Georgetown University student Donald Jones has been investigating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender / transsexual (LGBT) culture within Second Life, according to a piece on GayWired. The result is a thesis called 'Queered Virtuality: The Claiming and Making of Queer Spaces and Bodies in the User-Constructed Synthetic World of Second Life'. It combines Jones' own analysis of LGBT areas within the world, with a survey of more than 350 users, and one-on-one interviews with 20.
"He went into Second Life and played as a woman... As he did this more and more and saw himself reflected back as a woman�and experienced people interacting with him as a woman�he realized he was in fact transgendered... The language he used was wonderful: �I love having a vagina,�. For him it was a profound experience to see himself as a woman and to interact with other people within Second Life as a woman."Jones also reports that 20% of his survey respondents reported having experienced some form of homophobia within Second Life, but says in general, the world is a welcoming place for LGBT users. (via GayWired)
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