Sex robots
The approach the media takes to sex robots highlights the double standards inherent in society. Men's sexuality is demonised while women's is celebrated.
Female Sex Robots
The Conversation
One of the ethical problems that accompanies the widespread use of robots like Harmony is the potential for reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes. This can occur both through Harmony’s appearance and through the roles programmed into her identity. Harmony’s physical appearance reflect widely held stereotypical expectations of women’s beauty — for example, large breasts and a small waistline. Such overly sexualized stereotypes about what a physically attractive woman should look like are dangerous. Studies have shown that the hypersexualized portrayal of women in media is linked to sexual harassment and an increase of violence towards women.[1]
Campaign Against Sex Robots
Over the last decades, an increasing effort from both academia and industry has gone into the development of sex robots – that is, machines in the form of women or children for use as sex objects, substitutes for human partners or prostituted persons. The Campaign Against Sex Robots highlights that these kinds of robots are potentially harmful and will contribute to inequalities in society.[2]
New Statesman
According to reports today, a sex doll called “Samantha” – on display at Linz’s Arts Electronica Festival – was so severely "molested" by a group of men, it was sent home in desperate need of repair and "badly soiled". Despite the damage, the owner claimed the robot was designed to take a lot and would "pull through". The attack on Samantha is deeply disturbing. It’s a blatant example of the violence that can happen when we tell men they can do whatever they want to an object designed to resemble a woman’s body.[3]