Where are the male body avatars in VRChat?
And what does this say about how we experience masculinity?
As a social scientist in VR, I’ve noticed that the most established and long-standing social VR app, VRChat, has a scarcity of male avatars, but the majority of the population I encounter in there are male presenting. Instead of wearing avatars that represent their actual physical forms, I find them more frequently wearing furry, childlike, or female avatars.
What might this reflect about mainstream society?
To me, toxic means too much of one thing and not enough of the others. Or an imbalance of diversity. Toxic masculinity means a focus from the world on the male perspective. This can be seen in how mainstream history highlights the progression of men through conflicts and turmoil. Fill in the blank: “_______ search for meaning,” “One small step for _____.” “To date, all US presidents have been _____.”
I have asked many people over the years why they tend to wear radically feminine and/or furry avatars (wide hips, breasts, eyelashes, etc). What I typically hear is that “they are just more comfortable.” While much of this could also be people who are exploring other gender expressions in the possibility that they may be transgender, I also notice that the majority of the representation of male avatars in VRChat are often robotic or hypermasculine stereotypes.
Reflection: I wonder how much this represents the hunger inside of all (hu)mankind to let go of the more rigid and stereotypical masculine identities of violence and dominance.
Hey, longtime VRC player here. A common sentiment among players that I know are that the best female avatars are human, and the best male avatars are furry. There just aren't a big variety of male human avatars, and most of them look very similar to one another. That plays at least somewhat of a role. Another thing that plays into many guys' decision to wear an avatar that differs from their body type is because realistically, society still does not allow us to experiment much if at all in the real world. We can't wear makeup or expressive outfits. In VR, we have an opportunity to try out a very different style that otherwise wouldn't be possible. Whether it's out of curiosity/exploration or for a deeper repressed gender incongruence, VR is a space where many guys choose to take on a different appearance.