FEATURE
SEX WITH ROBOTS: HOW SHOULD THE LAW RESPOND? MADI MCCARTHY1 WITH TANIA LEIMAN2
W
hile sex dolls have been available since at least the first half of the twentieth century, technology now enables hyper-realistic, internet-connected, individually programmable, sex robots.3 They can blink, smile and moan. They’re anatomically correct with an almost entirely customisable range of facial and bodily features, and bodies with a humanlike temperature. Marketed as a sex aid, a sex substitute and in some instances, a companion,4 demand for female sex robots far outweighs that for male versions, with male customers significantly outnumbering female customers. These technological developments, coupled with increasing demand and public concern, suggest Australian policymakers are likely to be confronted with calls for the regulation of sex robots in the future. Balancing competing and complex individual and public interests pose new ethical, regulatory and legal challenges for consideration.
ARGUMENTS OPPOSING SEX ROBOTS Similar to debates about pornography,5 critics argue sex robots objectify and increase the risk of sexual violence against real women.6 Arguably, hyper-realistic sex robots create and perpetuate unrealistic expectations about sexual subservience or subordinance,7 potentially increasing risks of sexual violence against women.8 Echoing Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon’s argument that pornography may desensitise men to sexual violence,9 Kate Darling has argued, in the context of all life-like robots, that ‘there is a danger that treating robots violently might have a negative impact on people’s empathy development.’10 If children vandalise robots that behave in a life-like way, this may influence the way they treat living things.11 Similarly, repeated use of sex robots in a violent manner may encourage ‘undesirable sexual acts or behaviors’.12
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Some sex robots can be programmed to reject a user’s sexual advances, mimicking a refusal of consent, a key element of sexual offences in Australia.13 For example, when the Frigid Farrah personality14 of TrueCompanion’s multi-personality sex robot Roxxxy is activated, it is ‘reserved and shy’15 and not ‘too appreciative’16 of a user’s sexual advances. Robert Sparrow notes that, ‘even if the rape of robots does not succeed in promoting – in the sense of increasing – the rape of women, it exhorts and endorses it.’17 However, he considers it may be misplaced to talk of ‘raping’ a robot that lacks the programmed ability to reject or refuse, given a robot’s inability to feel emotions or consent.18 In Sparrow’s view, this would not to be ‘an act of simulated rape or a representation of rape’19 but simply ‘sex with a robot.’20 This highlights the underlying issue of consent that plagues any discussion of ‘rape’ in the context of robots. After all, if sex robots are not human and cannot feel emotions or consent, is consent actually relevant in the context of human-robot sexual interactions?
ARGUMENTS SUPPORTING USE OF SEX ROBOTS On the other hand, could sex robots provide positive benefits? Others suggest their use in gender-imbalanced countries may actually relieve societal pressure on women, and provide safer alternatives to prostitution and trafficking.21 Advocates claim benefits can include empowering the older population and persons with disabilities, addressing sex-related anxiety, treating sexual dysfunctions, promoting safer sex and creating a safe place for people who ‘feel insecure about their sexual orientation’.22 Several countries in Asia and the Middle East have ‘significantly fewer females than males.’23 In 2017,
approximately 115 males per 100 females were born in China, and 111 males to 100 females born in India.24 The ‘natural’ sex ratio at birth is 105 males to 100 females.25 In the United Arab Emirates and Oman, where there is a large male migrant community, women are outnumbered approximately three to one and four to one respectively.26 Gender imbalances have various and differing consequences on men and women. Most obviously, demand will far outweigh supply of available women in the ‘marriage market.’27 Gender imbalance increases familial or societal pressure to marry and have children, while also placing significant value on a woman’s role as a wife, mother, or daughter-in-law.28 Women may also be at an increased risk of emotional, sexual or physical violence or trafficking. Of the excess men who do not marry or have children, ‘the most affected will be those of lowest socioeconomic status, the most uneducated and with fewer opportunities.’29 In a study of ‘attitudes of sex therapists and physicians toward the therapeutic benefits of sex robots’,30 the top three suggested uses were for physically handicapped persons (65%); to be able to live out certain sexual fantasies (61%); and in isolated environments, such as prisons or space stations (50%).31 The top three suggestions for specific diagnoses and situations in sexual therapy where sex robots could be utilised were for patients with social anxiety (50%); for people who do not have a partner but still want to have a sex life ‘without resorting to prostitution or fleeting acquaintances’32 (50%); and premature ejaculation (47%).33 Any regulation of sex robots will thus require delicate balancing of individual interests in autonomy and privacy in one’s own home and sexual relationships, with broader public interests, such as protecting adults from non-consensual sexual activity and preserving public morality.
