Robot sex dolls that let men simulate rape should be outlawed, campaigner says
Sex dolls that can be programmed to resist advances and allow men to “rape” them should be illegal in Britain, a campaigner says.
Katie Parker, who founded the School's Consent Project, a charity that teaches pupils about consent, pointed to the Roxxxy sex doll launched by US-based True Companion, which uses artificial intelligence to create different personalities to cater for user’s fantasies.
One of these models is called ‘Frigid Farrah’ and it sets the robot to resist sexual advances. It has settings to cater for different fantasies such as ‘the dominatrix’ or the ‘barely 18-year-old.’
Parker says while it is not an offence to own one of the dolls in the UK, it normalizes sexual violence.
“Some say these robots reinforce the objectification of women and the commodification of sex; others, that they allow otherwise isolated individuals to experience intimacy. Either way, Roxxxy is a different beast,” she wrote in her blog.
“The fact that she is not a thinking, feeling human does not make her existence unproblematic. The robots normalize sexual violence. They service and provide a distraction for criminal impulses that should probably be subject to psychiatric intervention.”
Parker says customers are promised that if they touch the robot “in a private area, more than likely she will not be too appreciative of your advance.”
“The proven relationship between one’s behavior and the type of content one if exposed to makes a strong case for criminalization,” she added.
For £7,670 ($10,000), True Companion allows customers to choose one of 73 hair colors in 39 styles, eye and eyebrow color, pedicure color, skin tone and the shape and type of pubic hair.
Roxxxy is the company’s flagship product and is a fully-customizable ‘sexbot’ costing £7,700. As well as sex, True Companion says she can provide companionship and social support for lonely men.
The company maintains the doll is not programmed to participate in a rape scenario, and such allegations were “pure conjecture.” It says the doll is designed to “provide her opinion or feedback, just as any person would on a date” and can therefore be a learning tool “to help people understand how they can be intimate with a partner.”
