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Men may be from Mars, and women may hail from Venus, but this age-old interplanetary divide may soon be lessening -- and not because of ANTM's Isis King or Chaz Bono's fake stubble. As the Guardian reports, scientists at Barcelona University recently gave male volunteers virtual reality headsets in order to transfer them into women's bodies in an attempt to further examine human prejudice and gender identity. When the subjects wore the headsets, they could reportedly look down and see their new feminine stature, dressed in women's clothes. The method was so effective, in fact, that the men who participated in the study said they actually felt like women, and even flinched when their avatars were slapped by other characters in the virtual environment. Among the 24 men who agreed to momentarily change gender, some were immersed in a female's first person perspective, while others were placed just adjacent to the female. As anticipated, men who were given the personal female perspective felt the second female's 'slap' more strongly.
Researchers are hopeful that the results from the study could open a whole new sub-field of virtual reality experiments, moving the technology beyond the realm of environmental transfer into actual identity transfer. Researcher Mel Slater told The Guardian, "If you can temporarily give people the illusion that their bodies are different, then the evidence suggests it also affects their behavior and the way they think." Others are hopeful that similar technology could eventually be used to help stroke victims or other rehabilitating patients learn how to use their bodies again by placing them in an entirely different existence and perspective. If nothing else, though, it should at least save Iranian surgeons a whole lot of extra leg work -- or between-the-legs work, as the case may be. [From: The Guardian]
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Comments
13
Subscribe to commentssteve-oMay 16th 2010 9:33AM
Here we go...it's not enough to let the gays and lesbos "be how I was born". Now the liberal gay agenda media and popular culture want us men to become women. The angry straight haters won't be happy until us men turn in the genitalia we were born with to be eunichs or transsexuals. This is evident by all the "men" I see here in Portland wearing women's jeans. Enough is enough! I just want to be a man and NOT have that be a crime
TailsMay 16th 2010 10:35AM
Okay, you don't like gays/lesbians "shoving" their views down your throat, but then you turn around and do the same thing yourself. If they want to do that, that's THEIR choice, dude. Let them live THEIR life how they want. How THEY dress does NOT affect you in any way, nor should you let it. Get off your soap box and LET IT GO.
ViqsiMay 16th 2010 10:40AM
Oh, c'mon. This is just for folks who want to know more about how others live, and for those who aren't as lucky w/r/t being comfortable with the hand they were dealt. You're fortunate in that you evidently don't have that problem, and if anyone tries to insist that you MUST be something else, then they're just plain wrong. However, that's just as true the other way around - while others have no place telling you you can't be the man you are, you have no place telling others that they have to be one.
james nathan postMay 16th 2010 3:33PM
Oh, steeeeve, my Gawd, women's jeans? They were wearing.... NO! You do have it, you silly queen you. You just want to be a man? Sure you do, but you know you're not, even if you were born with dreadful congenital testosterone poisoning. I've got a friend in Trinidad, sweetie, who can fix that all up for you.
MichaelMay 16th 2010 10:20AM
God Bless You Steve-O! How about an Amen for just being a man and not afraid to admit the truth about the Politically Correct Police and their affiliates, the liberal Gays and Lesbians who would love to blur the sexuality lines forever and confuse even more children about what is right and what is wrong. Not everything should be simply accepted and/or tolerated by everyone! We were all made differently for a reason by both God and Nature, and trying to shame us with guilt tactics and ply us with pseudo-psycho babble experiments to confuse the issues and the genders is just wrong and it will further the deterioration of the moral fabric of society until their is nothing left but chaos... Just what the liberals want!
TailsMay 16th 2010 10:39AM
Who are you to determine "what is right" for everyone? If you don't want to use the VR, fine. But don't go trying to preach right or wrong to others, let decide FOR THEMSELVES. You are not the morality police.
I find it hilarious that you think the "liberals" are going to force this on everyone. It's not. It's a step in the right direction for curing things like paralysis, or whatever. Get off your soap box.
ViqsiMay 16th 2010 10:54AM
G-d did indeed make us all different, but those differences are more than just skin deep. Were Cain and Abel exactly the same as Adam? Certainly not - for one, Adam never killed anybody.
In a way, I envy those who have no questions about who and/or what they are; it would certainly be less stressful that way. But G-d did not make me that way, and I will not pretend I am something else.
AngelaMay 16th 2010 10:58AM
Anyone would jump in surprise of being slapped. And probably jump higher when slapped being slapped as a woman, by a woman! You don't really expect a strange man to slap you, and you really don't expect a strange woman to do it. So were these responses based on a shemale's new body, or more so by the ingrained values and norms of the male player?
Damn. People in Japan getting hitched in front of androids. Males in Spain growing virtual tits. Aren't there any normal people left in this whole friggin' world? Isn't any man safisfied to be a real man? Don't people who want to gender experiment ever just cross-dress any more?
ViqsiMay 16th 2010 11:09AM
Yeah, it doesn't look very scientifically rigorous from here. I'm wondering where the "control groups" of guys in VR guy bodies and girls in VR girl bodies (and for that matter, girls in VR guy bodies) are. That probably ought to be step 2.
amberMay 16th 2010 12:36PM
quite fettishing.
shellMay 25th 2010 3:43PM
We have no right to judge others. There is only one being that can do that and His name is God. One day you will be judged.
I was shocked, confused, bewildered as I entered
Heaven's door, not by the beauty of it all, nor the lights or its
decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
the alcoholics and the trash.
There stood the kid from seventh grade who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor who never said anything nice. Herb, who
I always thought was rotting away in hell, was sitting pretty on cloud nine, looking
incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.
'And why's everyone so quiet,
so somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all
in shock. No one expected you.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JUDGE NOT
Remember...Just going to church
doesn't make you a Christian,
any more than standing in your garage makes you a car
birdsandbugsMay 16th 2010 1:12PM
When you think about it, it doesn't really matter what sex anyone is. Sex itself doesn't really accomplish anything except ruin people's lives and overpopulate the planet. It is each person's souls and what they can do with them that truly matter above everything else.
reneejrMay 16th 2010 5:02PM
Once when I was being discriminated against at work...I was so angry...I told a male friend "I hope that you are all reincarnated as women!". And his reply was:"That is what's so funny, we all used to be women!"
Well, maybe this will speed the process up a bit!