Workshop Response to Menu-Driven Identities

3. How much of the “identity” that we can see online for the users on Lavalife is restricted by the overall design of the website? etc...
Rather than having a drop down menu, perhaps users should be able to type answers – it appears some categories are specific to the person and others just chosen from a dropdown menu. I my searches I didn’t see any profile that listed multiple ethnic backgrounds and wondered if multiple options could be chosen? I did notice that some hadn’t answered the question of ethnic background, and it said “prefer not to say.” There are other dating websites available that do give you the ability to type things yourself, rather than choose from prescribed answers, but perhaps people choose lavalife for the reason that it is quicker and easier to set up a profile if the answers are already there.

4. Are any of the websites inherently racist?
The email sites don't ask about race so I will just discuss Second Life and Lavalife. I don't know that I would say that either site is inherently racist, though obviously comments about race can be made from going to both. In lavalife the fact that race is one of the 11 or so things you see in an initial search result does show that the creators of lavalife presume race is an important aspect of identity [but then it also presumes star sign is...], and also that race matters to people when they choose a partner. Whether it is presumed that people have a racial preference, or that people need to know others ethnic backgrounds as immediately as gender or age, this means that the site highlights how important race is in society, and perhaps perpetuates this notion. In second life for an initial avatar I was given 12 to choose from, half were female and half were male, with one male and one female obviously black, quite a few obviously white with some appearing racially ambiguous to me. I would be interested to know how people on Second life choose the race of their avatar and how it affects interactions with other avatars. Would people choose an avatar that conforms to the standards of beauty where they live? Or choose an avatar like themselves?