The DOI matches its Crossref record; 67 of the 67 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Rethinking ‘Sex Robots’: Gender, Desire, and Embodiment in Posthuman Sextech
Abstract
This paper interrogates the posthuman potential of sextech aimed at heterosexual men, positing that advertising and design of products with digital femininities emphasise the possibility for emotional interaction. This work firstly applies pressure to the monolithic conceptualisation of ‘sex robots’, that impedes rigorously appraising existing sextech constructions. Applying posthuman theory to sextech, particularly critical posthumanism and the formative work of Donna Haraway, affords this investigation the theoretical rigour to reflect on the potential for emotional interaction with digital feminised others. Through digital media analysis, this paper explores three gendered-female technologies: Azuma Hikari, (2020); the RealdollX Application (2020) and VirtualMate (2020) alongside their concomitant promotional material. This research illustrates that the complex convergence of interactive technologies, digital feminities and emotive advertising suggests a shift into posthuman sextech – where digital feminities are designed and advertised as capable of providing erotic and emotive interaction.
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“Users can also shape the chatbot´s personality and appearance which allows for greater personalization (Brandtzaeg & Følstad, 2017;Locatelli, 2022)”
From Understanding Human-Chatbot Romance: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study on Romantic Fantasy and Other Interpersonal Characteristics (2025) · cites this paper as Locatelli, 2022
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Cites
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The Companion Species Manifesto : Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness
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Posthuman, All Too Human: Towards a New Process Ontology
Braidotti, R. (2006) · Theory, Culture & Society · doi:10.1177/0263276406069232 · Cited by 384
Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective
(2022) · Philosophical Literary Journal Logos · doi:10.22394/0869-5377-2022-1-237-268 · Cited by 365
Carnal Resonance: Affect and Online Pornography
Paasonen, S. (2011) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/9780262016315.001.0001 · Cited by 356
Posthumanism : A Critical Analysis
(2013) · Bloomsbury Academic eBooks · doi:10.5040/9781472548207 · Cited by 305
Strengers, Y., & Kennedy, J. (2020) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/12482.001.0001 · Cited by 296
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Bendel, O. (2020). Maschinenliebe: Liebespuppen und Sexroboter aus technischer, psychologischer und philosophischer Perspektive. Springer Gabler. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-29864 · DOI
- Braidotti, R. (2013). The Posthuman. Polity Press.
- Haraway, D. (1991). A Cyborg Manifesto. In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (pp. 149–181). Routledge.
- Haraway, D. (2004). The Haraway Reader. Routledge.
- Mcintyre, A. (2020). Gendering Cuteness. In The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication (pp. 1–6). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119429128.iegmc285 · DOI
- Ranish, R., & Sorgner, S. L. (2014). Introducing Post- and Transhumanism. In R. Ranish & S. L. Sorgner (Eds.), Post- and Transhumanism: An Introduction (pp. 7–27). Peter Lang.
- Scheutz, M., & Arnold, T. (2017). Intimacy, Bonding, and Sex Robots: Examining Empirical Results and Exploring Ethical Ramifications. In J. Danaher & N. McArthur (Eds.), Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications (pp. 444–469). The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262036689.001.0001/ · DOI
- Wilde, P. & Evans, A. (2019) Empathy at play: Embodying posthuman subjectivities in gaming. Convergence. [Online] 25 (5–6), 791–806. [online]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/135485651770998. · DOI
- Vol. 4 No. 3 (2022): Gender, Sexuality, and Embodiment in Digital Spheres: Connecting Intersectionality and Digitality
Cited by
Hanson, K. R., & Bolthouse, H. (2024) · Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World · doi:10.1177/23780231241259627 · Cited by 42
“Still though, some contend the pleasurable benefits of the technology out-weigh the risks (Hanson and Locatelli 2022).”
InfluentialEbner, P., & Szczuka, J. (2025) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2503.00195 · Cited by 33
Enactive artificial intelligence: subverting gender norms in human-robot interaction
Hipólito, I., Winkle, K., & Lie, M. (2023) · Frontiers in Neurorobotics · doi:10.3389/fnbot.2023.1149303 · Cited by 27
Metadata
- Authors
- Locatelli, C.
- Venue
- Journal of Digital Social Research
- Published
- 2022-07-29
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 10-33
- ISSN
- 2003-1998
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 67
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