November 21, 2009
UTNE READER

The Strange Future of Cyber Sex Toys

(Page 3 of 3)

January/February 2000
By Richard Kadrey, Shift (www.shift.com/) 
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That's significant, because cybersex today is more about looking than about feeling. Unlike the fetishism of the window peeper or the trench coat flasher, in cybersex the space between partners is a huge part of the turn-on. Cyberdildos add touch to the mix, but the appeal remains the same. And remember, this is just version 1.0. The challenge is to answer a simple question posed by technophilosophers Arthur and Marilouise Kroker: "What is the fate of the tongue in virtual reality?" A genuine technological sexuality would have to replicate all the senses—taste and smell, sight and touch—aroused by real sex.

RELATED CONTENT

As sex technology gets more sophisticated, so do the questions it raises. If a married man gets a RoboSuck job from a Russian iFriend, is it adultery? If someone with a gender-neutral name and no video face "touches" you, is it a gay encounter? Does it matter? Old notions of fidelity and gender may not even have a place in a cultural free-fire zone where sex is disease- and pregnancy-free, and almost entirely devoid of real-world consequences. Just as the birth control pill changed the course of sexual politics, cyberdildonics has the potential to be revolutionary.

For more:

Teledildonics: the Future of Sex;
www.teledildonics.com New developments, products, virtual sex site links.

Sex Education Web Circle:
www.sexuality.org/wc/ The Society for Human Sexuality site includes guides, reviews, and resources.

The Women's Guide to Sex on the Web by Cathy Winks and Anne Semans (Harper Edge, 1999).

From Shift (Nov. 1999). Subscriptions: $17.97/yr. (9 issues) from Box 3000; Station Brm. B., Toronto, ON M7Y7A2.

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