aliza sherman rants and raves

Our Imaginary, Hotter Selves | Newsweek Voices - Sharon Begley | Newsweek.com

Link: Our Imaginary, Hotter Selves | Newsweek Voices - Sharon Begley | Newsweek.com.

Interesting study about how our self perceptions and the way others perceive us can be affected by how our avatar looks in something like Second Life, for example.

I've had some direct experience with the look of my avatar and the way others perceive me based on my avie.

When I first logged into SL and explored SoHo, I ended up at a party where I approached a fashionable female avie and asked if she could help me figure out how to take a photo of myself.

"You don't want to take a photo of yourself now," she told me. "You look terrible."

I thought I looked cute as the "girl next door" newbie avatar. I had made my hair darker and put on a little black sweater over the newbie tshirt that I had turned pink. But I quickly learned that clothing and hair were the first part of looking good in Second Life, and the default "girl next door" avie was decidedly NOT a good look.

When I had my first experience being totally screwed over by another business person in Second Life, the lovely Chel Pixie came to my rescue, let me sob on her virtual shoulder, then took me shopping for some makeup, dropped me some cuter clothes and helped me polish up my look.

"Nobody will take you seriously in SL looking like that," she said about what I had become accustomed to as my "new, improved" avatar. I guess I still wasn't cute enough.

I took my sexier avie over to the sim where the person had ripped me off and strutted around looking attractive and confident. It didn't get me my property back, but at least I felt a little more confident.

Even more recently, JueL Resistance offered to help me improve my avie.

"It doesn't even look like you," she said, saying that I was cuter in real life. Really? I thought my avie was pretty darn cute.

I let her do her creative avie magic, then she took me shopping for a new skin, new hair and an animation override.

Now people are saying they like my new look. They notice. They approve. I strut my stuff.

And yes, it does really make me feel better about myself in some odd way.

Tech pay gap between men and women grew last year

Link: Tech pay gap between men and women grew last year.

January 30, 2008  (Computerworld)  Men are making more money than women in technology jobs, about 12% more than they did last year, according to a salary survey by career site Dice.com.

All I can say is: Thank goodness I own my own company although I still struggle with pricing. Why do women have such a hard time with pricing? Is it really a self-worth perception issue?

I remember when I was running Cybergrrl, Inc. and was interviewing young men and women straight out of college. The young men would ask straight out for $80,000 without anything relevant on their resume. More qualified young women in the same age range would ask timidly "Do you think $35,000 is too much?"

Argh. I think this goes way beyond society's perception of women's worth and definitely is a self-worth issue.