women(anons in vrg) were assigned avatars whose appearances were either highly sexualized or non-sexualized. While wearing a head-mounted display, participants were asked to face a virtual mirror that allowed them to see the reflection of their avatar. This was followed by a virtual conversation with a male avatar who was being controlled by the researchers. Women who used a sexualized avatar reported having more thoughts about their body image. The researchers concluded that this finding supports the Proteus effect by demonstrating that individuals internalized the sexualized aspects of their avatar's appearance, which led to greater self-objectification.


It's almost as if vrg's overtly sexual lewding behavoir was clinically predicted by science years ago!