I wish they had tested all 8 scenarios: Male/female participant, male/female body, catcalled/not catcalled.

Because even as a man I don't feel comfortable being alone at a subway station at night. Nor can I imagine would I then enjoy being catcalled.

I wonder how much your VR body seen in a mirror affects this. My gut says not a lot but more data would've been great.

Now, if your own VR body does affect your reaction there must be bodies which maximize/minimize reactions. That'd be fun to test. You don't even have to limit yourself to human bodies, what if you're, say, a dinosaur (with body height still being the same)?

Turns out walking through a sketchy area and being harassed are scary no matter what genitalia you have.

Here’s the link to the actual article.

Kind of unfortunate, that even here on lemmy most comments immediately flip to "but as a man I also feel scared". True, but it's not what this study is about. Maybe in 2026 we can try to just read something like this and take it as a prompt that, maybe, some things are not about us. Maybe we should do something about catcalling. We can talk about violence against men and loneliness at a different occasion.

Living in Japan, the country famous for being completely safe for everyone, this gap recently became clearer to me. As it turns out, when people talk about safety in Japan, they primarily mean that you won't be beaten up and nobody steals your wallet. But there are so many weird creeps around here. I'm really quite happy I don't live here as a woman.

My guess is that the men who don't think they'd be bothered by cat-calling are imagining a scenario where there are lots of other people around and the risk of being physically attacked is very low. (Something like the stereotypical image of construction workers whistling at a woman walking by them on a busy sidewalk.) Being on a nearly-empty subway platform with the only other guy nearby accosting you is a genuinely risky situation even without pretending that you're a woman.

One time I was walking on the sidewalk when a car with several young women drove by and one of them leaned out the window and yelled something at me. I didn't hear what she said but I like to think that it was positive and it made my day, but the caveat is that I did not feel like I was in any physical danger at all from them.

Interesting experiment.

The article on Phys.org

The paper on Nature.com

Some very condensed info:

Women disproportionately experience gender based violence and aggression in the wild. Researchers wanted to see if the experience of men being harassed and catcalled in a woman's avatar could promote empathy and understanding. This experiment on 36 male students (average age of 23) was based on other studies that found similar results, including a study on male offenders of gender based violence — to test if first-person VR experiences as women could increase pro-social behaviors.

The students had "no prior experience" with interpersonal aggression or catcalling as victims or perpetrators, measured on a scale with a maximum threshold.

The scene began in a bedroom, where participants were able to move and see themselves as their avatar in a mirror.

In a control group, the participants were asked innocuous questions instead of being catcalled.

Edit: For anyone asking: Why didn't they study why men don't feel safe? You can look up and post those studies. Nothing is stopping you. This is about the prosocial effects of this VR scenario. Need more support? !mensliberation@lemmy.ca and !mensmentalhealth@lemmy.world are two great communities to discuss men's issues.

I haven't read this study but what matters to me is, are these same men catcallers themselves? Most men I know don't catcall and already understand it's unpleasant so I'm not surprised this is their reaction

Half Life 2 graphics for maximum immersion

Male American here. Always had a hard time internalizing women's fear, hard to truly put myself in their shoes. My first wife really woke me.

At the major hospital she worked at, the female nurses often needed escorts through the parking garage. There were alerts about shady characters hanging around. She clearly got roofied one night, and when her friends compared notes, it had happened to many of them at that same restaurant (a really nice one!).

I was a small guy, little punker in the late 80s and early 90s. There were places we couldn't go or the skins or rednecks would get us. And yet that doesn't even begin to compare with the fear women must deal with.

I've had a pretty fucking wild life, but I've never been stalked, drugged or raped.

Did anyone study the opposite? I remember reading about a woman that pretended to be a man for a few weeks to write a book about it, and she described it as something like "soul crushingly lonely".

Oh this is such nonsense.

They basically decided "what if we tested a scenario that has been happening in ChatVR for about 10 years."

When I play a shooting game in VR I don't think I'm going to die, I do not experience fear. Any claims along those lines are at best overstated and at worst straight up lies.

Also what's this research supposed to prove anyway?

Welcome. Welcome to our study. You have either chosen or been chosen...

I wonder if the disgust:anger ratio is markedly different depending on the gender of the viewer

I do kinda think everyone should have to Freaky Friday swap with anyone they disdain or don't have empathy for, and also one random swap.

I've never been bothered by catcalling but haven't had it happen in a dangerous feeling situation.

I looked at the comments.

I knew it was a mistake, I did it anyways.

It sure was a mistake.

One time I was one of the very first people to play an MMO so my friends and I all grabbed up some really good names that are always taken before we start. I made six characters, two female, one of which I named “Beyonce” and put effort into making it look as much like her as possible.

On five of the characters people pretty much ignored me entirely, as usual. But when I played Beyonce people wanted to talk to me all the time. They would constantly invite me to stuff, give me things, name drop me in chat. Just kind of gather around me in town. Even other men who were playing female characters just assumed I was a woman.

I don’t know what it was about that character specifically, but it was a valuable insight into the life of women.

I'm a middle aged Caucasian male. Almost old now. (Is 47 old?) I don't think the sense of fear is a woman exclusive thing. I fear it's becoming a "Critical thinker" thing- I'm not without sympathy though.

My county went over 70% to Trump just over a year ago. Even the people smiling or making polite small talk in public are secret fascists, and they're everywhere. That's my perspective.

Any normal person can experience some level of fear in this situation, not just women. I would also experience some level of anxiety even with a fully loaded handgun in pocket.

Catcalling is uncomfortable in many situations, so these are not exactly connected between each other except for both being some negative experience in most of cases.

Was the study carried out on men who actually catcall? Otherwise the results are completely useless.

I'm sure this badly done study won't trigger knee jerk malicious comments from misandrists who feel validated.

What? Men feel empathy? Impossible.