Today, the production of sex robots for men is gaining popularity. A doll that has the pornographic appearance of a female, must satisfy the sexual needs of men. Variants of male models also exist however, the industry caters predominantly to men’s interests. According to the Foundation for Responsible Robotics, sex robots in the form of children have been developed for men’s use, and as well as sex robots in the form of women to fulfill the fantasy of rape. There is a popular opinion among specialists and experts that if buyers of sex robots are allowed to live out their dirtiest fantasies, this will increase the occurrence of rape of children and women by men (1).

Defenders of the sex robot industry say that robots will allow men who are “deprived of female attention,” the disabled, the elderly, to have “sex” with a “female robot.” In addition, the practice of operating brothels with sex robots reduces the number of prostituted women. According to a report by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, robotization of the sex industry will lead to “loss of jobs” for prostituted women (2).

The robotization of the sex industry can be viewed from different perspectives. But we are only interested in how the robotization of the sex industry will affect women. Men have already begun to access the artificial bodies of girls and women. Although many men still cannot afford to, due to the high cost of robots, however, it is tempting to own the artificial body of a girl who will never resist rape, will not tell anyone about what is being done to her, will not experience pain and cry - it is tempting for men. To allow men to rape robots that look like women is to acknowledge once again that men want to do it to women, do it and will do it when they have that opportunity.

Replacing prostituted women with robots will not improve the position of women. The situation is the same with animated pornography. Such pornography can be created without raping a real woman on camera and it is possible to draw any porn scene that a man's twisted fantasy is capable of. Thanks to animated pornography, violence against women is normalized. Boys who watch porn understand that they have to “fuck”, that sex is violence. And girls who watch pornography realize that sex is a process in which they are "raped" and "fucked" by boys.

To give men the opportunity to rape dolls means to take part in the normalization of violent practices against women and girls. It does not matter that there are some men who do not have access to women's bodies (the disabled, the elderly, etc.). Firstly, not a single man has yet died from the lack of power over the female body (or doll). Secondly, any negative things that happen to men do not play any role in the context of women's liberation from men. The creation and distribution of sex dolls clearly harms women, humiliates and dehumanizes, reinforces the patriarchal idea of a woman as a toy for "sex", a product that can be bought, sold, do whatever you want with it.

When studying the Holocaust, no one cares how tired the German soldiers were when they locked Jews in gas chambers. When the genocide of Pontic Greek women and men by the Turkish government is analyzed, no one is interested in how the aggressor suffered during the torture of the victims. So why, when it comes to the sexual abuse of women and girls, should we care about the elderly, the disabled, and the incels who are "tormented" by the lack of "sex" with women?

Special attention in the subject of creating and operating sex robots for rape should be given to the efforts of professor of ethics and culture of robots and artificial intelligence Kathleen Richardson. She launched a campaign against sex robots in 2015. Kathleen is sure that technologies cannot be neutral. The development of technology is influenced by political power (all of which is held by men). Robots will only serve to enable more sexual exploitation. The concept of sex dolls is part of rape culture. The already existing patriarchal power imbalance between men and women lies at the core of the idea of sex dolls (3).

In patriarchy, the emergence of innovations and progressive technologies are always used to strengthen male domination. When social networks were created, men began to use them to organize the sale of women, for human trafficking. When artificial intelligence reached a certain level of development, men began to use it to create pornography using the appearance of women who had never taken part in the filming of those videos. When the internet was created, immediately men flocked to it who began to use its capabilities to distribute pornography. As soon as the sex robot industry gains momentum, men will start using it to create pornographic scenes behind closed doors, to film pornography that normalizes the torture of women and girls. Awareness of this problem should be a starting point for women to uncompromisingly fight against the aggressor, to organize campaigns aimed at combating the culture of rape, which includes the fight against prostitution, pornography, the sex robot industry, etc.

Written by Shveia
Translated by Contrarian Ksenia


Sources:

1. FRR Report: Our Sexual Future with Robots. 2017 https://responsiblerobotics.org/2017/07/05/frr-report-our-sexual-future-with-robots/
2. AI and unemployment. https://www.techinsider.ru/technologies/236116-iskusstvennyy-intellekt-grozit-miru-massovoy-bezrabotitsey/
3. Having sex with robots is really, really bad, Campaign Against Sex Robots says. 2015 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/15/having-sex-with-robots-is-really-really-bad-campaign-against-sex-robots-says/