“And that's just one small fraction of the main attraction;You need a friendly hand and I need action...” –Rocky Horror Picture Show
The other week my housemate and I were having a quiet night at home on a Friday . Just because deep down we are old ladies who like a quiet night in. Anyway, as is customary we had tea and biscuits and made it our mission to find the weirdest TV program available. That is how we came to watch “My Sex Robot”; a rather fascinating documentary about men who dream about sleeping with not just a blow-up doll but a real life robot.
You may find yourself thinking: “Why
is she watching something like that?” Which is a very good and legitimate question. Apart from my (quite
apparent) interest in the weird and wonderful thing that we call human
sexuality, I always find it fascinating to see how people explain their
passions and preferences. As a small-time feminist and part-time anthropologist
I really do want to know what it is that drives people to want to engage in
sexual relations with a robot.
So what is the answer to that
question you may ask? Fascinatingly enough most of them wanted (surprise,
surprise) a submissive, yet responsive sexual partner. Hence, a blow-up doll wasn’t
enough: she doesn’t respond, she doesn’t engage. Yet, the idea that this robot
will not object to having pretty much anything done to them is one of the
driving forces behind this ‘robot fetishism’ or ‘technosexuality’. All I could
think about for a while was that it was the perfect reflection of the
phenomenon of 50 shades of grey. And while, in the end, she leaves the man who dominates her because she figures out that, in the end, she does not want to be dominated the fascination with the submissive/dominance paradigm remains for many of us. However, it was mostly women who read E.L
Jame’s ‘work’ and not necessarily men. Does that mean that women want to be the
submissive, willing persona that these robot fetishists dream about? Or is there
more to it? Or are we just drawn to the idea of submissiveness yet would not be able to go through with it or at least maintain it in our day to day lives?
It is interesting how some of the themes that I am talking about here, the ‘creation’ of something that is purely there for the sexual pleasure of a human being, plays an important role in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. If you haven’t seen the movie, watch it, it is brilliant. It is its weirdness and quite overly sexual themes which are mirrored with the themes of loss of innocence and a sci-fi (there are aliens involved believe it or not) theme that make it such a great piece of cinema. Just embrace the weirdness otherwise it is going to be a very frustrating experience. Actually, I would recommend you go to a sing-along version to lose your Rocky Horror virginity because only then will you get to experience its brilliant strangeness in its entirety. But to get back to the point, Frank N’Further, a brilliant scientist, creates a human, Rocky, which is intended to be just for him and mainly to still his sexual appetite. But of course despite the fact that Rocky has very minimal brain power, he does not always do as he is told and instead is driven by his own sexual desires which lead him to sleep with Janet. This in turn angers Frank (obviously) and the drama unfolds.
Which brings us back to the
robots who, unlike Rocky, do not have an agenda and are purely at the disposal
of their owners. They are simple machines designed to do as they are told. No emotion, no agenda. There are a couple of engineers working on the world’s first ‘sex
robots’. One of them is Dough Hines, who is furiously working on his creation
called “Roxxxy”, who was first presented to the public at the AVN Adult
Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas in 2010. According to the website of the
company, Roxxxy is not limited to sexual uses and "can carry on a
discussion and expresses her love to you. She can talk to you, listen to you
and feel your touch." Does she also have emotion, do the cooking and, more importantly, can she clean too?!
Don’t get me wrong, I am not judging these people. Nobody gets hurt when they are having sex with a Robot and in the end it is (in most cases) healthier for people to live out their preferences than not. Rather, what is interesting to me about this is that the argument for these ‘living’ dolls is in itself an oxymoron. At least to me. If you want to sleep with something (or should we say someone?) that engages and responds, why not find yourself a girlfriend rather than waiting for an engineer to bring to live a robot? Yet, I am sure the answer to that question is far from simple and hard to understand for someone who is not very much interested in having sexual relations with a robot. Most people cannot rationally justify or control their desires. Just like I find it hard to stop after 1 macaroon and instead proceed to eat 6. Not that that is of any particular relevance, really.
However, the connection between
sexuality and technology didn’t stop there that week. A few days later I read
about Fundawear. Commissioned by the Australian division of Durex (yes, the
condom company) Fundawear uses tiny vibrating actuators in his and hers
undergarments that can be controlled with a smart phone app. It is meant to “transfer
touch across vast distances”, says Ben Moir, the projects technical director in
the Youtube video. Fascinating! This could revolutionise long distance
relationships. It could be the next phone sex for couples.
The project is currently in its experimental stage, but Durex is inviting adventurous test subjects to test the vibrating lingerie via their Facebook page. Have a look at the video, its quite interesting. As much as I think this is genius I find myself questioning the practicality of this product. It would be great if you have it all pre-planned and find yourself in bed, home along while your partner is away. However, it will never be as spontaneous as a good old sexy text or spontaneous and unplanned sweet whisperings via the phone. Just imagine yourself sitting in the office and, very much like in that Katherine Heigel movie, starting to twitch away because your significant other has simply decided that it was time for some remote-controlled sexy time.
Fundawear is definitely something to keep an eye on and see if it catches on. I wonder how Roxxxy would feel about wearing lingerie like that?! However, while I shall go and still my desire for shoes by taking a stroll through the Selfridges Shoe Galleries, Dough and Roxxxy will continue to evolve and Fundawear will give couples across the world a good excuse to embrace their inner technosexuality. For one night only and in a very minimalistic way that is.
The project is currently in its experimental stage, but Durex is inviting adventurous test subjects to test the vibrating lingerie via their Facebook page. Have a look at the video, its quite interesting. As much as I think this is genius I find myself questioning the practicality of this product. It would be great if you have it all pre-planned and find yourself in bed, home along while your partner is away. However, it will never be as spontaneous as a good old sexy text or spontaneous and unplanned sweet whisperings via the phone. Just imagine yourself sitting in the office and, very much like in that Katherine Heigel movie, starting to twitch away because your significant other has simply decided that it was time for some remote-controlled sexy time.
Fundawear is definitely something to keep an eye on and see if it catches on. I wonder how Roxxxy would feel about wearing lingerie like that?! However, while I shall go and still my desire for shoes by taking a stroll through the Selfridges Shoe Galleries, Dough and Roxxxy will continue to evolve and Fundawear will give couples across the world a good excuse to embrace their inner technosexuality. For one night only and in a very minimalistic way that is.