Men using female avatars in virtual reality (VR) experienced feelings of fear and disgust after encountering catcalling from male avatars.
Eight in ten (80%) of women report having experienced sexual harassment in public spaces, according to a 2021 survey. Catcalling is also widespread, disproportionately affecting women.
A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature describes an experiment that allowed men to experience catcalling from a woman’s perspective. The study involved 36 men, divided into two groups, who experienced two VR scenarios.
Firstly, they embodied the avatar of a young woman preparing to go to a party. In the virtual environment’s mirror, they could see themselves in the body of the female.
The next scene was set in a metro station, where participants had to wait for a train to arrive and encountered male avatars who interacted with them.
One group was approached with typical Italian catcalling expressions, while the other received general questions.
Participants were not expected to respond to the avatars, who always pronounced the same phrase, calibrated based on the physical distance between them.
The study found that both groups – those who experienced catcalling and those who didn’t – felt increased fear.
“This suggests that experiencing an urban underground environment at night from a woman’s perspective is inherently fear-inducing, independent of explicit harassment,” the authors wrote.
Only one out of 18 participants who faced harassment interacted with male avatars and engaged in aggressive verbal behavior.
This suggests that experiencing an urban underground environment at night from a woman’s perspective is inherently fear-inducing, independent of explicit harassment.
The study authors
In contrast, nine of 18 participants in the group that didn’t experience catcalling interacted with avatars by providing the requested information.
The study concluded that situations from a first-person-VR-mediated perspective significantly raise participants’ emotions of disgust and anger.
“These emotions are particularly relevant as triggers of self-awareness and moral discomfort, serving as potential motivators for self-reflection and corrective action,” the study reads.
VR opens the door for “meta-rape”
In virtual reality, like in real life, women are extremely vulnerable to sexual harassment.
Female users on metaverse increasingly report “non-consensual touching, image-based sexual abuses, and novel forms of gendered harm,” according to a 2025 study.
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Last year, British police launched an investigation into an alleged sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl in a VR game, which caused psychological trauma “similar to that of someone who has been physically raped.”
An investigation from 2021 found that abuse and harassment on the metaverse occur every seven minutes, affecting both adults and minors. The type of abuse ranges from bullying and sexual harassment to exposure to graphic sexual content.
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