Robot fetish
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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_fetish ]
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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