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Sexual Violence in Virtual Reality: A Scoping Review
Open accessAbstract
Background: One in four Americans report experiencing harassment online via social media and interactive gaming, which includes physical threats, stalking, sexual harassment, and sustained harassment. Objective: The aim of this study was to gain understanding of the state of the science surrounding young adults and sexual violence/harassment harms in virtual reality (VR) as well as possible uses of VR to heal and intervene. Methods: A scoping review was conducted in early 2023 using the Ovid Synthesis Clinical Evidence Manager and the MEDLINE database. Forty-seven articles met inclusion criteria. Results: Our review found a growing body of evidence exploring incidents, effects, possible predictors, and initial strategies to prevent sexual violence in VR and to use the modality to positively intervene. Limited research addresses the effects of harms incurred in VR on (re)traumatization of survivors as well as the development and testing of VR tools used to educate, deliver bystander interventions, transform biases and perceptions via embodiment, and promote healing among survivors. Conclusion: Research addressing sexual violence in VR is needed and should build on the existing peripheral science on gaming and social media environments. Forensic nursing is well positioned to advance strategies of health and safety in VR, just as in the physical world. Incorporating forensic nursing avatars in VR and deploying diverse resources targeted for college-age young adults to prevent harms in VR should be explored safely and ethically. Forensic nurses are also positioned to assess for VR-related harms among patients and to work with private and government sectors to influence regulations and policies.
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“The VIRRAC Study and other research suggest that offending in VR spans a broad spectrum of behaviours, from verbal harassment, hate crime and trolling to more complex actions like virtual sexual assault, stalking, theft of virtual property, grooming, and exploitation (Davidson et al., 2024; Porta et al., 2024).”
From Virtual Reality Risks for Children in the Metaverse: An Examination through Criminological Perspectives (2026) · cites this paper as Porta et al., 2024
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Martellozzo, E., Bradbury, P., Farr, R., & Davidson, J. (2026) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009620161 · Cited by 2
Metadata
- Authors
- Porta, C. M., Frerich, E. A., Hoffman, S., Bauer, S., Jain, V. M., & Bradley, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Author Affiliations:School of Nursing
- Corresponding author
- Porta, Carolyn M.
- Venue
- Journal of Forensic Nursing
- Published
- 2023-12-13
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 66-77
- ISSN
- 1556-3693 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-3938
- PMC
- PMC11841731
- OpenAlex
- W4389740865
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1
- FWCI
- 1.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Forensic Nursing (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Health Resources and Services Administration
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Stalking, Cyberstalking, and Harassment
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Keywords
- sexual violence, virtual reality, online harassment, sexual harassment, young adults, retraumatization, bystander intervention, embodiment, forensic nursing, avatars, social media harassment, harm prevention
- MeSH terms
- Virtual Reality, Avatar, Humans, Sex Offenses, Social Environment, Sexual Harassment
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