This Thought-Provoking VR Experience Lets You Swap Genders

The award-winning immersive experience offers you a safe space to explore gender.

"Body Me"is a 15-minute virtual reality experience that simulates physical gender dysphoria by letting you blend into the body of another gender. Face, eye and body tracking lets you unlock authentic interviews with trans individuals. The project aims to spark introspection and discussion about gender identity and the experiences of trans individuals around the world.

Cameron Kostopoulos, the project's lead designer, said the main goal of the project is to help people explore their gender and think critically about it. "We really hope this becomes a way for people to wear a head-mounted display and explore their own gender, to be more critical and think deeply about gender."

"Body Me"exist2023SXSWIt debuted on the Internet and won a special judging award in the XR Experience competition, which organizers described as a beautifully crafted virtual reality experience that effectively demonstrated the ability of virtual reality technology to provide understanding, reflection and connection when it is difficult to find a safe space in the real world.

In addition to SXSW,"Body Me"Due to its strong communication message, it has won manyawards. “We want to bring it to an area of the world where there is a lot of transphobia and there is more understanding of trans issues, and give people an opportunity to understand trans issues,” Kostopoulos added.

in New York toAxiosWhile presenting, Kostopoulos spoke about those still struggling in the closet and wrestling with their identities. He said he helped a transgender girl experience a"Body Me"prototype, and also had the girl's mother try the experience, and the mother kept referring to her daughter as "son." According to Kostopoulos, the VR experience silenced the mother.

Through immersive video and virtual reality, people can gain a deeper understanding of what it's like to be in a body or environment.Jeremy Berensonis the founding director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University, where he studies the psychology of virtual and augmented reality, particularly how virtual experiences lead to altered perceptions of self and others. In his book "experience requirements" talked about this. It's these types of experiences that help people connect with marginalized groups.

Kostopoulos, who is gay, said he came up with the idea for the project after being teased by someone. He ponders how virtual reality can be used to create safe spaces. His goal is to create a work that tells the story of his transgender friend while helping others.

Demos take place in private rooms to ensure privacy; Kostopoulos said anonymity is an important aspect of the experience to keep people safe.

Ultimately, he hopes"Body Me"can have a positive impact.

he said"Body Me"Doesn't immediately change people's perceptions. Instead, it allows people to connect with stories they're not usually able to relate to. The next step for the project is to continue refining it and releasing it for free on a body-tracking virtual reality platform.

“You rarely see someone change their mind right away,” he said. But “you connect to the story in a different way than you normally would, and that at least plants a seed.”

Kostopoulos' next project is a project called"Straight People's Therapy"A virtual reality app that will use generative artificial intelligence to train a virtual therapist in an attempt to convince straight people to become gay. This, he said, will be used to debunk the concept of conversion therapy.