Are Avatars more/less human like?

What are the best/worst personal icons? I’m thinking categories (broadly, animals, objects, avatar, you). e.g. a bird (that’s me) totally reads older woman – psychedelic colors is totally men over 45. Avatars, are alwasy alarming to me. I’m still not comfortable with cartoon representation of self? Maybe I’m alone on that sentiment or this general concern, but I was thinking about the future, you know when open ID forces us to commit – or maybe not. On one hand, I think it’s ridiculous that some people know me as a rainbow gear or xylophone, a lego dinosaur (which is my favorite), also gem, on the other, it really alters interactions (not sure how, but I know I have no idea who’s a guy or girl, what their age is, etc and that is information you use to make sense of what people are saying). Right? Maybe that’s not a bad thing… Curious to hear people’s thoughts on this…