, and lack of eye-contact on toxic disinhibition. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 434–443.
(2011). “Whose Second Life is this?” How avatar-based racial cues shape ethno-racial minorities’ perception of virtual worlds. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 637–642.
(2014). The proteus paradox: How online games and virtual worlds change us–and how they don’t. Orwigsburg, PA: Yale University Press.
. (2011, October 14). The Second Life economy in Q3 2011. Second Life Blog. Retrieved from http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Featured-News/The-Second-Life-Economy-in-Q3-2011/ba-p/1166705
(1979). Sexual harassment of working women. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
(2011). Performing the looking-glass self: Avatar appearance and group identity in Second Life. Popular Communication, 9, 165–180.
. (2013, February 19). Second Life statistics for 19 February 2013. Retrieved from http://www.metaverse-business.com/secondlifemetrics.php
(2012). Risk factors for involvement in cyber bullying: Victims, bullies and bully–victims. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 63–70.
(2003). Thin, sexy women and strong, muscular men: Grade-school children’s responses to objectified images of women and men. Sex Roles, 49, 427–437.
(2011). Sexual harassment and gender discrimination: A longitudinal study of women managers. Journal of Social Issues, 51, 139–149.
(2008). Digitizing race: Visual cultures of the Internet. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
(2009). Women’s intentions regarding, and acceptance of, self-sexualizing behavior. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, 95–107.
(1998). Sexual harassment: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 3, 111–128.
(2009). Communities of play: Emergence cultures in multiplayer games and virtual worlds. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
(2009). The electric self: Doing virtual research for real in Second Life. Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 32(1), 148–160.
(2002). Eroticizing men: Cultural influences on advertising and male objectification. Sex Roles, 46, 61–74.
(2004). The online disinhibition effect. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 7, 321–326. doi: 10.1089/1094931041291295
(2011). Actual self vs. avatar self: The effect of online social situation on avatar expression. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 4, 3–21.
(2011). Sexual objectification of women: Advances to theory and research. Counseling Psychologist, 39, 6–38.
(1974). Social identity and intergroup behaviour. Social Science Information, 13, 65–93.
(2010). Avatar creation and video game enjoyment: Effects of life-satisfaction, game competitiveness, and identification with the avatar. Journal of Media Psychology, 22, 171–184. doi: 10.1027/1864-1105/a000022
(1978).
Social categorization and social discrimination in the minimal group paradigm . In H. TajfelEd., Differentiation between social groups (pp. 101–140). London, UK: Academic Press.(2004). Enjoyment: At the heart of media entertainment. Communication Theory, 14, 388–408.
(2010). The young and the digital: What the migration to social network sites, games, and anytime, anywhere media means for our future. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
(2007). The unbearable likeness of being digital: The persistence of nonverbal social norms in online virtual environments. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 10, 115–121. doi: 10.1089/cpb.2006.9984
