There’s been talk around the Terra Nova water cooler about this tidbit of an article published by New Scientist last week, “Gender-bending Avatars Inspire Less Trust.” Drawing on a recent study, the article talks about how androgynous avatars in worlds like Second Life appear less trustworthy to other users than clearly gendered avatars. The study tested people’s responses to many different avatars, ranging from a woman in pink with blond pigtails to an anthropomorphized ketchup bottle–all of whom were actually just being mouthed by other users. In the overall, it seems the rule held: the more androgynous, the more “untrustworthy.”

Both the article and the study conclude that the reason for this relationship is relatively simple: androgynous avatars seem less human. Also, we understand each other through gender expectations. In the absence of gender, we don’t know what to expect. It’s not an uncommon trope, historically, for the transvestite character in literature and art to be seen as the trickster. Still, what the study really makes me wonder is, does this relationship hold true for real life? Are we more comfortable, on a visceral level, with people who fit neatly into a gender distinction? And do we distrust gender-ambiguous people? Does it matter if we ourselves are clearly gendered or gender ambiguous?