The fact that she’s serious is mind boggling.

We tend to empathize with our online avatars. So let’s get rid of white emojis – Guardian

… And forcing white people to represent themselves with non-white icons isn’t just a matter of “turnabout is fair play”. In 2007, Stanford researchers described a phenomenon they called the “Proteus effect,” where people internalize the characteristics of their online avatars. If you’re asked to identify with an attractive virtual persona, for instance, you tend to act more flirty; if it’s a character in a scary uniform, you act more aggressive. The Proteus effect doesn’t just last while you’re online. Men who used a tall avatar, for instance, were more confident while interacting virtually – but also for at least half an hour after they logged off.

How we represent ourselves online matters – though it probably matters more for video games and virtual worlds, places where you’re actively controlling an animated self. Here, too, there are sometimes opportunities to tweak the usual “white male” default, but it’s rarely a requirement. That’s not exactly surprising – white male gamers are not known for responding maturely to requests that they empathize with other types of people – but it feels like a missed opportunity. Imagine what we could do with the Proteus effect if they were! Heck, a really popular game with a default avatar who just looks like a nice young man who wouldn’t threaten to rape anyone might instantly improve the overall mood on Twitter.

Still, many of us play video games only occasionally, but represent ourselves using emoji every day. Does the Proteus effect hold when your “character” is just a static cartoon icon? We don’t know yet, but isn’t it worth a try? Let white people make do for a change. If we figured out that an eggplant can stand-in for a penis, we can figure out how to identify with a darker mustachioed guy or thumbs-up hand. It might do us good to see ourselves differently for a change.