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Speaking purely for myself, I don't use my real name and photo because, like many women, I have been heavily socialized to consider it my responsibility to protect myself from being attacked by strangers.
This is weird, because in any sane society it would be considered purely the strangers' responsibility to, you know, not attack, but there it is, and it's a part of my every day psychological environment.
So many internet interactions I engage in include considerations, sometimes deliberate, sometimes automatic, of maintaining anonymity. I may not give my real name, or location, or phone number, or e-mail, or picture.
In my case I make sure to use an avatar that is obviously not me, because I don't want anyone to get the idea that I'm pretending to be someone I'm not--I want it to be very clear that this is not a picture of me. Also, it would be damned ironic if I used a picture of a model or something to maintain my anonymity and someone decided to stalk me because I was beautiful.
So, you asked, I answered. And I will also note that women are often pressured to protect themselves while never letting the men they're around realize that is what they are doing. This is one of those Catch-22s that just makes me grind my teeth with fury. Fortunately, of course nobody here would be unreasonable enough to get offended by the fact that I don't trust you with enough information to find me.
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