If you think VR (virtual reality) porn is still a while away, you’re wrong. With just a $20 piece of cardboard and a smartphone you’re now plugged in and ready to go. Thanks to the latest product from Google called ‘Cardboard’, VR has now entered the affordable mainstream and top porn sites are raring to go. According to a blog from Google earlier this year
[1], over five million units have shipped since the product was a released, and it’s a number that’s rapidly increasing.

Throughout history, porn has always adopted newer technologies fast so that they can create the new “edge” for viewers and keep them coming back to their websites. They were quick adopters of HD and it seems that they are quickly adopting VR. So much so that a quick search for “VR porn” on Google returns over 1.4 million results. Now we’re not saying everyone is using their Cardboard to watch porn and here at Guilty Pleasure we love new technology and love adopting it, but we do wonder what this new watching medium is going to do to pornography?

In March this year, one popular porn website announced their major partnership with a virtual reality provider and to celebrate they gave away 10,000 Google Cardboard VR googles. Up until this point VR was mostly something that you had to pay for, but with the new announcement the world of VR porn quickly became free (well ‘freeish’ to the end user). On the release, the VP of the ‘popular porn site’ proudly stated that “It is our duty to provide our global audience with the latest in cutting edge technology. Virtual reality is the next phase in the constantly metamorphosing world of adult entertainment and will provide users with a mesmeric experience unlike anything they’ve seen before. Now, our users are not only able to view our content, but be protagonists in the experience and interact with their favorite porn stars.”

For us here at Guilty Pleasure, this is a scary progression, because it will make porn seem even more realistic for viewers. So much so, that we wonder how viewers will react to real sex when they realize their real-life sexual partner is not up to all of the exploits that their VR friend is. A VR friend who’s willing to do it anytime of the day, any way that is wanted, anytime it is desired. Plus, we know it won’t end there. Already the VR experience is extending well beyond just the viewing with porn producers partnering with makers of sex toys to make them sync the virtual videos with the physical movements of toys[2].

In the wild, plenty of news sites and blogs have been quick to test the technology, documenting how well it lives up to expectations. “A porn star leaned in so close to lock lips with me that I recoiled back because her VR presence was so real” said one reporter. “It’s a wild experience” said another. And down in the comments on these articles it seems plenty of viewers are joining the virtual technology race. “Good news” said one commenter. “This sounds promising” said another. “The content is very good” another reader said, “I am still enjoying it.”

So with all these seemingly positive reviews, the future landscape for porn and sex is looking very dark. The new technology is allowing people to move into areas where they can virtually enjoy sex. No interaction with another live, warm fellow human being needed. Just interaction with a picture on a screen, via a device strapped into a piece of cardboard, via something help up on the face, filmed elsewhere, watched by many and profited by porn producers. It seems that real sex is becoming increasingly boring and we need more and more fake, but realistic devices, to help us meet our insatiable desires to enter new and bold frontiers of sexuality. How is this going to affect our kids? What expectations are our daughters going to have forced on them, to perform like the virtual reality stars online? Who will even be bothered heading out on a date anymore? These are things we should all carefully consider before deciding to grab our smartphones, slip on our Cardboard googles and join the “revolution.”

 

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[1] https://googleblog.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/unfolding-virtual-journey-cardboard.html
[2] http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-the-future-of-virtual-reality-depends-on-porn-2015-07-15