Sunday, July 8, 2018

Building Better Sex Robots: Lessons from Feminist Pornography







Here's another new paper. This one looks at the ever-popular topic of sex robots through the lens of feminist pornography. This is a draft of a book chapter that is set to appear in an edited collection entitled AI Love You: Developments on Human-Robot Intimate Relations, which is edited by Youfang Zhou and Martin Fischer, and will be coming out with Springer, sometime in the future. I provide a link to an OA version of the draft below.

Title: Building better sex robots: Lessons from Feminist Pornography
Book: AI Love You: Developments on Human-Robot Intimate Relations
Links: Philpapers
Abstract: How should we react to the development of sexbot technology? Taking their cue from anti-porn feminism, several academic critics lament the development of sexbot technology, arguing that it objectifies and subordinates women, is likely to promote misogynistic attitudes toward sex, and may need to be banned or restricted. In this chapter I argue for an alternative response. Taking my cue from the sex positive ‘feminist porn’ movement, I argue that the best response to the development of ‘bad’ sexbots is to make better ones. This will require changes to the content, process and context of sexbot development. Doing so will acknowledge the valuable role that technology can play in human sexuality, and allow us to challenge gendered norms and assumptions about male and female sexual desire. This will not be a panacea to the social problems that could arise from sexbot development, but it offers a more realistic and hopeful vision for the future of this technology in a pluralistic and progressive society.   




2 comments:

  1. ..but sex robots only need to look pretty. Men should not rely on pretty things to feel love. Love is everywhere without sex

    This is all about separating women from their power to exchange sex for something else.

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