Thomas Stoffregen, PhD, School of Kinesiology professor and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, was interviewed and quoted in the book, “Invisible women: Data bias in a world designed for men,” authored by Caroline Criado-Perez.

Dr. Stoffregen theorizes that women experience more motion sickness than men due to differences in body control adjustments when placed in an unstable environment, including virtual reality (VR) settings. Additionally, “a woman’s susceptibility to motion sickness changes across the menstrual cycle,” explains Stoffregen. This claim goes beyond traditional studies on women’s sensitivity regarding motion sickness and challenges VR experts that have not yet thought about the issue holistically.

The publication analyzes how most studies are modeled and trained on and for men. “I really found it shocking that women’s care work isn’t included in economic data, and that the workplace and economy and travel is designed around typical male lives,” said Criado-Perez in The Verge article.

Criado-Perez, C. (2019). Invisible Women : Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. New York: Abrams Press.