VR Porn as “Empathy Machine”? Perception of Self and Others in Virtual Reality Pornography

ABSTRACT

The usage of virtual reality (VR) pornography has risen in recent years. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the steep increase may be driven by an essential difference compared to traditional pornography, namely strong feelings of intimacy and the illusion of interaction with the porn actors. The present study is the first to systematically address this topic in an experimental design. Fifty healthy male participants watched two pornographic films on consecutive days in the laboratory, randomly one in VR and one traditional two-dimensional (2D) film. The perception of 2D and VR pornography was assessed using several self-report measures. Furthermore, the role of the social neuropeptide oxytocin in facilitating intimacy and interaction was studied. In the VR condition, participants felt more desired, more flirted with, more looked into the eyes. They were also more likely to feel connected with the actors and more likely to feel the urge to interact with them. Interestingly, saliva levels of oxytocin were related to the perceived eye-contact with the virtual persons indicating a role for the social neuropeptide in the perception of increased intimacy and interaction in VR. Thus, VR pornography seems to be a powerful tool to elicit the illusion of intimate sexual experiences.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the help of Dr. Verena Klein with study design and the superb technical assistance of Regina Leichner with data collection. We thank VirtualRealPorn (http://www.virtualrealporn.com) for providing the VR and 2D videos.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants to JF and SVB (from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf) and PB (from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany: Ref.-No. 01SR1602).