Virtual reality and gender-based violence: assume the role of a woman suffering cat calling, an immersive experience by the Institute of Mechanical Intelligence at the Luce 2023 Festival
The Institute of Mechanical Intelligence participated in the Festival Luce 2023, a day dedicated to the environment, economy, sustainability, civil rights, inclusion, social cohesion and labour, held in the Salone del Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.
As part of the ENGINE (Engaging Men and Boys against Gender-based Violence and Discrimination) project co-funded by the European Union under the CERV-DAPHNE call, in which the IIM Institute is participating, under the responsibility of Full Professor Massimo Bergamasco, together with the Dirpolis (Law, Politics, Development) and Management Institutes, an immersive virtual reality experience was created to better understand gender-based violence.
A workstation was set up in the Salone dei Cinquecento to allow spectators to 'assume the role' of a woman being harassed. With the help of visors for immersive virtual reality experiences, participants (preferably men) experienced videos in 3D or 360° mode to identify with women experiencing harassment or discrimination.
In the 3D mode, the protagonist of the video is Marta, a university researcher walking on a pavement. Some individuals start to annoy her with verbal harassment, jokes, and appreciation of her physique, making her the victim of cat calling. In the 360° mode, a harassment situation in the study room is simulated.
About 70 people were able to try out the virtual experience. The reactions of the audience? Very positive, feedback was received on the importance of raising awareness of gender-based violence on the part of women, and comments of sincere amazement on the part of men.
Among the experimenters was also a group of 18-year-olds, who were very impressed by the experience.
The European project ENGINE, is developed by the Sant'Anna School of Pisa thanks to an interdisciplinary approach between the research areas of Political Philosophy and Engineering, and realised in collaboration with ARTES 4.0 - Centre of Competence and the Centro di Ascolto Uomini Maltrattanti, to raise awareness among the new generations on the fight against gender violence and discrimination, thanks to immersive reality technologies.
In the photos some moments of the experience and some frames of the 3D video.
