Robot fetishism
- This article is part of the SM-201 Macropedia
Robot fetishism (also ASFR or technosexuality) is a fetishistic attraction to humanoid or non-humanoid robots; also to people acting like robots or people dressed in robot costumes. A less common fantasy involves transformation into a robot. In these ways it is similar to statuephilia, which involves attraction to or transformation into statues or mannequins.
Robot fetishism can be viewed as a form of erotic anthropomorphism. When transformation or roleplaying is involved it can be thought of as a form of erotic objectification.
One company, Kokoro Company Ltd., of Japan, produces Actroids (a portmanteau of "actor" and "android"). These human looking machines are used at visitor kiosks to provide travel information.
Metropolis
"Metropolis", a 1927 movie by Fritz Lang, is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and follows the attempts of Freder, the wealthy son of the city master, and Maria, a saintly figure to the workers, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes in their city and bring the workers together with Joh Fredersen, the city master. The film's message is encompassed in the final inter-title: "The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands Must Be the Heart".
Metropolis met a mixed reception upon release. Critics found it pictorially beautiful and visually powerful—the film's art direction by Otto Hunte, Erich Kettelhut and Karl Vollbrecht draws influence from Bauhaus, Cubist and Futurist design,[9] along with touches of the Gothic in the scenes in the catacombs, the cathedral and Rotwang's house — and lauded its complex special effects, but accused its story of naiveté. H. G. Wells described the film as "silly", and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction calls the film's story "trite" and its politics "ludicrously simplistic". The film's alleged Communist message was also criticized.
A.S.F.R.
By its enthusiasts, robot fetishism is more commonly referred to by the initials ASFR. This acronym stems from the now defunct newsgroup alt.sex.fetish.robots. Many devotees of this fetish refer to themselves as technosexual, or as "ASFRians". ASFR can be divided into two distinct but sometimes overlapping types of fantasies.
The first of these is simply a desire to have a ready-made android partner. This partner can be desired for sex, companionship, or any combination of the two. The main distinguishing feature of this fantasy is that the android is a completely artificial construct, manufactured solely to fulfill the wishes of its owner. This type of fantasy or situation is referred to as built.
The second type of fantasy prevalent within ASFR is referred to as transformation. This involves a human who has been either willingly or unwillingly turned into an android. That person can be either oneself or one's partner, or both. It is usually the process of transformation (through whatever means it is achieved) that is the focus of this fantasy.
Many people in the ASFR community prefer either one or the other. In some cases this preference is very strong, and people can be as equally repelled by one type as they are attracted to the other. In other cases, there is as much appreciation for built as there is for transformation. A recent informal survey of ASFR community members found that three fifths prefer built while the remainder prefer transformation or some combination of both.
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Robot_fetishism ]
Robot fetishism in popular culture
References to this fetish can be seen in movies, television, music and magazines. These range from the subtle to the obvious. Robots and androids can be portrayed as attractive or sexy for no reason relevant to plot or background, or they can be specific objects of desire because of their artificiality.
- The song "Electric Barbarella" (from Duran Duran's 1997 album Medazzaland) focuses unambiguously on the topic. The lyrics tell of a man professing his love for a female robot. The video for the song features a fembot being purchased and moving in a machine-like way. It also features scenes of a panel on the robot's back being opened to allow its battery to be changed. Electronic circuitry and wires can then be seen inside.
- In the 2004 video for the song "Plug It In" (from Basement Jaxx's 2003 album Kish Kash) two security guards activate some fembots after factory closing hours. The immodestly dressed robots move in the stereotypical jerky and mechanical ways and end up malfunctioning to the point of severe damage due to the overzealousness of the two guards controlling them.
- In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the android, Data, was the object of sexual desire more than once up to actual sex and was "fully functional" and "programmed with multiple techniques"
- The low budget 1981 science fiction film Escape from DS3 (produced by Anne Spielberg) features female robots that are used as a plot device for a prison break. In one scene, one of the robots has a large portion of her back removed, revealing complicated looking electronics underneath. The male lead is then heard to remark "You are so beautiful".
- Realistic sex robots are widely manufactured by robotics firms in the 2001 film A.I.. A main character in the film is the mecha prostitute Gigolo Joe, played by Jude Law.
- In the 2005 movie Serenity, the character Mr. Universe owns (and is married to) a companion robot, even though she is partly operated by a remote control unit and acts in an obviously machine-like way.
- Futurama has used the term "robosexual" as a synonym of technosexual in description of Fry and the Lucy Liu Android's robot fetishism relationship.
- The 1987 science fiction film Cherry 2000 is about a man whose robotic love interest breaks beyond repair, after which he goes on a search for a replacement.
References
- "ASFR", documentary short by filmmaker Allison de Fren (streaming video)
- "Remote Control" (clip only), SexTV documentary episode featuring interviews with members of the ASFR community (streaming video)
- "Deviant Desires: Incredibly Strange Sex", by Katharine Gates, Hushion House (October 1999), ISBN 1-890451-03-7 (web page)
- "Wrong Turns Down The Sex-Info-Highway 5.07", by Martine Duplessis, Exotic Magazine, 1996 (web page)
- "Transformation vs. Built Poll", Fembot Central Message Board, Sept. 26, 2006 (web page)
External Links
- List of fictional gynoids and female cyborgs on Wikipedia
- Fembot Central message board - ASFR community hub
- ASFR entry on sexuality.org
- The Technosexuality, Pygmalionist & Mind Control Fetish FAQ 3.0
- Sexually Interactive Autonomous Robots (Friedman and Kubat, M.I.T.)
- Impacts of Robotic Sex (The Futurist magazine)
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