Contributor, Platypus, The CASTAC Blog
Research Interests
Affordances | Avatars | Computers | Digital Anthropology | Gender | Queer Studies | Video games | Virtual worlds |
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Contributions to Platypus, The CASTAC Blog
View all of Noel's posts on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.
Hetero-Comfortable Avatars
Content warning from author: This post will have instances of sexism, transphobia, and sexual violence. I noticed a masculine voice near me say: “wow Wow WOW!” I turned my body to see a couple of masculine avatars looking at me, or rather looking at my breasts. I said nothing, afraid I might be “found out” — that my voice wouldn’t quite match what the body of my avatar “should” have. As my avatar stood there, blinking in silence, one of the masculine avatars got closer and began to rub my body, taking particular interest in my breasts. I looked down and shared eye contact with him, and he said “Don’t worry. It’s ok, it’s VRChat. This is what happens. You won’t really feel anything anyway.” The others did the same. (more…) (read more...)