Fembot Article

[88edwina]

Hi guys,

My name is Edwina and I've been interested in Fembot Central for a few years now since I stumbled upon it back in 2008. I'm a writer for a free street mag in Sydney, Australia called The Spit Press. Through it I get to write about interesting people who don't live the same boring, copy-paste lives like everyone else, or people who have views that are a little left of centre. I pride my writing on being diplomatic and never judgemental.

I'd really love to write an article about Fembots and the interest in them, and ultimately how technology has made its way into our private lives. I'd love to find out how you discovered your interest in fembots and how important communities like Fembot Central are to you. I have posted a couple of questions below that I'd really love to get feedback on. You are welcome to email me your answers anonymously through my email edwina@spitpress.com.au . I'm happy not to mention any names. Really looking forward to hearing your story.


1. When did you discover you were into fembots? What were your original thoughts and feelings?

2. How big a role does your interest in fembots have in your life?

3. What is the biggest attraction about it to you or the biggest turn on?

4. What would be your ultimate dream involving fembots? Eg to have one of your own.

5. How do you gain fulfilment from this interest?

6. How important is Fembot Central to you and what role does it have in your life?

7. Do you have friends or a partner that you discuss this interest with or does it remain on Fembot Central

8. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about this passion/interest?

9. Have you ever incorporated it into your sex life?

10. What are your views on technology working its way into our private lives? Do you think it is a good or a bad thing? Why do you think it has happened?

[--NightBattery--]

I remember from sometime ago (though not registered) about a girl asking stuff for a psychological study
i sometimes wonder if (we) people that likes machines can be thought as progressive people, you know, for science, love of thinkering and create new stuff or as the ultimate consumers and souless automatons with the disposition to replace humans with machines and "gadgets".
I in my personal life would not dare to replace a human with a machine and i always wonder how many of the situations here portrayed could come to be in society, i think we are most likely "Pigmaleons" (you know, the greek myth) rather than the second.

I like Australia. wonderful place. wonderful people. but the food...


okey then...here goes nothing.

1. When did you discover you were into fembots? What were your original thoughts and feelings? as a child, science fiction, feeling: Science & do want.

2. How big a role does your interest in fembots have in your life?
No impact, only like more science and dislike moral predisposition, if there were automatons, they would be for being used, as computers or other similar stuff.

3. What is the biggest attraction about it to you or the biggest turn on?
that it´s my personal multi task machine

4. What would be your ultimate dream involving fembots? Eg to have one of your own. bring robots to full term in real life, even if not sexual

5. How do you gain fulfilment from this interest?
science...what it has done

6. How important is Fembot Central to you and what role does it have in your life? i dont have to lurk in the web

7. Do you have friends or a partner that you discuss this interest with or does it remain on Fembot Central
remain

8. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about this passion/interest?
that we look like this guy
http://www.seo-chicks.com/wp-content/up ... ntDork.jpg

9. Have you ever incorporated it into your sex life?
just when drunk.

10. What are your views on technology working its way into our private lives? Do you think it is a good or a bad thing? Why do you think it has happened?
as anything human under an economic regimen of satisfaction of fabricated necessities....bad, i really hope we change our ways before the robotics advance that much or we´ll care even less about people

my opinions are not necessarily agreed by everyone.

[dale coba]

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

edwina@spitpress.com.au

Technical details of permanent failure:
DNS Error: Domain name not found

[88edwina]

Sorry I'm an idiot - edwina@spitpress.com

[gynoneko]

1. When did you discover you were into fembots? What were your original thoughts and feelings?
I think as a child I got into fembots. At first it was just robots and robotics, bit when I got old enough to think of girls, I started fascinating about building my own girl robots and... well maybe I'll write a story about that later.

2. How big a role does your interest in fembots have in your life?
Very little. I still have a big interest in robots and robotics and everyone knows I like robots. But fembots specifically are limited to anime, this and a few other websites, and my own writings and fascinations.

3. What is the biggest attraction about it to you or the biggest turn on?
There are really 2 for me. The first attraction is a purely physical one, and that is to see a broken or unfinished fembot, perhaps missing a limb, but feelin no pain. The second is more of an intellectual one. I love stories about robots (and fembots) becoming self-aware for the first time, and struggling with their robotic nature and their yearn to be something more, a human.

4. What would be your ultimate dream involving fembots? Eg to have one of your own.
Honestly, it would be to invent and build them. I dream that I would head a lab in charge of developing and building the fembots, and I happen to build the first to be sentient and to have her fall for me. I would have to teach her everything about the world and her curiosity would lead into a more complex character and relationship.

5. How do you gain fulfilment from this interest?
I write stories about the various characters and scenarios that I have come up with. I LOVE to get positive feedback from others who share my interest.

6. How important is Fembot Central to you and what role does it have in your life?
It is a fun pastime. I cannot say it is terribly important in real life, but it is a valuable asset for letting me be creative with my fetish/fantasy, and not freak out other people. I appreciate it greatly and post here often.

7. Do you have friends or a partner that you discuss this interest with or does it remain on Fembot Central?
It mainly stays here on fembot central, however my wife is aware of this fantasy, and is willing to role play with me, even though I get too shy to actually act out these fantasies. She equates it as being the same as her obsession with elves (Link in particular).

8. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about this passion/interest?
I feel there are 2. The first is that we want to just control women like our slaves and make them do our perverted bidding. I actually prefer to have my fembots free thinking and feeling and able to work through personal conflictions. The second is that it is equivalent to necrophilia. Gross! I want my fembots as human-like as possible, breathing and thinking and warm The way I see it, I think that technology is one of the most impressive and beautiful things in the world, and women are THE most beautiful of all creation. So combining the two is like the perfect mesh of beauty and science, with some interesting twists and issues to work through.

9. Have you ever incorporated it into your sex life?
Not yet. Maybe someday I may do a little role play, but I am more likely to role play with my wife as a cat-girl first and see where it goes from there.

10. What are your views on technology working its way into our private lives? Do you think it is a good or a bad thing? Why do you think it has happened?
I am all for it, but it has its costs. We become more cut off while becoming more connected. I worry technology will only add more expenses to our lives, and introduce new problems while solving others. Hard to say what will happen, but I doubt anyone would actually prefer having sex with a robot over having sex with a human any time soon. There is no satisfaction of pleasing your partner if they can't be pleased or feel or have emotion.

On a final note, I would say that we are not freaks, we are not sexist pigs, and we are not necrophiliacs. We are normal people with normal lives and normal opinions who happen to fantasize about something that different than the norm. I for one would always prefer my flesh and blood wife over any fembot.

[Stephaniebot]

Get this done before the site goes down for a while, and I forget

1. When did you discover you were into fembots? What were your original thoughts and feelings?
Even at a very young age, the 'I, Mudd' episode of Star Trek took my interest. The Cybermen played a part, but initially I was more into the idea of brainwashing than robotisation, well until Metropolis came into my life at least. Then it was a 2 way thing

2. How big a role does your interest in fembots have in your life?
In what sense? The fantasy of being transformed has been with me for nearly 40 years, but in a day to day sense, its not an overwhelming thing. Certainly 2, or 3 times a day to check on the forum is about it for here. But hey, my storywriting would have been limited without female robots lol!

3. What is the biggest attraction about it to you or the biggest turn on?
The transformation, and the transformation! Oh, and the being controlled as a mindless bot of course.

4. What would be your ultimate dream involving fembots? Eg to have one of your own.
To become one. This is where I differ from a lot here of course.

5. How do you gain fulfilment from this interest?
I have written a 'few' stories on the matter! And met some nice people here through my interest too.

6. How important is Fembot Central to you and what role does it have in your life?
A website forum I enjoy visiting intermittently

7. Do you have friends or a partner that you discuss this interest with or does it remain on Fembot Central
It gets talked about on the Mind Control forums, but thats about it

8. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about this passion/interest?
What I would term the 'mad scientist' syndrome, its not all about kidnapping, brainwashing and forced robotisation. Its a technogeek thing

9. Have you ever incorporated it into your sex life?
Single, assexual, so...however, in 'personal' matters... But that does tend to revolve more about the brainwashing side of things at times

10. What are your views on technology working its way into our private lives? Do you think it is a good or a bad thing? Why do you think it has happened?
Good thing. Its just called progress I guess

[dale coba]

http://issuu.com/thespitpress/docs/spit ... inal_proof
The Spit Press: Issue 8
June 7, 2011
p.30-31

• The Techno-cality of Sexuality
  
  • At what point did technology filter into our intimate lives?
    Edwina Storie explores the culture of online technosexuals.
  I’m not talking about facebook privacy settings or vibrating objects, but the point at which wires, buttons and shiny surfaces are a turn on. Computerised technology is now an integral part of Western life, with human-like robots beginning to take over small jobs such as baggage carriers in some Japanese airports, and mechanical sex dolls becoming more muti-talented. Is it surprising, then, that a community of ‘technosexuals’ has arisen and some people wish to be intimately involved with machines?
  
  Technosexuals are people who have a sexual fetish for robots. While there are both male and female robot enthusiasts, the fetish is predominantly shared by males, and robots are often portrayed as fembots - a robot with an idealic female body. The metal touch, wires and monotone voices of a robot are all alluring to the technosexual, but there are three common erotic elements to the fetish; when a robot is booted up and shut down, taking sexual or nonsexual orders, and the climatic ‘malfunction’ — when the fembot loses control in a frenzy of repeated speech, jolted movement and warnings of hardware overload.
  
  While this fetish remains fairly unknown in the real world, it is lived out and explored online. Technosexuals connect through the community Fembot Central. Their discussions range from whether fembots should have personalities and an emergency shutdown button, through to whether it is a sexist fantasy of female control.
  
  The erotic desire for a robot partner goes further than the nuts and bolts of sexual intercourse into the mechanical workings of their robotic subjects. In the fantasy of fembots, undressing is not limited to outer garments, as they can remove their flesh or metal casing to reveal the circuitry inside. Some members spend hours photoshopping images of celebrities to feature glowing mechanical panels under the skin of their sternum, or removing their entire face to reveal flashing lights, tangled wires and metal innards.
  
  Most technosexuals keep their interest to cyber space, especially because they don’t have partners. Some, however, occasionally feature it in their sex lives. Middleaged male member Gynoneko reveals “My wife is aware of this fantasy, and is willing to role play with me, even though I get too shy to actually act out these fantasies. She equates it as being the same as her obsession with elves.” His interest stemmed from an admiration of two perfect elements. “I think that technology is one of the most impressive and beautiful things in the world, and women are the most beautiful of all creations. So combining the two is like the perfect mesh of beauty and science.”
  
  As the discussions on Fembot Central change, there remains a common theme — that the fetish is defined by the human/machine power ratio. Gynoneko continues “I love stories about robots (and fembots) becoming self-aware for the first time and struggling with their robotic nature and their yearning to be something more, a human.” He dreams of building a fembot “to be sentient and have her fall for me.”
  
  Having power over a mechanical partner is a mere fantasy for some, for others it is a sexuality that is instilled within them like hetero or homosexuality. Keizo from Canada spent his early childhood and teen years being rejected because of his mixed Japanese and American race. Now a middle-aged mailman who has had a passion for fembots his whole life, he views his technosexuality as an orientation rather than a fetish. “‘Fetish’ suggests something trivial or even demeaning. Fetish even suggests perversion or dirty secret … One can be attracted to fembots for many reasons but ultimately it is because they can be as beautiful and compatible as you want them to be. But for me, it’s not purely sexual … I do feel that [technosexuality] will be [an orientation] one day and I want to do what little I can to help promote this. I want to make that choice when it does.”
  
  For the most part, Fembot Central is a place where self-proclaimed ‘technogeeks’ can connect with one another, and feel accepted and understood through their uncommon fascination. However, underneath this social connection in the online world is rejection in the real world that has led them to wish for a robotic partner who wouldn’t challenge their eligibility.
  
  Long-term Fembot Central member Dale Coba never leaves his home after having a dilapidating reaction to medication during college 20 years ago. After years of chronic physical illness, depression and pseudoagoraphobia (fear of leaving one’s comfort zone) he is a self-processed “slob”, unable to leave the house except for doctor’s visits. He explains privately “Whatever reasons folks may give for their interest, it’s worth considering how bountiful or limited their options were to begin with. Some may be young, healthy, and wealthy; but possessing no conceivable prospect of relations, many others have only their imaginations where they might exercise a personal sexuality.”
  
  He believes that because most members are involuntarily celibate*, they find comfort in the dream of a beautiful machine to love and service them unquestionably. “Somewhere at the core, the fembot option means one’s sexual opportunity is no longer about one’s attractiveness or lack thereof … Owning a fembot means never having to say you’re sorry for wasting her time, sorry for failing to satisfy the relationship, as it was entirely predictable.
  
  The appeal of fembots is most obvious where there is no alternative, real-world choice available.” For these technosexuals, the hope is that one day they will have a robot partner to call their own. With recent advancements in sexdolls, the progress is slow yet promising.

* minor correction, not precisely my belief - "some", "many", but not "most".

[Asato]

1. When did you discover you were into fembots? What were your original thoughts and feelings?

Very early. Can't quite remember when.

2. How big a role does your interest in fembots have in your life?

Aside from a bit of surfing on the web and affecting my choice in anime, not much

3. What is the biggest attraction about it to you or the biggest turn on?

The idea of someone who can love you forever, or the idea of a girl struggling with her own sense of self and identity.

4. What would be your ultimate dream involving fembots? Eg to have one of your own.

I happen to meet a cute girl and discover she's a robot, and after dating for a while we get married

5. How do you gain fulfilment from this interest?

Mostly just fantasizing

6. How important is Fembot Central to you and what role does it have in your life?

Just a place I post on occasionally

7. Do you have friends or a partner that you discuss this interest with or does it remain on Fembot Central

The latter mostly

8. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about this passion/interest?

That we will have sex with any machine just because it's a machine and that we hate human women

9. Have you ever incorporated it into your sex life?

No

10. What are your views on technology working its way into our private lives? Do you think it is a good or a bad thing? Why do you think it has happened?

Compare the standard of living now to 50 years ago. Technological advancement is a good thing.

[Saya]

1. When did you discover you were into fembots? What were your original thoughts and feelings?

Right around the time I discovered I was bisexual, so quite young. In fact, I would say that my first attraction to a woman was one that was shown to be a gynoid. Not sure where it was, since it was a long time ago.

2. How big a role does your interest in fembots have in your life?

I can't say for sure. If my interest in technology and mechanical systems was influenced by my fetish, or if it is the other way around, I do not really know. But I would say it plays a pretty big part in my interest in Science Fiction, at the very least.

3. What is the biggest attraction about it to you or the biggest turn on?

The mechanical aspect, certiantly. Damage is sexy, in a way, but a repair and maintenance scene seems somehow more intimate. Almost akin to a human woman taking off her clothing. Programming and such also attract me, but it is far and away the mechanical aspect that always interested me the most.

4. What would be your ultimate dream involving fembots? Eg to have one of your own.

To meet with one, converse with her, get to know her. Even if it was not a complicitly sexual relationship. I am not sure I would ever want to own one, but I could definitely get into a job where I work with them! That would probably be my ultimate dream, if I had just one to pin down.

5. How do you gain fulfilment from this interest?

Online roleplay, mostly. The images and stories from the members of this board and other places--such as DeviantArt and Pixiv--help too.

6. How important is Fembot Central to you and what role does it have in your life?

I think it is important to me because it lets me know that, while perhaps rare, I am not unusual. It is always nice to know that, at the end of the day, there is someone out there who enjoys what you enjoy and does not have to be ashamed to share it with you.

7. Do you have friends or a partner that you discuss this interest with or does it remain on Fembot Central

In real life? I keep it on the down-low. However, online I wear it on my sleeve. Chalk it up to the anonymity factor, I suppose.

8. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about this passion/interest?

I think the two biggest misconceptions are that, A) technosexuals do not feel comfortable around real women or B) they are control freaks who have issues with women being empowered or are women who want to be totally controlled. While there are people who fit any stereotype put up against their particular associative group, I would say that by and large technosexuals are well-adjusted people. And I have never met two ASFRians who were ever into the same thing for the same reasons. We are just as varied as any group of fetishists, really, and to lump us into one category or another is nothing more than pop-psychology driven ignorance.

9. Have you ever incorporated it into your sex life?

Offline? No. I admit I have not worked up the courage for it yet. Online? Yes, frequently.

10. What are your views on technology working its way into our private lives? Do you think it is a good or a bad thing? Why do you think it has happened?

This might run a bit long, so forgive me. Technology will always ultimately be a slave to those who develop it, unless it develops a mind of it's own. Until then, no piece of technology is good or bad. A jet engine could be used to ferry passengers across the world or bombs. A phone could allow people who could never reach each other before to speak to each other, or allow others to listen in on private conversations. And the debate on Nuclear Power has been drummed into us time and time again. Frankly, technology has been working into our lives ever since the first spear-maker shared his craft. Ultimately, it is not the technology, but the person or persons using it or controlling it that matter most to that debate. Perhaps there is some negative effect on our ability to socialize, but frankly socialization has been in decline ever since Cain cracked Abel's skull open--to use the Biblical example.

I think that the big reason is the human drive for information. Technology can better our lives, but mostly it gives us information. It lets us explore our world around us in growing comfort. Frankly, unless civilization were to suddenly cease completely and forever, technology and the need to understand our reality through technology, and to make that reality a more positive one, will make us continue to incorporate it into our lives at an ever-increasing rate. Will that be a bad thing? Maybe the same question was asked when Gutenberg first put press to paper and people bemoaned the loss of the book's exclusivity. Really, only time can tell.

[xodar]

1. When did you discover you were into fembots? What were your original thoughts and feelings?
I've always been interested in things in this area. However, to be honest even if it irritates some, I've always found women difficult and expensive and with the spread of feminism the situation has only become worse. I don't want to fight my way through needless negativity and jump through hoops. It's a waste of time considering what you get these days. My attraction is actually to biological human females and I've just come to this because I am interested in applied science and for the reason just noted.

2. How big a role does your interest in fembots have in your life?
A moderate interest. I don't expect really viable semblances to biofems in my lifetime, barring some breakthrough in life extension.
I am interested in the engineering and artistic aspects to an extent, however.

3. What is the biggest attraction about it to you or the biggest turn on?
As noted above -- not having to struggle with social demands and negative persons.

4. What would be your ultimate dream involving fembots? Eg to have one of your own.
If I had one such as you see in the movies, indistinguishable from biological females. But I can't even afford a RealDoll if I wanted one.

5. How do you gain fulfilment from this interest?
I enjoy watching the science and technology develop, and it has considerably during the last 20 years.

6. How important is Fembot Central to you and what role does it have in your life?
It's an excellent site to see other people's similar interests and learn what is going on in the field. I can ask questions and get useful answers here.

7. Do you have friends or a partner that you discuss this interest with or does it remain on Fembot Central
Pretty much here. Many people see it as a kind of semi-perversion, rather laughable rather than an ultimately practical way of dealing with modern conditions.

8. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about this passion/interest?
That everyone interested in it is an ineffectual, passive geek or, as noted above, a kind of pervert.

9. Have you ever incorporated it into your sex life?
No.

10. What are your views on technology working its way into our private lives? Do you think it is a good or a bad thing? Why do you think it has happened?
It's a good thing and it has been going on ever since we actually became human and maybe a bit before. It has happened because of the need to solve problems and to make life easier and more fun. Technology expands what you can do. A few years ago I could never have the contacts and available information I do through computers. Eash of us can travel further, know more, do more than ever. Technology has probably irreversibly changed us: few people can now eat raw or rotten meat frechly killed or found, nobody can fight another large primate (chimp, gorilla) hand to hand and survive, people whose eyes get bad can get glasses instead of finally be left to die.... The future as I see it can be limitless despite setbacks.

[tdlsn]

Great response Xodar couldn't agree more.Must say I wouldn't have had the courage to dare answer the first question in the same fashion considering the times we currently live in.

[Grendizer]

1. When did you discover you were into fembots? What were your original thoughts and feelings?

I was a teenager, can't remember my exact age. While working through a typical scifi-induced sexual fantasy, I realized I had too much respect for real women to ask (or accept) of them some of the things that turned me on. Specifically, I didn't like the idea of a real woman being so submissive that her sense of self seemed to slip away (alliteration, anyone?). So I turned to the idea of machines made for servitude.

2. How big a role does your interest in fembots have in your life?

For pragmatic reasons, not much. I await the dawn of our pdAIs.

3. What is the biggest attraction about it to you or the biggest turn on?

Their presumed ability to be absolutely submissive without that quality resulting in the degradation of my own humanity is attractive. I can do anything to them -- or command them to do almost anything -- and their are no legal, social, or interpersonal consequences. Their servility is total and irrevocable, all the way down to the extreme of self-termination. And having ordered their demise, I can just restore them in some manner, thus avoiding any irrational guilt, should it arise -- something I can also do if they "grow" the wrong personality for my taste.

4. What would be your ultimate dream involving fembots? Eg to have one of your own.

I'd love to have several (dozen). While they would all be available for the purpose, they wouldn't just be sex objects. They'd be teachers, teammates (for recreation), gardeners, archivists ... the "help" in other words. Imagine a private island filled with them, all optimized to augment your enjoyment in life. That would be awesome.

5. How do you gain fulfilment from this interest?

Writing stories, having others read them. Reading stories. Doing photo manipulations or from-scratch graphics. Keeping tabs on real world developments in the area, which seem to be moving apace.

6. How important is Fembot Central to you and what role does it have in your life?

I would still write, but who would read it? The place gives a context to my proclivities. Kudos to the staff!

7. Do you have friends or a partner that you discuss this interest with or does it remain on Fembot Central

All of my friends know about my deep interest in futurism. Some of them know my interest in fembots.

8. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about this passion/interest?

Perhaps it's the crowd I run with, but I haven't run into a misunderstanding yet. Presumably, people might think we're all just introverted nerds who can't get a real relationship going. If so, this isn't true.

9. Have you ever incorporated it into your sex life?

No. This relates to the first question above, in that I wouldn't really want a human female to do such things for me, nor do I require it to gain sexual fulfillment.

10. What are your views on technology working its way into our private lives? Do you think it is a good or a bad thing? Why do you think it has happened?

I think we don't know what we're really doing to ourselves, and that we are building a house of cards that will collapse in an unexpected way with unexpected consequences that will then be touted as expected by the prevailing punditry (they would survive along with the cockroaches, for similar reasons). However, since I don't relish dying from a minor bacterial infection or embarking on a life-threatening journey just to get to the opposite coast, I'll live with an amorphous and theoretical future Doomsday. And it happens because that is what life does: it goes beyond itself. It started with amino acids, and now we have hairless monkeys making plastic bottles by the billions. It's all the rage.

[xodar]

Great response Xodar couldn't agree more.Must say I wouldn't have had the courage to dare answer the first question in the same fashion considering the times we currently live in.

Thanks. Since I'm closing in on age 70 I'm not too worried about getting biological women interested in me; I'll likely never have the money that would now require.

[Asato]

Great response Xodar couldn't agree more.Must say I wouldn't have had the courage to dare answer the first question in the same fashion considering the times we currently live in.

Thanks. Since I'm closing in on age 70 I'm not too worried about getting biological women interested in me; I'll likely never have the money that would now require.

Not even women around your age?

[xodar]

Great response Xodar couldn't agree more.Must say I wouldn't have had the courage to dare answer the first question in the same fashion considering the times we currently live in.

Thanks. Since I'm closing in on age 70 I'm not too worried about getting biological women interested in me; I'll likely never have the money that would now require.

Not even women around your age?

I can talk to them without their not comprehending what I say, but they can't get pregnant. I want something valuable to show if I get involved with a biological female.
Also, you do remain attracted to women who look fetile (young and firm). Old women are likely to be interested in young men any more. Actually, 40 is young looking and there are some 50s that are okay, but they are increasingly sterile.
One drawback is difficult to explain without sounding all wrong, but women young enough to be really attractive and fertile are neurotic idiots. Boring.
It's up to the next generation or two to work on these problems.

PS: And also it's women in my age group that brought things to the state they are in. I've known them since they were kids and watched the process. As persons many are failures. Some do understand what the problem is but due to habit and indoctrination all they can do is spew rage at men.

[tdlsn]