Great rant from reader "Nadeja", leaping off from my interview in CNN about prejudice against non-attractive human avatars — specifically, on how it impacts female users in virtual worlds:
Sadly, it's true.
Also it's more than just being fat or slim.
I had messages from guys commenting on the physical appearance of my avatar (i.e. various body parts) and my outfits too, grumpily and selfishly comparing that with their own personal tastes, [as] if the only purpose of women's avatars (and I suspect also the purpose of women in real life) were to please them.
That "no fat chicks" sign, too, was indeed targeting women: nobody cared if guys were fat or slim. I don't mean that guys have no issues looks-wise (as [reader] Penny says, height for them), but there is a lot of pressure on women in terms of what they look like.
Although I usually receive compliments, my avatar has been bodyshamed for my thighs being "too fat".
Someone else bodyshamed in a very paternalistic way my same avatar for being "too much skinny".
Therefore, besides being selfish, is also foolish, because beauty standards are so subjective.
But it is worse than that.
If you make your avatar based on your real life appearance and you have little self-esteem already, that social pressure and comments don't help and you may end up looking at yourself in the RL mirror, feeling insecure and wondering how much obese or anorexic you look, even though you are neither. When you are exposed to this in real life, some girl ends up actually anorexic. But even if it's only a virtual world, it contributes, especially if your avatar is like yourself. Another drop, and another drop… So it's also toxic and can have consequences.
Since it's silly, you can ignore that, right? It's not so simple.
Nadeja explains why, also addressing my point that the most popular metaverse platforms, Fortnite and Roblox, do not have realistic avatars, but cartoonish or LEGO-like ones (respectively):
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