Why are there SO many Trans people in VRChat? Gender, Identity, and Self Discovery.

Why are there SO many Trans people in VRChat? Gender, Identity, and Self Discovery.




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24 Comments

  1. Let me be the devils advocate here. While having a community is nice and all, it's not hard to see how stuff like this could backfire. VRChat is already in the danger-zone when it comes to providing a, potentially detrimental, escape from reality for people. Adding gender-dysphoric people to the mix, as well as anyone else who is discontent with/want to ignore the reality of their body, is a pretty fertile setup for a negative spiral where people either hikkikomori themselves in VRChat, or go do "dumb things" in reality because the contrast between reality (their body and/or the real worlds response to them) and how they wish reality should be (their VR-body and/or the community's response to them) becomes too stark.

    What am I trying to say? I don't know. Making friends is nice, having a group is nice; but directly encouraging a particular behavior with frameworks, "academies" and echo-chambers where dissenters get kicked seems off somehow. I mean, I don't go to "Alpha-male University – No Girls Allowed" to learn how to shotgun a beer the right way, up my testosterone-levels and point protein-shakes at people… As Phia said, every person's journey is different. It'd be a shame to let the whole "wokeness in education"-censorship-shitshow that's going on in the US right now destroy that. Be yourself, be critical, you know yourself best, so don't be an impressionable dumbf*ck that gets caught up in US-politics because you're trying to figure out who you are..

  2. Well all be dammed. I ain't trans, but I should show this video to my friend, since he is trans and well since I don't know jack shit about trans people much and sometimes, I still call my friend she which I apologize right after. But in all honesty, he should watch this video since he plays vrchat as well. I am sure if he goes to this world with all the support yall do, I definitely know he will be blessed to be there.

  3. Honestly I’ve questioned myself a lot and have found a lot of conflicting thoughts in my head lol but I’m happy to see more and more inclusive groups forming in Virtual Reality and just seeing all these resources and hubs pop up more and more to allow people who do not quite understand these kinds of things be able to educate themselves about the topic and meet others with more than likely conflicting ideas! It’s the only way ideas can be brought to light and progress in a respectful manner and I am in love with it!

  4. Wow this video really opened my eyes. I would say that I would be classified as a transphobe but after watching this video I think I can actually be more accepting of them. I can't say I can fully become non-transphobic right away but now I know that it is something that I can work on. Super Fantastic Video Phia.

  5. Thank you so much for this video! ❤
    Logically I still believe I'm not trans, and that I don't want to be for a multitude of reasons, but the amount of excitement this video causes me calls bull**it on that.
    And thanks to you, my social anxiety can't stop me now!

  6. As a trans woman with truly zero VR experience, I'm still amused when cis people find out VR is capable of this
    Long before me, internet spaces have been where we can truly be ourselves because we're free of the burden
    of physicality. And VR socially is basically a large-scale MMO, without the limits of one. So yeah, free expression
    of all kinds will be plentiful. Do wanna thank you for highlighting them, had no idea a place like this existed

  7. About the left-handed analogy (is analogy the right word?), I wanted to point something out.

    In Latin, the word for "Left" is… "Sinister". Hence, when you're calling someone who is evil "sinister", you're calling them "left-handed". Or, to put it another way, "left handedness is evil, so if you are evil then you must be left-handed."

    It's an interesting little hold-over from the past.

    Also, just for reference, the Latin word for "Right" is "Dexter". When you're good at using both hands, you're called "Ambidextrous" meaning you have two right hands. (Ambidexter = right on both sides).

  8. I do wonder about the whole using VR avatar thing to align with your self-image. Since my emotions and certain personality traits get strongly influenced depending on the avatar I use. Like for example I use avatars that smile a bunch so I smile, since when I use ones that have a frowning/angry face, I start to feel negative towards everything. Of course, I've never had a very strong idea of my sense of self identity since I'm always trying to adapt to what life tosses at me so I might just be an exception because my mind just might want to always be changing. That said, I still assume that would be at least a little bit of influence on other people, or at least the ones that are effected by VR a decent amount.

    As for my experiences with the gender thing:
    Growing up, if people never saw my physical body, they often thought I was a girl because of the way I talked and how I sounded. My voice was a bit higher and softer than other people, and I didn't outwardly show that I was a big tough guy (though I kept trying to tell myself that I was). So I often got a little annoyed when people thought I was a girl over the phone (because grew up with the idea that gotta be big macho man)
    Though one thing that always shocked me is the change in how people treat you when they think you are a girl vs think you are a boy. The tone change in people whenever they realize I was a guy and not a girl was pretty huge. There was one time I was planning on doing a little joke with a friend on an old game, figured I'd make it a girl character because they'd never expect it. Though because of how I talked, a lot of people legit thought I was a girl, and it shocked me how much they just kept giving me stuff in the game. It just made me go "Am I playing the same game? Why is everyone so friendly? Surely people don't care about genders that much right?"
    Then cut to the future where I got into VR. It's not too uncommon for people that meet me for the first time think that I am a girl based on my voice + body language. In VR my voice wasn't as soft as it used to be either since working 60 hours at a job really roughed up my voice, but it's still softer than quite a few people's voices. Funnily enough I've had a few guys come up to me and say "I thought I was straight but you're the first guy I've ever crushed on/fallen in love with". Which also makes me wonder about how much of that is me, or being kind of feminine in some ways.

    While I always supported people for discovering who they are, and being themselves, I've always been too afraid of looking into the gender thing because I'm fine with the way I am now (mainly because I don't care). Though I've always worried that if I did try it, I'd just be entering a world of hurt for no reason. I do get the occasional looks from people, and some of the more "Gotta be masculine" sorta people getting irritated by some things I do/say because it seemed feminine, but it's just me being myself so I don't even register whether it's masculine/feminine. I can only imagine how annoyed people would be if I ended up really love identifying with the other gender and going with it even if I don't do anything to show it off. Just loving certain things can influence your behaviors without you realizing it sometimes.
    So all that said, I'm not looking into it. Just gonna leave it at the part where I used some very feminine avatars 'cuz I thought it'd be amusing, then going "Wait… wait a second. Do… do I actually like this!?" Then getting all nervous about it and never trying it again lol… That said, I might end up doing that. I was tired one day and wasn't thinking too much about anything, then something was said and my close friends were being very observant and realized that I might like it. So they are starting to nudge a little bit to get me to explore in a safe place =p

  9. I can tell this video was made with good intentions– but at the same time there's still some things I gotta share:

    PLEASE keep in mind that Gender Dysphoria is NOT a requirement to be trans. A LOT of trans folk don't experience dysphoria and don't WANT surgeries. That doesn't make them any less trans.

    Also why– would you include an interview with a troll? That's– that kinda counters the point of this video. Trolls deserve to fade into obscurity– not be featured in youtube videos. That's kind of poor taste. Please don't give hateful people a platform. Even if it is just to point out that the Trans community deals with them.

    Showcasing a troll on a channel like yours will lead to others trying to emulate that behavior in a desperate attempt for more attention. We have a phrase in the older trans VTuber community– "Don't Feed the Trolls". Ignore them.

  10. really good video!
    i find this so beautifl and i don´t know why i´m crying but ireally love it, that all this people can happy be there selfs. i love it!

  11. Having just gotten to meet some members irl, it's beautiful to see how accepting and welcoming the VR community is and knowing that we'd always be safe hanging out with each other ☮❤🫂☯

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