Many years ago I logged onto American Online Chat and came across a screen that asked me to disclose information such as gender, age, job, and more. I was young and did not know that this screen was an option, so I filled out as much information as I could. At first the chat room was a lot of fun but then things began to change. A woman began asking me weird question like: how would you describe yourself; or are you male or female; or are you short or tall? Then she started asking sexual questions like: have you ever had an orgasm; or do you prefer men or women; or have you ever had cyber sex? I got extremely uncomfortable and immediately signed off. Now that years have past I look back at that situation and wonder if I was a victim of the cyber identity phenomenon labeled "gender swapping."

"Gender swapping is an online activity, which involves playing the role of a gender incongruent with ones' 'real life' gender." (Bruckman) Gender swapping is widely used in chat rooms. Chat rooms provide an arena for one to interact with others from around the world who might have similar characteristics as they do or that interest them in some way whether it be on a sexual or friendship level. These rooms attract many different people and for many different reasons. Psychologists have researched this issue and speculate that different personality types react in different ways.

Compulsive people may be drawn to computers and cyberspace out of a need to control and manipulate their environment. Schizoid people may enjoy the lack of intimacy resulting from anonymity. Narcissistic people may use the access to numerous relationships as means to gain an admiring audience. Dissociatives may experience the anonymity and identity flexibility of cyberspace as a vehicle for expressing and avoiding the various facets of their personality. (Suler)

The Internet chat rooms are blind to physical characteristics. It is a way for men and women to come to realisations about themselves as well as cultural stereotypes and how they impact others. (Herrington) It offers them a chance to alter, conceal or reveal their identity; they have a wide range of playing options and can dictate the amount. They are able to dictate the amount of information they wish to disclose. The famous Joan and Lewin story is a prime example of this.

Joan first logged on to a chat room and began talking to others about herself in discussions or conferences. At first she was tentative about releasing personal information but as time past she got more comfortable and talked about the things that happened in her life. Joan soon began a women-only discussion group so that other women could benefit from her experiences. "Joan was a model virtual personality: friendly, supportive, helpful, particularly to other women." (Wark) Joan's attitude was now positive and she became more social and was going out. Then Joan became seriously ill but with the help of her online friends she got better. Joan had changed and was now introducing her special friend, Sanford Lewin, to her online pals. He was not as popular as Joan; he was shy and reserved which was strange since Joan and Lewin were one in the same person. Before Lewin appeared on the chat, he had created another account called Doctor. Doctor was asked to go to a private room where he experienced a sexual conversation that he had never had before. He was stunned and decided to embark on an experiment, which went out of control. People became suspicious about Joan's identity. His attempt to kill Joan off turned out to be a desperate attempt to end what he had started. Many people take this opportunity to role-play as the opposite sex, like Joan, which according to John Suller "is more commonplace than society realizes".

Gender swapping "provides an opportunity to explore the conflicts raised by one's biological gender," explains Sherry Turkle, Freudian psychoanalyst and MIT Science, Technology and Society professor. People believe that if they can disguise themselves as someone else, they can learn more about the opposite sex or use characteristics that society does not agree with for their specific gender. It is a way for "people to freely step out of the gender boundaries set by society." (Bruckman) Men and women can step into the lives of their counterparts and see that society holds strong stereotypes towards men and women. Gender swapping also gives the role player an understanding of the experiences of genders and a way inside the gender. Males can express their "feminine" side while women can express their "masculine" side. Turkle spoke of a case in a MIT Conference on Gender, Law and Cyberspace that gives a good look at how gender swapping can be beneficial.

A happily married heterosexual industrial designer, played a female
character in MUD. The 34-year-old man felt that using power made him
seem like a typical loathsome businessman, but he saw powerful women
as "in charge and together." This made him less effective at his job until
he began gender swapping. He was able to experiment with assertive
behavior, which he said helped his career. He found that "some things
that work when you're a man can backfire when you're a woman." He
was able to emphasize [sic] more with women, and learn how to be assertive without overbearing in his real life. (Vanderheiden)

Gender swapping may be a good way for humans to have an outlet in life, to see into societal stereotypes and to learn about the opposite sex, but what about the morality and consequences of this phenomenon?

Society teaches that lying is unjust. Children from day one are punished for such acts. This punishment is then carried out in society through our courts and everyday life. The concept of gender swapping goes directly against what we as a society have punished for our entire lives. Gender swapping is lying about one's gender. It is an issue of deceit. The user is lying to other participants on the site. This raises moral questions as to validity and reliability. "There is a very thin line between the right to experiment one's gender and the violation of the rights of other by deliberately deceiving and manipulating them." (Suler)

Not only is gender swapping immoral; it also brings about other issues such as the maintenance of the opposite gender. By pretending to be someone else, one has to keep up the role and not give themselves away. Many times gender is blown by a shift in tone or wording. John Suler discussed this issue with a woman who explained, "She usually found herself shifting into a feminine, softer mood and had to quit to prevent her character from getting into serious trouble."

Internet chat rooms are cyber worlds for those searching for members of the online community to ask questions, find a friend, find someone who is compatible and much more. Within these chat rooms one can create their own cyber identity, a personality and description of themselves. Unfortunately many people have abused this option and have decided that the anonymity of the cyber world gives them an opportunity to create a new personality, a personality of someone they wish they could be or someone who they cannot seem to achieve in the real world. This new personality option has gone as far as changing one's own identity—"gender swapping." Gender swapping creates problems in the cyber world. A person may be talking to a woman online but in reality this person is man. People are falling in love with the cyber identity of Erika but in fact they are talking to Erik. The cases of gender swapping in people's cyber identities have created a cyber world of liars which society needs to control before something worse happens.

Notes:

Aronld, Jill and Hugh Miller. Gender and Web Home Pages. 22 September 2001
<http://ess.ntu.ac.uk/miller/cyberpsych/cal99.htm>.

Bruckman, Amy. Gender Swapping on the Internet. 3 October 2001
<ftp://ftp.medi.mit.edu/pub/asb/papers/gender-swapping.txt>.

Psychology of Cyberspace-Personality Types in Cyberspace. 22 September 2001
<http://www.rider.edu/users/suler/psycyber/persontypes.html>.

Wark, Mckenzie. Identity in Cybersapce. 3 October 2001
<http://www.mcs.mq.edu.edu/Staff/mwark/courses/mas833-lec3.html>.

Vanderheiden, Heidi. Gender Swapping on the Net? 8 October 2001.
<http://www.aq.org/~tigris/loci-virtualtherapy.html>.

Copyright © 2002 Tiffany N. Thetard. All Rights Reserved.

Tiffany Thetard is a senior theatre student at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida.