Is This Really a Dark Skin?

My pet peeve about SL (besides lags and crashes) has always been skins.  Now I do recognize and appreciate the difficulty involved in making good skins.  I'm not a designer, but I have talked about the process with those who do have experience making them, and I do have faith in many of the creative types out there who have taken on the challenge of designing quality skins.  I also appreciate being able to go into a new skin store and being pleasantly surprised to find a range of choices for women of color (those of African descent as well as those who are not) to represent themselves.  The idea that there is only one variety of *darkness* is completely passe--besides simply being inaccurate!  There is not one single version of blackness any more than there is only one kind of pale whiteness, so if designers can make variations and degrees of *tan,* consumers ought to be able to see a full range of *dark* skins too.  Whether we are Asian, South Asian, Latina, African or African American (or some combination thereof), we want to be able to create avatars that look like *real* women!

Beautiful Bodies in SL

I'm playing with Picasa, since they've finally added a feature that lets me add my snapshots to my blog.  The varieties of female beauty in SL are mostly variations on the same Barbie-doll body, but I have to say, it can be quite fun to pretend to be a Victoria's Secret model!  The three bottom photos represent some shapes available for sale; the top one is me, at home in SL.  I'm not sure whether to be happy to see choices for women of color to be female and of color in SL, or to be upset about the still somewhat limited choices that are represented.  Are we really being recognized for our uniqueness, or are we being made into exotic objects?