Face to face with sex robots and the cultures surrounding them

Abstract

The possibilities of interacting sexually with humanoid robots are pushing boundaries on how we think about sexual relations, intimacy, touch, connection, desire, sexual fantasy and erotic pleasure. A number of positive benefits have been highlighted in this regard such as fun, excitement, companionship, safe sex and even “feeling loved”. The prospects of engaging in sex with robots are also marked by oppositional forces, which claim that this form of relating is disturbing, because it causes degradation of sexual integrity, promotes a rape culture and encourages the objectification and exploitation of women, and should therefore be banned. This paper discusses the implications, which sexual activity with artificial humanoids, might have on society and culture. It employs posthuman perspectives, in order to draw out the interconnections between the commonalities and differences among different factions of thought about sex robots. This framework recognises that polarisations, biases and subjectivities in the understanding of cultural constructs regarding sex robots, are productive and entangled, even if they act in opposition with each other or in contradictory ways. Culturally opposite views are not separate from each other, since they constitute the very phenomenon of sex robots.