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, which is likely to promote misogynistic attitudes towards sex, and may need to be banned or restricted. This chapter argues for an alternative response. Taking its cue from the sex-positive ‘feminist porn’ movement, it argues 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.
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Notes
- 1.
Note: the term ‘culture war’ refers to a set of debates that are located around common themes concerning restrictive vs pluralistic views of sex and sexuality. For more on this phenomenon, see Reiss (2006).
- 2.
See https://campaignagainstsexrobots.org (accessed 30/6/2018).
- 3.
- 4.
For an example, see the conversation depicted in the promotional video for Synthea Amatus’ sex robot Samantha, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FHzg3T3yrw (accessed 30/6/2018). It should be noted, however, that the maker of Samantha (Dr. Sergio Santos) is aware of some of the feminist critiques and intends to add features—such as the capacity of Samantha to say ‘no’ to sex—in order to address these concerns. For more on this, see Santos and Vasquez (2017).
- 5.
For more on the importance of this, see Bendel (2018).
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Danaher, J. (2019). Building Better Sex Robots: Lessons from Feminist Pornography. In: Zhou, Y., Fischer, M.H. (eds) AI Love You. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19734-6_7
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