CYBERSPACE — Meet Shy Yume, a 25-year-old Eurasian bisexual ingénue who made her debut today as the newest spokesperson for xHamster — and she isn’t quite real.
Yume is an avatar whose physical appearance and other identifying characteristics are the summation of 50,000 responses from xHamster users who were queried about their ideal woman, their “dreamgirl.”
"We're so pleased to welcome Shy to the family," said Alex Hawkins, VP of xHamster. "She is the representation of our community's collective id, and we look forward to having her grow with us and our users. She is the Galatea to our users' Pygmalion."
He notes Yume will "interact with users over social media and beyond."
More than 50,000 men, women and non-binary individuals from over 150 countries responded to xHamster’s request for details about their perfect woman. The company asked users to detail “specific physical characteristics, from hair color to eye color to breast size to age — as well as other characteristics, such as feminist identification,” a rep said.
(Globally, 43% of respondents felt Yume should identify as a feminist. That number was deflated by lower levels of support by respondents from the United States, at 36 %, and Germany, with 25%. “A real feminist doesn't ask someone's permission as to how to think,” observed Hawkins. “We'll see how Shy develops as her own person.")
Users did not identify “extreme features,” Hawkins said, such as very large breasts or a cinched waist. Instead, they wanted a “curvy” woman with “an average-sized breast, rear and waist.”
Hawkins draws inspiration from how users, globally, described their ideal woman. "This study shows that consumers are shifting away from cartoonish proportions, in favor of someone who is a more realistic, naturally proportioned woman," he said. "We hope that Shy can present a face and body to xHamster users that is forward-thinking, and not some media-produced fantasy."
Yume’s Instagram profile debuted today; click here to follow it. Click here for a deeper dive into xHamster’s global survey results — including questions about Yume’s hair type, color and length, her butt size, body hair and more — and follow the platform on Twitter.