Thematic Section

Virtual Sex: Pornography, Immersion, and Erotic Environments: Introduction

Author(s)
Keywords
  • Virtual Reality
  • Porn Studies
  • Virtual Reality Porn
  • Environmental Images
Abstract

This introduction frames virtual sex as a crucial site for rethinking the relation between pornography, immersion, and environmental images. Starting from the fictional “Cybersex” device imagined in Architectural Design in 1969, it traces a genealogy of technological fantasies centred on multisensoriality, immediacy, reproducibility, and erotic presence at a distance. The text then considers how VR, AI, haptic systems, teledildonics, webcamming, video games, and early online platforms reconfigure pornographic experience by transforming images into environments and bodies into interfaces. Presenting the contributions included in the issue, the introduction outlines how virtual sex opens questions concerning spectatorship, embodiment, gender, agency, monetization, synthetic erotics, and the historical formation of pornographic imaginaries.

References
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Published

17 June 2026

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54103/ai/31474
How to Cite
Malaspina, R., Maina, G., & Asman, I. (2026). Virtual Sex: Pornography, Immersion, and Erotic Environments: Introduction . AN-ICON. Studies in Environmental Images [ISSN 2785-7433], 4(I), 4–10. https://doi.org/10.54103/ai/31474
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Issue
Vol. 4 No. I (2025): Virtual Sex: Pornography, Immersion, and Erotic Environments

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