Sue Williams, Frequencies (2006) - oil and acrylic on canvas
You may be familiar with Taro Gome's work "Everyone Poops." However, you may not be aware of his lesser-known sequel "Everyone Has Sex." The premise is similar to his first instalment in that it carries universal, androgynous resonance. Unfortunately, the VR Porn industry hasn't read Gome's later work.
As a critical source of funding, the VR Porn industry is responsible for driving much of the technological advancements in Virtual Reality. To quote Anna Lee, President and Executive Producer of HoloFilm Productions, "What we are witnessing at the moment is just the very beginnings of what will be [in Virtual Reality technology]." While her intent here is inspirational, in the context of her films, this comment bears ominous social implications.
As the recipient of the Adult Video News Award for Best VR Studio of 2017, Best VR Innovation and Best Scene Filmed in VR, Anna Lee represents a virtual reality success story and a useful data point to analyze the direction of this new technology.**
An investigation of HoloFilms demonstrates a racially and sexually limiting representation of society. Upon further inquiry into the "About VR" page of the HoloFilm Productions website, you will find two pornographic images from a HoloFilm production in which the viewer is placed into the sexual simulation as a heterosexual, white male. A scroll through page 1 of the "Videos" tab reinforces HoloFilm's assumption that their chief audience are straight, white males. Finally, a review of the "stars" page shows a selection of only women - though slightly more racially diversified, the women wear the same body-type - again, assuming their audience is straight and male.
Undoubtably there are financial incentives to creating a product tailored specifically to your chief audience. However, with the development of new technologies, we have not only the cultural opportunity to evolve a new lexicon and a new mode of expression, but also a social opportunity to choose equality and authenticity in the representation of human experience rather than continuing to saturate our culture with the ongoing deluge of tired white dicks.
*As quoted by Curtis Silver @Forbes (link here)
**AVN award stats (link here)