the possibility that it may no longer be possible to make judgments based on the physical and biological images before our eyes, that instead we may be forced to deal with shattered categories and shifting identities

what can be counted on as real in virtual space.

examine it, do something new with it, and revise her relationship towards it

not for escape but as a vehicle for engaging in a significant dialogue with important events and relationships in her "real" life

But of course, for most people such recreations of self are difficult. Virtual worlds provide environments for experiences that may be hard to come by in the real.

play with no concern that "he," Peter, will be held accountable in "real life" for his character's actions, quarrels, or relationships

possibilities the medium offers for projecting both conscious and unconscious aspects of the self

Identity, after all, literally means one. When we live through our electronic self-representations we have unlimited possibilities to be many. People become masters of self-presentation and self-creation. The very notion of an inner, "true self" is called into question.

game allows its players to experience rather than merely observe what it feels like to be the opposite gender or to have no gender at all

Virtual reality is not "real," but it has a relationship to the real. By being betwixt and between, it becomes a play space for thinking about the real world. It is an exemplary evocative object.

Creating screen personae is thus an opportunity for self-expression, leading to her feeling more like her true self when decked out in an array of virtual masks.

The integration of the social Achilles, who can talk about his troubles, and the asocial Stewart, who can only cope by putting them out of mind, has not occurred.

And once we take virtuality seriously as a way of life, we need a new language for talking about the simplest things. Each individual must ask: What is the nature of my relationships? What are the limits of my responsibility? And even more basic: Who and what am I? What is the connection between my physical and virtual bodies? And is it different in different cyberspaces? These questions are equally central for thinking about community. What is the nature of our social ties? What kind of accountability do we have for our actions in real life and in cyberspace? What kind of society or societies are we creating, both on and off the screen?

The culture of simulation may help us achieve a vision of a multiple but integrated identity whose flexibility, resilience, and capacity for joy comes from having access to our many selves.

Identity becomes infinitely plastic in a play of images that knows no end. Consistency is no longer a virtue but becomes a vice; integration is limitation. With everything always shifting, everyone is no one"

he disruption and multiplication of the old identity as the coherent and homogeneous one into the fragmented and heterogeneous many

For even though the modernist identity is quite stable, it is still hard to argue that it is perfectly seamless and totally cohesive without any leak and disruption. Identity, in its general sense, is the result of identification processes achieved by individuals on a communal basis. If subjectivity is closely related to and even equated with identity as writers mentioned would argue, we have reason to believe that community is the leading factor in the formation of identity and subjectivity. Following this, even individuals in the modernist period would never take part in or belong merely to one community but many, some of which may even stand in conflict with each other.

How can a group of fragmented, fluid, disintegrated subjects perform identification to reach a possible identity?

notion of multiple identities runs basically against any supposition of a community that is mainly "based upon honest communication"

aporia between theory and practice

language use and gendered social or cultural references to just saying it out right; it is as if we can't really function in relation to one another without some sense of everyone's gender identity

not a pure or neutral space where all genders have equal access to a single, ungendered discourse; it is not a space where all genders have the same experience

radical because it is a space where anyone can be anything

performance is itself the gendering

by acting the gender, you become it

Other people have to see you and believe in your interpretation of the concept of Romeo before you can say that you have really experienced the part.

The severe anonymity of the Internet allows for general, social experimentation, but it also limits the extent to which gender identities can be deeply actualized.

a man may know what it is like to "be" a woman on-line, but his experience may not hold true outside that setting; to "be" a woman off-line is a different kind of performance