Re-Embodiment: Dancing with the Virtual Dervish: Virtual Bodies

"Through 'Dancing with the Virtual Dervish: Virtual Bodies, 'I explored the consciousness-altering bodily responses provoked by immersive VR technology and its potential to disrupt subjectivity. Discourses surrounding VR often link the most characteristic affect of VR on our proprioceptive sense -- of 'where we are in our bodies'-- to a desire to escape the constaints of the body, often termed 'disembodiment.' Contesting this traditionally masculinist notion as the primary desire of the user, I instead related the unfamiliar sensation and cognitive disruption to my strategies for dealing with chronic pain, that is, for a reconfigured and enhanced experience of my body, a 'e-embodiment.'" -- Diana Gromala, "Introduction"