The article opens with alerting the reader to the “trivialisation” of robots in today’s society, where many don’t know or don’t seem to understand how robots are treated or how dependent society has become on robots. It is when they start to look like people that concerns are raised- how are we as a people supposed to react when someone can build a robot that looks like anyone they idolize, and then use it for their own personal gratification? Do you agree that this objectification of humanoid female robots as result of how women are treated and perceived in today’s society, or is this an inevitable result of the use of technology in the adult industry?
ENGL 360 | Future Perfect Human
Prof. Myra Seaman | Fall 2016
Truthfully, I think the Scarlett Johansson robot is by itself a scary representation of the objectification of a particular woman in modern culture. Even more disturbing, though, is the findings of the study mentioned in the article which suggest robots / technologies are ascribed gender based upon the functions they perform. We see reflected in these robots our own (and equally man-made) ideas about inherent or essential functions of “gender.”
Despite the incredibly pervasive problems with ascribing gender to humanoid robots, the existence of such robots, I think, gives a chance to “re-do” our notions of gender. At the very least, the arrival of robots into our daily lives will, as the article suggests, force us to reckon with the gender roles we place around “real” humans.
When considering the objectification of female robots, it is difficult to say whether the objectification is the result of already-existing gender roles in our society or if it is simply the result of the use of technology in an adult industry. I think that both suggestions contribute greatly to the objectification we see in Ex Machina and in other situations like it. In her article, Gee seems to point to both examples of existing gender roles and the use of robots in the adult industry to help better understand how and why females have become objectified in technology.
On the one hand, Gee sees already-existing gender roles being applied to technology, like in the robot version of Scarlett Johansson, which she describes as an “utterly disappointing reflection of the way women are portrayed in society.” Gee also sees machines contributing to the objectification of women as a result of the industry they exist in. Dr. Kathleen Richardson says, “A machine, like the portrayal of women in pornography, prostitution and the media are entirely objects for male gratification.”
So to answer Levina’s question, I think it is hard to say whether one force (objectification of female robots is result of how women are perceived in society) is greater than another force (objectification is an inevitable result of the use of technology in the adult industry) in contributing to the perpetuation of gender roles in technology. I think that both are very much interrelated and that gender roles in technology should be approached with caution. Gee urges for technology to be built on an “amazing new platform to defy gender stereotypes” and I agree, but I wonder what that platform might look like?
I think this is both a result of how women are treated and perceived in today’s society and an inevitable result of the use of technology in the adult industry. The combination of the two has resulted not only in this happening but for it to be perceived acceptable enough for Ricky Ma to share his invention publicly and not even keep it a secret. On one hand, it is an intrusion of that specific person’s body, being used in ways they would not actually allow. On the contrary, if these robotic models were to completely replace human pornography, maybe it would be less of a life-intruding industry. For example, if no actual humans had to objectify themselves and be filmed in pornography, and instead only robots fulfilled this societal “need,” then it would eliminate the emotional scarring on pornography stars. While this alternative of course remains controversial, it is a likely eventual outcome in this fore coming robotic society.