VR Porn IS More Real and Intimate Confirms German University Study

Brain On VR Porn
VirtualRealPorn Paula Shy VR Porn eyes
Oxytocin levels raised when looking into VR pornstar’s eyes – photo credit VirtualRealPorn.com

Virtual reality porn is widely marketed as being a far more satisfying, intimate, and of course ‘real’ experience than watching regular 2d porn. A study commissioned by leading site BadoinkVR in 2018, did find that the stimulation of VR porn was not only felt to be more positive by the viewer than 2D, but also that it required more interaction and ‘work’ on the part of the consumer. In other words, VR porn is something very different, much more engaging, and probably healthier, than mindlessly flicking through 2D porn tube videos for the best bits (see Your Brain On VR Porn).

Now a second study, published on Sunday in the Journal Of Sex Research, has confirmed similar findings. This study, conducted by researchers at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (the teaching hospital of the University of Hamburg), involved 50 participants and involved self-reporting, as well as objectively measuring changing levels of the neuropeptide oxytocin (often described commonly as ‘the love hormone’) in their saliva, in response to experiencing the VR porn. Thus it by some way the largest and most scientific study yet to look at if and how viewing virtual reality porn is different to standard porn.

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.

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

Now that porn is under attack like never before, the appearance of another study casting VR porn in a positive light, is very much to be welcomed.

The VR porn videos that the participants of the experiment experienced were all from top site VirtualRealPorn.

About xhumanist

Xhumanist has been writing on porn/sex tech for nearly two decades, and has been predicting the rise of VR and AR porn, as well as AI porn, and their coming together to produce fully 'immersive porn', which would be indistinguishable from the real thing, and create a society of 'sexual abundance'. He identifies as a digisexual, and has been quoted in Wired Magazine.

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