You make me feel mildly androgynous

Requisite feelings of invaded femininity from Jesse Kornbluth’s article aside, “You Make Me Feel Like a Virtual Woman,” raised in my mind some serious questions about gender self-identity, at least as far as the internet is concerned. Kornbluth initially entered all women chat rooms, searching for insight into female thought and enjoying his farce. But his apparent comfort in the world of womanhood can’t have left him without a few doubts. He jumps at the chance to join his sister in messing with the head of the big, dumb, perverted man- and it’s not about sex, or journalism, or trickery, he’s just sharing a joke with a fellow woman. And his cybersex (sidenote- all the lesbian cybersex I’ve ever heard tell of has involved at least one man- I would readily accept that most lesbian cybersex has taken place between two men.) involves him acting as a woman- contrary to what many men would like to believe, men cannot have lesbian sex. He is having sex as a woman, adopting imaginary body parts and even making himself sexually submissive. He tells the evil man that women like a little romance in their sex. And, of course, to him it’s all just a game. But, in this context, he self-identifies as a woman. Any psychologist will tell you that gender is entirely about self perception- if Kornbluth acts like and calls himself a woman, does that mean that, in the context of those chatrooms, he is? What defines gender on the internet?