Given at TEDxKGU, Kansai Gaidai University, Hirakata, Osaka, Japan. April 28, 2013

1. Jean-Paul DuQuette
TEDxKGU

2. Can you guess what these pics are? These are some Facebook
profile pics I took last year and the year before. Before the
beard. Notice anything about them? Well of course I am
stunningly handsome in both of them. But besides that I have
altered them, one with the Toonpaint iPhone app and one on
some website I can’t recall. And the reason I wanted to use
those apps, was simple. Not only did I think they could make
me look better, but I felt that with these artistic flourishes, I
could share something about my own identity that a regular
picture could not. Namely that I have a sensitive artistic side.

3. Now let’s look at this attractive individual. That’s me. I mean, the one on the left of course. This is my avatar in
Linden Lab’s Second Life, which, if you weren’t aware, is an online virtual world environment that’s been around
for about 10 years now. If you’re wondering what I do there, I’m studying a free English language learning
community called Cypris Chat, and I will be happy to bore you with my enthusiasm for education in virtual worlds
at any time you find convenient. But let’s get back to my avatar, DukeVan Acker here. I’ve had Duke for more than
4 years now.

4. At first, he looked something like this…I designed the shape myself, trying to make it look vaguely like my real appearance. The clothes and skin were
All either free or nearly free. I’m not very proud of him, but then again I did not really have a reason to make him look any better.

5. .
This is Duke now. So I’ve had several years to consider how I want to present myself. Can you guess why Duke looks as he does now? Well, in my
case, it had a lot to do with both my personality and what I do in SL, teach English. Compared to other avatars he’s shorter. Looks old. I still based
his face on me, but his hair is gray and he has a moustache – very rare in SL. Even though he is wearing casual clothes, they are obviously high
quality mesh, so it shows I’m no noob. And he’s got a little cybernetic monocle, which hints at my enjoyment of sci-fi and fantasy. As a teacher, I
wanted an avatar that projected a casual professionalism – I am not here to socialize or look for a virtual girlfriend – commanded a little respect –
the gray hair to me represented the authority that comes with age in some cultures- conveyed a bit about my interests and looked a little bit like me.
The environment gave me complete freedom to represent myself as I wanted.

6. My key point is, as illustrated by my friend on Tumblr here is that
virtual identity starts with your avatar. Now, as a volunteer English
teacher for the last few years in Second Life, I’ve been witness to
demographic changes in the kinds of learners that come to our
group. A few years, back, for example, we seemed to have a stream
of Chinese and Korean learners. Now, we seem tobe having more
and more learners from SE Asia and the middle-east, specifically
Muslim women.

7. Now, as I’m sure you know, many Islamic scholars interpret the
Qur’an’s injunction against exposing private parts publicly to mean
that women should not expose any part of their bodies other
than their hands, feet and faces, and according to some, one must
cover the face as well, save for the eyes. Now despite arguments
that the hijab – the Muslim headscarf - actually represents
religious freedom and liberation from sexual commodification, and
the fact that the hijab is actually optional in many Muslim cultures,
there is, I think, a common western notion that it represents
religious oppression and male domination. Now, I am not here to
discuss the pros and cons of the hijab, but I would like to explore
one question.

8. Why do some Muslim women wear the hijab or burka in SL and others do not? Now I had some educated guesses
based on what I knew about Muslim cultures, and you might have assumptions as well. You might assume that
women wearing hijab in Second Lifewere either shamed into wearing it by Muslim men, or they were simply being
what I’d call “unreasonably” devout. And you might assume that those who chose not to have their avatars in hijab
were throwing off the shackles of a male-dominated society, and this was indicative of how they would want to
represent themselves had they more freedom.

9. But when I talked started talking to real life hijabi in Second Life about their feelings
regarding virtual hijabs, I realized that there many different personal factors involved.
Let me introduce three of these women to illustrate. We’ll call them Ms. N, Ms. D and
Ms. J. Let me point out that wearing the hijab is optional in the home countries of all
these women.

10. This is Ms. N. She’s from Malaysia. In real life she’s a lawyer and business owner. In Second Life, she has
dabbled in virtual fashion and machinima – making short films in virtual worlds. She actually makes and
sells virtual hijabs, as well. When she is doing business in SL, role-playing or letting her daughter “drive”
her avatar, she does not wear the hijab, but she says when she is relaxing or doing things for herself in SL,
she wears it. She says that though her avatar may not represent her physically, her behavior and attitude
are 100% representative of her identity. She has actually been teased by an Arab man in Second Life, who
was curious as to why she felt it necessary to wear hijab in Second Life. But she loves wearing
hijab in both RL and SL, and says that even if it were banned, she would wear something on her
head, like a shawl.

11. One’s avatar is less representative of one’s identity than seen as a simple cartoon or
game. She also reminds me that many Muslim women are just as fashion conscious
as their non-Muslim counterparts, and at all-female get-togethers the fancy dresses
and fake eyelashes come out, just as they do in Second Life fashion.In her mind, and in the mind of other Second Life Muslims, particularly the Saudi women
she knows, what happens in SL essentially takes place in the home, a place where Muslim
women can let their hair down both literally and figuratively.
This is Ms. D. She’s from the United States, but of
Japanese and Palestinian descent. When I first met
her I never saw her in hijab, and then suddenly it
seemed she was wearing one almost exclusively. I
assumed something might have happened to trigger
this transformation, but when I talked to her recently,
she said there was nothing in particular behind it.
She still often wears the hijab in SL, but can just as
often be found wearing jeans or a ballroom gown,
depending on the situation.

12. This is Ms. J. She’s a freelance illustrator in Egypt, and she’s representative of probably the majority of Muslim women
who do not wear hijab in Second Life. She spends most of her time with friends from English speaking countries and
someday hopes to move to Iceland or northern Europe to work. Though she does not wear a hijab in SL, she stays
far from the norms of sexy Second Life fashion, choosing instead to wear a variety of “very ugly yet artistic avatars”.
She does admit that she does – or did – use her avatar to express herself, but now she is losing interest in SL
altogether, and concentrating on her art work, which you can see here.

13. Now in just looking at these three stories that are lot of implications about the different ways people choose to
display their online identity in avatars and how closely they associate themselves with these avatars. And it
dismantled a lot of assumptions I had about why the hijab is worn in virtual worlds. But in 15 minutes, let’s just
boil it down to three observations.

14. First, and virtual worlds scholars like Tom Boelsstorf and Ken Hillis are coming to similar conclusions, it’s probably not
that productive to discuss people’s avatars in terms of virtual self vs. real self. In the case of Ms. N, there was very
little distinction. In the case of Ms. D. and Ms. J, they did not actually see their avatars as virtual selves, but as playful
cartoon characters with which they could to be as sexy or as absurd as they liked. Avatars – most essentially – provide
a focus for your attention, and in this way, they’re simply another online communication tool like Skype or email.
Nobody would ask you whether there is a difference between your real self and your email self…

15. That said, avatars MAY provide insight into one’s identity. Though anonymity can free you to represent
your avatar in any way you wish, your choices reflect aspects of your personality and interests,
sometimes in big ways. Second Life creator Philip Rosedale calls this phenomenon “the opposite of
anonymous”, where the ease in which we can customize our avatar means are avatar can say more
about us than our physical bodies.

16. On the other hand don’t assume that someone’s online identity is shaped solely by large-scale social forces. One point
that I hope I’ve gotten across in this little talk on virtual hijabi, is that making assumptions based on stereotyping and
pop psychology is counterproductive. My initial assumptions about these women’s attitudes were off base. It was
only through hearing their stories, learning abouttheir personalities, personal history and local culture that I was able
to get a clearer picture of how their identities were reflected in their avatars. You actually can learn a lot by judging a
book by its cover in this case, but to know how the cover accurately reflects the contents, you’re actually going to have
to read the story.

17. So the next time you see a curious avatar, whether we are talking about 3D virtual worlds
or Facebook profile pictures, don’t jump to conclusions. What the person is showing you
about their identity may not be what you think it is, and the only real way to make sure, is
to make friends with them and find out their stories for yourself.