For years, anxious and lonely men – and women — have despaired over their prospects for ever finding a love partner. For those wallowing in misery – or just seeking an edgy diversion – there may be a new and “freaky” solution. Robotic love partners, some with customizable body parts, including genitals – dubbed “sex bots” – are beginning to flood the market. And according to industry experts, they’re more functional – and satisfying – than ever.
Critics say sex-bots, in principle, are no different from inflatable sex dolls – an inanimate sex toy designed to pleasure male consumers in the crassest way possible. They’re horrified by reports that sales of sex-bots are booming, though still largely under the radar.
A decade ago, few had even heard of sex-bots, though surveys suggested that the public was hungry for news about them, with about 20% of those interviewed in 2017 saying they would consider having an encounter with one.
Today, that desire is no longer just hypothetical. According to research data compiled by AI Mojo, sex bot sales have quietly mushroomed over the past five years, growing by nearly 25% annually. That translates into 150 sex-bots sold daily – and 250 per day in Europe – the firm reports.
In the US alone, the sex-bot market now stands at $200 million, a seven-fold increase since 2019. Experts expect it to reach over $300 million by 2026.
Indeed, according to the robotics survey firm AI Mojo, more than 15% of all adult Americans – and more than 18% of Europeans and 27% of Asians, especially Japanese – already own a sex bot – or have interacted with one, at least once.
Among US adults, that translates into 40 million (at least) one-time consumers. For comparison, about 35 million US adults regularly vape e-cigarettes. Sex–bot users may be “freaks” to some, but with these numbers, they already comprise a distinct sexual subculture – on par, perhaps, with devotees of “swinging” or BDSM.
In fact, the sex-bot sub-culture may be more “mainstream” than outsiders realize. Who buys and uses the sex-bots? Everyone it seems – single and married, young and old – and at broadly comparable rates (though 18-25 year olds are the heaviest users).
According to AI Mojo, 45% of men use their sex-bots weekly, compared to 30% of women. In addition, 70% and above of each age group say they use their sex-bot at least “monthly.” That’s not an addiction but it does seem to constitute “regular” use
Another interesting finding concerns user satisfaction. While 60% of users report “improved mental and emotional health” as a result of their sex-bot use, 40% do not. Indeed, some admit that far from filling a void, their robot makes them feel “lonelier than before” – which is telling. But so far, few sex-bot owners seem to be giving up on their mechanical partner for good.
Liberation or dysfunction?
Sex-bot owners disdain the comparison to blow-up sex dolls – and the implication that they’re just creeps obsessed with sexual gratification. Sex-bots that can talk and even respond to their owners are a source of genuine companionship, they say. They’re not sex-obsessed – they’re just lonely.
The degree of “autonomy” of a sex-bot is easily overstated. And the relationship, such that it is, could hardly be called “consensual.” After all, the sex-bot is always available for sex – and of course, never takes “no” for an answer. She can also be made to perform lewd sex acts that many real-live partners, given the choice, might resist.
But those attracted to sex-bots say a real interaction, though, in part, fantasized, does occur. And the sex, which may include fondling and kissing and much more, is enjoyable. Amazingly, some users even suggest that sex-bots are better partners in bed than their one-time spouses or girlfriends — which seems like a fanciful claim, in light of their admitted romantic difficulties.
“It looks like a doll, but you feel as though it’s really alive. When you make love to your wife, there can be some problems. With a doll, none of that matters,” says one avid consumer.
It’s easy to dismiss these comments as emotionally insensitive at best – and misogynistic at worst. Don’t cheating men say the same thing about their favorite prostitute – or their mistress? My loyal wife just doesn’t understand me – but “Candy” does? And those intimate substitutes are at least flesh-and-blood women!
But there may be far more to this trend than outsiders think. Sex and relationship experts appear to be evenly divided – some bemoaning the trend, others suggesting it points to important changes in social mores, and pressures among youth especially for new relationship options.
Katheryn Richardson, a leading critic, says sex-bots can only fuel a loss of intimacy and a decline in commitment to real relationships. “Sex robots emerge from commercial and illegal ideas about sex where you don’t have to have empathy for another. You don’t have to take into account what they’re thinking and feeling and experiencing and you can objectify them… I’m anti-anything that turns human bodies into commercial objects for buying and selling,” she says.
But others claim sex-bots aren’t as creepy as they sound, and might well serve a useful purpose. Journalist Marina Adshade, who’s written her own book, Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications, on the subject, believes sex-bots could spice up stale marriages crippled by sexual anxiety and dysfunction – or sheer boredom.
Having a bot available might ease sexual demands on marital partners, she says, leading them to focus more squarely on companionship and emotional intimacy. And the bots might even allow couples to explore new sexual options, without either party falling into the temptation of extra-marital affairs, which can devastate an otherwise loving marriage.
The fact that experts are even debating the issue suggests just how far the broader culture has evolved on this issue in the space of a single decade.
What’s changed? For one thing, robotics has become more widely accepted by consumers as a part of the evolving economy – both in manufacturing and in cars and household products. At the same time, traditional norms regarding sexuality and gender identity have been called into question. What once might have seemed fanciful and outlandish is increasingly being deemed credible – and for some, even desirable.
In 2019, when Japan’s first sex-bot brothel opened to great fanfare, there was a huge outcry. The venue promised “futuristic sex” and openly catered to men seeking bisexual threesomes. Some alarmists suggested that Japanese sex bots – which were hardly mainstream – were somehow responsible for the country’s declining birth rate. Some even suggested that the bots were turning Japanese men into “sex addicts.”
In Houston, TX, citizens angrily protested when they learned that a sex-bot brothel had been granted a business license to open a similar establishment in their city. At a community meeting before the city council, one attendee warned: “A business like this would destroy homes, families, finances of our neighbors and cause major community uproars in the city.”
In response, the Houston council voted unanimously to revoke the brothel’s license and passed an ordinance saying such establishments would not be tolerated. Supporters of “traditional” family values claimed a huge victory.
But the moral panic has clearly subsided.
Robot developers say critics are overemphasizing sex as a motive for developing robotic companions. Many of those currently in use in Japan are designed to help with housework and child care, they note. If robots are increasingly useful in the home, why should they be restricted – arbitrarily – from the bedroom?
Of course, most robotic work helpers currently on the market are less than life-like; most resemble simple machines, without heads or faces, and without private body parts. Sex-bots, by contrast, are a special class of robots, designed especially for close companionship and sex.
So, clearly a Rubicon of sorts is being crossed once that bedroom door opens.
Functionality is improving
Science is still a long way off from creating fully functional sex robots – which may well be limiting their utility – and desirability – beyond the most avid trend-setting early adopters. Artificial intelligence has allowed for more sophisticated body movements – to the neck and above, mainly – an array of facial expressions and some limited vocal capabilities, which makes the bots seem “life-like.”
But even these sex-bots are not yet available on the mass market, mainly because of the exorbitant cost – about $8,000 for a top-line model. In 2020, a Dutch company sold 2,000 advanced sex-bots in Japan at prices only the super-wealthy could afford. More primitive sex-bots – mainly motorized life-sized plastic or metallic replicas – may go for as little as $600 per unit.
“I think that technological advances in this sector have to be looked at in the medium-long term since they require very advanced technology and mechanics,” notes one sex-bot developer.
But Dr. Deborah Soh, a neuro-scientist and gender expert who has studied the rise of sex-bots, says she has changed her assumptions about their long-term viability.
“I previously thought most people would prefer a real-life person,” she told Joe Rogan in a podcast interview late last year. “I also thought the technology is still so far off. But I’m not so sure anymore.”
Soh notes that the early robot prototypes had fully-formed heads and attractive faces and might whisper a sweet-nothing or two, but they didn’t have truly functional bodies or voice activation. Performing interactive sex was more fantasized than real, she says.
But the latest models express a full range of expressions and emotions, oohing and ahhing in response to stimulation, with more elaborate body movements beyond swivels and turns of their head. Some can move their arms and legs, simulate cuddling, open their lips and mouths, and reach out for a kiss.
China, for example, has several companies, including W.R. Doll, that hand-craft their sex-bots, with skin-like soft silicone and articulated joints, including finger and toes and wrinkles and freckles. Trained artists design each body to be unique and irreplaceable.
With continuing advances in AI and robotics, Soh says it’s “only a matter of time before sex-bots appear and act even more shockingly real.”
Soh credits the 2014 movie Ex Machina – which featured a romantic relationship between a young man and “Ava,” a seductive AI-generated female android – with helping to stoke public acceptance of sex-bots.The movie – a racy noirish sci-fi thriller – enjoyed critical and popular acclaim, earning a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Another popular movie, Her – released a year earlier, in which a lonely writer falls in love with a female “phone operating system”– has also stoked the sex-bot trend.
Will sex-bots survive?
The jury is still out on whether sex-bots will survive beyond the current early adopter phase. While social acceptance – or at least tolerance – is growing, cost remains a huge obstacle to the expansion of the current market.
Even with limited functionality, sex androids aren’t cheap – and getting the cost down won’t be easy. Is the sex-bot market robust enough to justify mass production at a price the working class can actually afford? Probably not. In fact, with more advanced animatronics, sex bots are likely to be even pricier, pushing them further out of reach of the average consumer, experts say.
In the end, sex bot users could prove to be fickle – or perhaps, of two kinds. For the bored and idle rich, they might soon become the latest gadget fad – a titillating play-toy that ends up consigned to the attic, dumped in a landfill or posted for auction on eBay. In the meantime, their invited guests might get a real hoot out of seeing a sex-bot perched in a chair alongside them at the dinner table.
Like an obscure work of art, a sex-bot could become an interesting conversation piece – or simply a source of amusement. But in the end, just a passing fancy.
But for others, disgusted with dating, to say nothing of cohabitation with human partners, sex-bots might well turn into something far more meaningful – a newfangled form of enduring partnership. Something like a precious and obedient pet to care for – a relationship of dependence, conducted largely on one’s own terms, without constant haggles. A crutch and a placeholder of sorts.
It sounds far-fetched, largely because most sex bots on the current market are still just a mechanical version of sex dolls. But as they become far more advanced – not just in their mobility but with a thinking and memory capacity that could one day allow them to participate in a more complex and interactive relationship – will sex-bots still be considered and treated as mere “machines” and objects of mere fantasy?
It’s noteworthy that men are not the only prospective consumers of sex-bots. A UK-based company, Realbotix, has already developed “Henry,” the first sex robot for women. Henry’s figure includes 6-pack abs and stubble on his cheek. But Henry’s most compelling feature may be his “customizable penis,” which women can adjust to their personal tastes.
According to Henry’s developers, there’s more than sex at stake for women. Many prospective purchases say they are more interested in companionship than sex per se. Female consumers also want a robot that will talk to them about their life concerns and meet their needs for genuine intimacy, the company says.
In fact, many men express the same desire. And that means none of the ugly arguments and discord they might encounter in a messy real-life relationship with a woman – or another man for that matter. But it also implies a “relationship” of some kind, and not one that can be easily dispensed with on a whim.
Consumers also get attached to their cars, their laptop, their favorite chair and other inanimate personal items in which they invest their values and vision. And of course, their pets, which for some sad lonely-hearts, are the only “sentient” relationship they’ve ever known. So, why not add a lifelike talking sex-bot that can do more than just purr and cuddle? Is that really such an outlandish idea?
The current regulatory void
The sudden explosion of interest in sex-bots has certainly caught regulators and lawmakers by surprise. In the United States, fear that some unscrupulous companies might produce sex robots in the image of children has already spurred congressional action. In 2019, the House of Representatives passed a bill outlawing the manufacture and sale of child sex robots. Many states can be expected to follow suit.
Beyond that, except for the local sex-brothel ordinance, not much has happened. As was the case with another breakthrough consumer technology – vaping – regulators were reluctant to step in without a body of scientific evidence demonstrating there was a documented risk of real harm to consumers. The market exploded – and the Juul pen soon took over the market and sales to youngsters skyrocketed.
It’s taken a good decade, but regulators have since imposed heavy restrictions on vaping pens and products. It could happen with sex-bots, but probably not preemptively. The free market implies that consumers have a right to weigh their own options – and to spend their money as they please – unless a clear and present danger is present.
It may well be, as some doomsayers suggest, that the arrival of sex-bots is somerhing akin to a social and moral apocalypse. Even Joe Rogan in his recent podcast with Deborah Soh, wondered aloud whether something akin to a death wish with was lurking in the fascination with robotic love partners – a withdrawal from meaningful social engagement bordering on a disdain for the “human life-form itself,” he suggested
Kate Devlin, author of Science Sex and Robots, has made a similar observation, noting that a semblance of human-like behavior can be enough for us to assume a degree of sentience, but a lot depends on the imagination and fantasy of the consumer. “A significant factor may be that ‘human-looking but not alive’ is redolent of death,” she suggests, noting that a sex-bot, when completely stationary, resembles “nothing but a corpse.”
It would be for those outside the emerging sex-bot subculture to disparage the movement as bizarre and exploitative – if not downright toxic and dysfunctional. But just as one can easily stigmatize politicians that seem to represent a decline in moral values, one is still obligated to ask, how is it that such figures rose to such prominence in the first place? What is it about the quality of our political leaders – or the quality of our life and culture –that make such seemingly unsavory options “choosable”?
A growing niche of consumers are seeking romantic and sexual satisfaction outside of “mainstream” dating and relationship practices seemingly content to survive within an orbit of asocial self-gratification. But are the rest of us as content as we pretend with the status quo? Of life on hook-up sites like Tinder or Grinder. Of never-ending relationship counseling to try to heal and sally forth in search of finally finding the “One” – or at least someone.
Maybe sex bot enthusiasts are the real seekers – they’re onto something new and edgy, and in search of a liberation of sorts. Maybe, in their own desperate and inchoate way, they do sense that the current “life form,” as Rogan puts it, or the current state of life, is indeed, deeply unfulfilling. They don’t want death or oblivion; they want a hint of freedom, something special to hold onto, just someone to “call their own.”
The post Depressed and Lonely? There Could Be a Robotic Sex Partner in Your Future appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Stewart Lawrence.