Maria* was 25 when she started having fantasies of having sex with a woman from behind using a penis. Curious and eager to explore this fantasy, she continued to wonder what it would be like. But she was in a long-term monogamous relationship with her boyfriend, who she feared might not react well to her experimenting in real life. So she asked the internet for assistance, saying “I have an iPhone XS. Tell me what I have to do to make this a reality for me, please.” The answer lies in a popular and fast-growing sex technology: VR porn.
Exploring one’s fantasies in first-person can be a powerful aid to anyone with a fantasy that is unfeasible in real life. It can help couples or singles to explore their sexualities in a safe, judgment-free zone. And it’s becoming more accessible by the day. Just 5 years ago VR headsets like the Oculus Rift were clunky, full of bugs, and would set you back a cool $600—and that’s if you had a computer with the required specs.
Now? All you need is a decent smartphone, like Maria’s iPhone XS, and a cardboard headset that’ll set you back about $10.
What’s so great about VR porn anyway?
Like many other forms of entertainment, porn can be about escaping reality for a little while. When you strap on your VR headset and load up your favorite vid, you enter a world where all of your problems are gone. A world with just “you” and attractive people who want to have sex with you. And you can look anywhere you want. Turn your head away and look in the corner of the room. Hey, that picture on the wall is pretty cool! Now back to the naked lady on top of you.
With VR porn you have the freedom to look around, explore the space visually and focus on whatever takes your fancy. The result is far more immersive than sitting in front of a screen and imagining yourself in place of one of the actors. And to make things even more real, there are interactive options. You can play sex games that interact with you and even find toys that synchronize to what you see in front of your eyes. You see a thrust, you feel a thrust.
So VR porn can be a way for anyone to explore fantasies that they wouldn’t or couldn’t in reality. You might not go to a swingers’ party in real life. But what about a sex party full of beautiful avatars that you can attend without leaving the comfort and safety of your own home? And for people like Maria, whose fantasies are physically impossible? VR gives them the opportunity to experience their dreams. Having fantasies depicted in such a realistic way can help people feel more represented, validated, and even more fulfilled.
Finally, for guys, there are VR sex toys brands like Kiiroo & TheHandy, who create interactive toys that sync together with videos. Exciting stuff.
But is there a downside to all this?
Well, yes. The first issue faced by many is one of variety. “The problem with VR porn is that there’s not enough of it to cover specific taste,” says Reddit user EricTboneJackson. “As you can see from PornHub, there’s a huge variety of very specific preferences in porn, and VR porn covers almost none of them.”
He’s right. Search in 2D for the most obscure and specific query you can think of, and you’ll likely find a few hundred matches at least. And much of it is free. But VR videos now are like HD videos 10 years ago. There’s not that much content and the good stuff isn’t free. And if your desires fall outside of the mainstream market i.e. straight men, your options are even more limited.
As another Reddit user wmakula puts it, “Unfortunately there is not much gay content out there at all. Even if you find some sites they try to fit “every taste” so roughly two-thirds of the videos they offer will not fit your preferred taste!”
Fortunately for users like wmakula, the landscape is diversifying. There’s more VR porn released every day for every taste, and as the market grows producers will make more content to satisfy demand. And of course, there are VR games that allow you to perform virtual sex acts with whoever you want. But there’s another issue.
A study from Newcastle University found that VR porn might put people in the driver’s seat for more extreme fantasies.
Research lead Matthew Wood had this to say:
“We found that for most people the potential of a VR porn experience opened the doors to an apparently ‘perfect’ sexual experience – a scenario which in the real world no-one could live up to. For others, it meant pushing the boundaries, often with highly explicit and violent imagery, and we know from current research into pornography that exposure to this content has the potential to become addictive and more extreme over time.”
So we could be heading for a time where porn is more immersive, addictive, and extreme than ever before. This could be a benefit: allowing people to explore unsafe scenarios in a secure environment might have a positive effect on the way we view kinks and lead to more acceptance. Or it could go the other way: normalizing and encouraging harmful behaviors and attitudes.
For now, we just don’t know what kind of impact these realistic experiences might have.
So, is VR porn any good?
It’s certainly captivating. VR porn offers a lot of new sexual avenues to explore, with more possibilities emerging every day.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Right now, it’s too early to say.
