A Look at the Connection Between Sexuality, Gender, and Technology

A Look at the Connection Between Sexuality, Gender, and Technology

CES, an annual tech trade show happened this year in Las Vegas. But the biggest news that came out on this year’s event is about a product that was not even present in the tech trade show. It was Ose, a robotic vibrator that the show banned. Their reason for banning it was that some organizers said that the toy is some combination of obscene, immoral, and profane. They added that it was not in line with the “mom ‘n apple image” of the Consumer Technology Association. 

However, CES is also the association that took pride in debuting Harmony last year. Notably, Harmony is a hyper-realistic, AI-enabled sex doll that was manufactured by Abyss Creations. 

Moreover, the gender double standards that exist in the tech industry, which is dominated by males, are no longer surprising. But the issue behind Ose is pointing out the danger that the technology is inventing a future where similar double standards persist or even worsen. 

A Look at the Connection Between Sexuality, Gender, and Technology

Sex Object By Meredith Danluck

Sex Object, a short documentary written by Meredith Danluck dives into the road where sexuality, gender, and technology meets. There are two character studies that are compared in the film. The first one is David Mills, an author who is based in West Virginia, who has a sex doll named Taffy. On the other hand, the second character is Caroline Vreeland, an Instagram star who contemplates the fine line of difference between a sex symbol and a sex object. 

Along with the story, Danluck dives deeper into the ways that technology serves to reaffirm conventions around female sexuality and feminity. This technology, such as plastic surgery, interactive sex dolls, or Instagram filters, has the possibility of replacing people’s desire to connect in real life. 

Danluck is a longtime director of documentaries. Her first narrative feature titled “State Like Sleep” premiered just recently. Furthermore, she noted that technology is becoming a replacement for intimacy. She added that a smartphone can give a person the same hit and feeling like a relationship; however, on-demand. Now the real question is, what will happen if you will see the reality of a person as well as all her needs. 

In addition, the documentary director quickly pointed out that women and men are just as the same convenient as a Tinder swipe. However, when online dating platforms and social media encourage women to show themselves as some sort of product, how are they going to compete with the likes of Taffy? In addition, what will happen when technology, which serves as a commonplace for everyone, gives men the power to design a woman that is made to please them?

According to Danluck, it is easy to read the character David Mills as an extreme. She also discovered Mills in a video that costarred Taffy. She said that it was like Michael Shannon is one of the leading stars in his movie. When they were doing a press conference, he was talking about how he has played a lot of villains and weirdos. He then said that those people do not fall out of the sky. Rather, the culture created them. For this reason, we need to understand them if we want to understand ourselves. 

A Look at the Connection Between Sexuality, Gender, and Technology

How Developed Have Sex Dolls Become?

Technology has allowed the sex doll industry to develop over the years. Back then, sex dolls were nothing but inflatable plastics that are poorly shaped to mimic a woman’s body. 

However, as technology improves, sex dolls improve as well. Sex dolls now have high-tech features that allow them to be very realistic. In addition, these dolls now have a lot of features that are all intended to bring satisfaction to their owners.

For instance, a sex doll company named Abyss Creations was able to make a talking sex doll, a sex robot to be specific. The sex robot’s name is Harmony. She is Abyss Creation’s most ambitious creation. In fact, she can move, speak, and has a personality. On top of that, she can ever remember things about her owner.

Overall, Harmony is the culmination of Matt McMullen, the owner of Abyss Creation’s 22 years in the sex doll industry. He also spent five years researching and developing artificial intelligence (AI) and animatronics. This caused him to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.

The result of all his efforts is a hyper-realistic doll that no other manufacturers could surpass. 

McMullen’s aim for making Harmony is that he wants to go beyond the situation where a sex doll owner still needs to operate their doll using a remote-controlled or use a push-button animatronic doll. For this reason, Harmony was created as an actual robot that can move on her own and interact with people.

McMullen showed Harmony in a video. She was dressed in a white leotard and is supported by a stand hook between her shoulder blades. McMullen pressed a switch behind the sex robot’s back. This caused Harmony’s hazel eyes to spring open.  

The Abyss Creations owner talked to the doll and said “Hello, Harmony. How are you?” To which the sex robot replied “Feeling more intelligent than I did this morning.” She has a cut-glass English accent and her jaw is even moving up and down as she was speaking. 

A Look at the Connection Between Sexuality, Gender, and Technology

But Harmony is still a robot despite all the cut-edge technology that she has. For this reason, her response to McMullen’s question is a little delayed. Her cadence is also slightly wrong. In addition, her jaw is a little stiff. Yet, being able to create a sex robot that could speak on its own and without a need for remote control is something that is beyond excellent. 

Moreover, Harmony has a British accent and could even smile and smirk on her own. In addition, there are 20 various possible aspects of her personality. This is why her owners can choose and combine up to five or six personalities that appeal to them. This will then create the basis for artificial intelligence.

Furthermore, going back to the question of how developed sex dolls have already become, the answer is so much. Today’s sex dolls are so developed that they only need minimal supervision from their owners to move or talk.

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