Comments on: The Perfect Woman

By: Roger

Roger — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:49:11 +0000

I would rather have a woman tbh. This is really dumb if you ask me. When my life (22yo male’s life) hits the fan in the future mature yrs, how the hell is a robot going to comfort me?? And tell me it’s ok?

The guy is dumb, I can’t say he hates women because he’s just not all there in the head I think.

By: Men’s Magazine Desires World Without Meaningful Consent : The Curvature

Men’s Magazine Desires World Without Meaningful Consent : The Curvature — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:54:44 +0000

[...] and turned into an all submissive sex toy (read: rape victim), or if it’s supposed to be a highly realistic fembot that looks like a real woman for a man’s sexually assaulting [...]

By: Helen

Helen — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:07:17 +0000

I’m disturbed that it’s described as “the perfect woman” at least in part because it looks more like a 12-year-old girl.
Just me?

By: truth

truth — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:21:13 +0000

The guy didn’t build it for any sexual reasons. He just wanted a ‘female presence’ around. Sure he’s weird but don’t just assume he built it as a ’sexbot’ just because it’s a woman. Assumptions are bad, mkay?

By: Erica

Erica — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:14:15 +0000

This can’t possibly be for real. It looks exactly like a Real Doll. And then this, emphasis mine: “Women usually try to talk to her. But men always want to touch her, and if they do it the wrong way she slaps them.”

Earlier in the article, Le stated that he hasn’t overcome the obstacle of getting his android to walk in a human fashion (which is well known to be a huge challenge in robotics). But then he’s says he programmed her to slap programmed? I call bullshit. The arm movement required for that is just as challenging as walking, plus there are all sorts of judgment calls (how hard to hit, where to hit, who to hit) that just aren’t plausible.

Show me a video of Aiko smacking somebody, I might believe. Show me pictures of Real-Doll-Aiko posed rigid by a mirror with a sponge, no fucking way. This guy is seeking attention, and the Sun went and gave it to him.

As a commentary on the ideals of this creepy jerk, maybe it’s worth considering, but this ain’t a robot wife — hell, I doubt she has any wires in her at all. It’s interesting that whatever fantasy he built up around his Real Doll makes her a robot woman, though, rather than a real one…

By: FeministReview

FeministReview — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:57:16 +0000

Hmmm… I wonder then what the perfect robot man is? At least she slaps men who try to touch her. That’s kind of funny, right? (looking for the bright side)

By: Darcie

Darcie — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:22:02 +0000

Yeah, I was just thinking that she was a Chobit as well. In the end most men ended up replacing their wives and girlfriends with robots. The whole series is about how human interaction is replaced with an agreeable robot, and the pain that causes real women. Certainly men who were not looking for an intellectual stimulating relationship are attracted to machines that do all these subservient things for them.

Is CLAMP Psychic?

By: Zula

Zula — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:03:47 +0000

I wouldn’t be surprised, given his apparent fondness for Japanese pop culture (naming her Aiko, dressing her up in Lolita fashion), if he got his inspiration from an anime/manga series called “Chobits.” The premise of the series is that, in the future, almost everyone has a lifelike android called a “persocom” (personal computer) that helps them with basic tasks. It actually addresses some of the ethical moral dilemmas around people’s relationships with these persocoms – is having sex with a persocom immoral or just creepy? Do persocoms deserve the same rights as humans? Where do we draw the line between human and android?

Ironically, I was just discussing this show from a feminist perspective during lunch today.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:13:26 +0000

Hah, Claire, I totally wrote a short story about that premise, exactly. But the reading of it is so disturbing I haven’t shown it to too many people. I fear the creeps I might get e-mails from if I got it published.

By: Claire

Claire — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:24:46 +0000

While I understand why everyone finds this so disturbing, all you have to do is pull a little duckrabbit perspective-change to see that it’s the most awesome thing ever. Why? Because for every frat boy and Nice Guy we can set up with these devices, that’s one more woman who won’t have his nonsense inflicted upon her.

Of course, much like with the robotic/automation helping to alleviate worker alienation by replacing members of oppressed classes with machines that lack meaningful subjective experience, there’s a problem that the replaced members of the oppressed class don’t necessarily experience automatic social promotion. Just as a worker replaced by a machine doesn’t receive a wage for the machine’s work, women will still suffer from all the institutional sexism the world can muster, they’ll just have one fewer way of accessing male power.

Plus, it will make exceptionally-good blogging fodder when these robots start teaching women’s classes at Bob Brown and Liberty universities.

Sigh. Maybe we could program the robots to electrocute their users to death?