LOLOLOLOL

Suuuuure buddy. No one will say a word if I start a whites only pageant. The only way to prove it is to start the contest though, huh? *HUGE GUTBUSTING LAUGH*

Apparently, you’ve only been in SL (and apparently the real world too) for about 5 minutes.

And I will post as many comments as I like, regardless of your control issues.

And you know I just have to chuckle at those saying that black women “have to” straighten their hair and so on. Says who? I’ll tell you who – their own groomers – moms, aunts, grandmothers, friends. Not The Man.

Lessee, I just did a cursory perusal of both the Miss USA and Miss America sites, where I loooked at past winners. I want to list some of the ethnic backgrounds of various winners. When I say “African”, etc., I mean ethnic heritage, so don’t start whacking me with the PC stick please.

We had African heritage Miss Americas in 1984, 1990, 1991, and 2004. 2001 was a Filipina and 2003 was a woman of mixed heritage, including African.

And then there is Miss USA.

1982 – mixed Asian/European, 1985 – Mexican, 1990 – African, 1993 – African, 1995 – African/Native American/European, 1997 – Asian, 2000 – Hispanic, 2002 – African, 2003 – Hispanic, 2007 African/European, and of course, in 2008 – African.

So tell me again how we need pageants limited to one skin color? I ask, because someone(s) above insinuated that the reason we have to have black only pageants is because the other pageants are fixed against them or something.

You would never, ever see a ‘white avatar only’ beauty contest yet this one clearly states that only ‘black avatars’ can enter.

“Neko” or “furry” is not a race. Never has been, never will. Would you consider a restaurant having a ‘no pets’ rule racist? Of course not!

The kind of ‘reverse racism’ that this contest is promoting is totally against all that racial equality has fought for. It is unfortunate that so many things these days are ‘we want equality so give us special treatment’ whether it’s race, sexual preference or any other number of so-called ‘minority interests’. The funny thing is that those promoting them simply cannot see it.

Fact is, kids, wearing a black skin in SL makes does not make you black. If anything, you can look on this event as another product showcase for the designers of not only ‘urban’ or whatever apparel, but skin designers as well.

You hear all the time the dearth of quality ‘black’ skins in SL, so why not host an event that highlights some of the better quality ones?

On the flipside, if that above conversation in the comments quoted is genuine, then the event organizers are probably not hosting this in the spirit I’ve outlined. Some may be thinking that black, asian or whichever toned avatars are guided by RL humans of the same. Obviously not true.

So, support it or no, attend or don’t. But don’t get caught up in the idea that the ‘black’ models showcased in any way represent actual race.

Dita

I haven’t been dishonest about anything. Anyone who knows me knows I sometimes portray a black woman in SL, and I sometimes portray an ambiguously Asian woman. On rare occasions, as the mood strikes me, I may portray an asian child, a 200 year old child vampire, a blue faerie or a tiny bunny rabbit.

Furthermore, you have no clue what I wrote in my motivations card. In case you’re interested, (and I doubt you are), what follows is the entire text of my motivations card:

“In a world where we can be whatever we want to be, there is a surprising lack of diversity in Second Life.

“My style icons are beauties like Iman, Grace Jones, and the late, great Donyale Luna.

“In the SL modeling world, the template is pale skin, light blue or grey eyes with lots of black eyeliner, nude lips, and black hair.

“Most models in SL are interchangeable, I’ve never wanted to be that.

“I’ve created my avatar to showcase a different aesthetic…to show that black women in SL can be more than big booties or a white euro shape with a dark skintone.”

It was disjointed and sloppily written 5 minutes before the deadline, but it was 100% GENUINE.

I believe my sentence regarding interchangeable models can be better understood by referring to the previous two sentences. For whatever reason, though, it was taken out of context and made an issue of. I am going to give the parties the benefit of the doubt and assume something was lost in the translation.

I was humiliated and hurt to be (the only one) called out without warning like that rather than questioned privately, as it is my understanding other ladies were. But ya know what? I’m not gotten rid of that easily – I intend to go as far as I can in this contest. And anyway, it made for great theatre, didn’t it?

It is worth noting, I have found nothing but support and sisterhood from the Miss Ebony SL contestants, ALL are beautiful, distinctive, black avatars; and I would not be ashamed to lose to any one of them. I’ve met alot of new people and made some friends, which, aside from getting my face out there, is the reason I join these modeling contests, anyway. That is the sort of thing that should be focused on, here.

One last word to anon, your misspelling of the word “dishonnest” is strikingly familiar. I sincerely hope you are not who I think you are…

*kisses*

Dita Tran aka Gina

There are black and white people the whole world over – and in Second Life.

You might be well to remember that american players (regardless of racial background) of Second Life count for around only 30% of the playerbase – the 70% of us who are outside of US borders don’t seem to have as much of a hangup about our racial history. I’m not “British-European” … I’m English, native of Wessex if you really want to get petty about it… but I live in England, and I don’t feel the need to bring my race into a discussion especially to try and justify a viewpoint.