The Alphaville Herald

BettieAnne Baxton — Post 6 Grrrl

by Alphaville Herald on 05/08/08 at 6:57 pm

I saw Bettie when I tried to fight the lag on the Retrology sim to collect all the birthday presents they had scattered everywhere. As a total sucker for anything retro/rockabilly the little red-haired pinup beauty immediately caught my eye and I checked her profile. Though only one day in world, she had a perfect skin and shape and was not wearing any of the boxes on her head. A noob? Surely not. I sent her an IM and congratulated her on her perfect alt. She blushed. Some minutes later we were sitting on a park bench and she told me her story. – Bunny Brickworks

Hola, my name is BettieAnne and in RL I am from Argentina. I am the average rockabilly kitten, a girl with a passion for everything vintage, be it fashion, music or lifestyle. My heroines are the movie goddesses of the 40s and 50s and I hope my avatar comes close to them. So when Bunny showed me her flickr stream and offered me to have a classical pinup photo shooting, I immediately agreed.

I originally joined SL in 2005. Overwhelmed by a virtual world with almost unlimited possibilities, the ordinary girl from a little Catholic village in South America jumped head over heels into adventures, most of them on the kinky side. Yes, I have to admit I lived a more than slutty lifestyle. I tried out everything from harmless pole dancing to escorting and BDSM. After a while I got tired of it and I was more than ashamed of what I had become. So I did the only reasonable thing and quit. The account was terminated and I killed the avi I had worked on and with.

Half a year later I returned with the best intentions – those that the road to hell is paved with! Well, at first it worked. I explored a lot and acquired some basic building skills, enough to make some pretty prim skirts and accessories. My idea was and is to one day have my own store and sell clothes and accessories but I am never 100% satisfied with my designs so the store will have to wait.

As I said, at first it worked but soon I got into trouble again, i.e. I returned to my old lifestyle, my so-called friends and all those temptations SL offers someone whose RL is pretty boring and lacks excitement. I started a relationship with someone whose RL wife was on SL too and who got jealous, started stalking upon me, made my SL hell. Well, probably one of the typical SL stories nobody likes to talk about … My first idea was to leave SL again but admitting defeat – again – would have been a terrible thing. So I got rid of all my old friends and kicked my bad habits. I intensified my building efforts, learnt new techniques and started to make my own textures and the like.

Still, those old ghosts were haunting me. My avi looked the same as in my first Second Life and every time I logged on I was reminded of all the crap that had happened. SL was supposed to be fun; a distraction from RL problems and all I got was (self-made) trouble and BS. So I deleted my account on 1st January this year, concentrated on some RL issues and made up my mind about what my SL should really be for me.

On 28th July I finally returned. This is my third attempt to get my SL straight and I am more than positive that it will work out now. I focus on the creative side, the fun side, the clean side of the fun that is My new avatar has nothing in common with the old ones; it is no longer a long-legged Malibu Barbie but a sweet rockabilly pinup kitten, a Latino version of Rita Hayworth maybe.

There are two people I want to thank for standing behind me all the time, for supporting me without judging me, Elaine and Mark – you two are the best friends I can imagine!

Hah, I can read your minds. You wonder if getting naked for the Herald really is the best way to get rid of a slutty lifestyle, right? And yes, it is. I know that I am not the only one with this kind of SL history and talking about it openly is pure therapy. And I know that the pictures are dropdead gorgeous and I am more than proud of what we accomplished Wednesday night on the artilleri sim. Thanks for looking at my pics, thanks for reading this.

Muchas gracias por todo,

BettieAnne