Reddit MRAs are all in a tizzy about the evil feminist plot to deprive them of sexbots that don’t yet exist.
Playing the part of “the feminists” in this scenario: two European robot ethicists — that is, two human beings who study the ethical issues raised by robotics — who have launched what they call a Campaign Against Sex Robots. Their concern? That sex robots will “contribute to inequalities in society” and “further objectif[y] women and children.”
As a position paper on the Campaign’s website argues,
extending relations of prostitution into machines is neither ethical, nor is it safe. If anything the development of sex robots will further reinforce relations of power that do not recognise both parties as human subjects.
It’s not clear that there is anything to the campaign beyond this position paper, a bare-bones website, a crappy logo, and its two organizers, but the fellas on the Men’s Rights subreddit are treating this like some kind of sexbot Pearl Harbor.
In a post to the subreddit that’s garnered close to 1300 upvotes, one Redditor sounds the alarm: Feminists already trying to ban sex robots as “demeaning to women”, to control male sexuality.
Naturally the discussion was full of the thoughtful analysis and good sense that we have come to expect from the Men’s Rights Movement.
Yes, that’s right. The guy who reacted to a news article about a two-person campaign to ban hypothetical future sex robots by pounding out a slur-ridden polemic talking about how much he’d like to punch “these mentally bipolar cunts … hard in the face” is complaining that other people are too easily offended.
Tilting_Gambit, meanwhile, explained the pussyconomics behind it all.
![richardnorth 135 points 1 day ago Many in the manosphere predicted this would happen many years ago. This article is like clockwork. It's completely unsurprising that they're gonna start freaking out over men being able to get sexual satisfaction while bypassing all the bs, drama and baggage that comes with real women. permalinkembedunsavereportgive goldreply [–]Tilting_Gambit 100 points 1 day ago It's why women slut shame and cock-block. They like to keep the value of sex high so that men pour more resources/effort/time into pursuing it. If women ever just allow their sexual inhibitions to disappear then men are no longer the pursuers in relationships and women don't get to select their partners with the same frequency. Women don't know they don't want other girls to put out, but they benefit greatly when the value of sex is high. Exactly the same with hypothetical sex AIs. If men are getting sexually satisfied by robots then they're not going to pursue women with the same intensity. In economics terms, the demand for women would drop and therefore the price men are willing to](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/sexrobotecon.png?resize=527%2C488&ssl=1)
And since most women don’t have anything to offer men beyond sex — at least in the eyes of quite a few Men’s Rights Redditors — a plunge in the price of sex will render many of the utterly worthless.
There was much agreement on this point.
Much much agreement:
![heDongerNeedsFood 24 points 1 day ago When it comes to sex, these robots are competiton for real women, plain and simple. permalinkembedsavereportgive goldreply [–]Demonspawn 38 points 1 day ago They are competition for women who offer nothing more than sex. The sad state of western women is that the vast majority of them offer little more than sex. They have bought into feminism and shed their feminine qualities as they ape being men such that the only thing they have to offer men (who desire feminine qualities in partners) is sex. permalinkembedsaveparentreportgive goldreply [–]5th_Law_of_Robotics 9 points 1 day ago Which the fact that so many women vociferously oppose porn, prostitution, male masturbatory aids, etc suggest that those women think all they have to offer is sex.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/5tlaw.png?resize=527%2C376&ssl=1)
A couple of Redditors broke down the math:
![yayimadeit 63 points 1 day ago My friends and I were just discussing this the other day. It's my opinion that if they can get a decently priced robot that can give sexual pleasure that is 60% of what a real woman can give then it will end society as we know it. Most men would settle for 'ok' sex in exchange for having it when they want it, as often as they want, and with none of the financial risk that a marriage carries. For untold generations women used sexuality to ensure they were taken care of. That's about to end, and it's going to be a very, very ugly transition. Oh, and my friends think that 60% is too high. They would settle for less if they got the positives outlined above. Ugh, it all makes me really sad too because this is going to happen and no feminist scholars are going to stop it. Men will walk through fire to get laid and someone somewhere will offer this no matter how outlawed it would be. permalinkembedsavereportgive goldreply [–]intensely_human 23 points 1 day ago If the robot can change in appearance, I think it can get away with 30% of quality. Sex with the same woman year after year approaches 10% quality level or lower, IMO. The difference in level of arousal between having sex with your wife and having sex with a woman you've just met is incredible.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/60percent.png?resize=526%2C502&ssl=1)
ExpendableOne suggested that we wouldn’t even need to destroy women with sexbots if non-robot women were just nicer to nice guys like (presumably) him.
Toysjoe wonders what the feminists will try to ban next.
ATTENTION FEMINISTS! CODE RED!
THEY KNOW!
(Non-feminists, just ignore that last bit. Nothing to see here, nothing at all.)
HoundDog, meanwhile, has concluded that sexbots are pretty much unbannable, and is quite looking forward to the newly chastened women he thinks the sexbot revolution will create.
Somehow I don’t think that the disappearance of these guys from the dating marketplace is going to make many non-robot women all that sad.
See the rest of the thread for much more of the same, including gratuitous references to Anita Sarkeesian, attacks on non-STEM academic fields, and one dude who seems to have a sexual fetish for C-3PO.
H/T — A bunch of people sent me this one. Thanks!
EDIT: Added a link to the Reddit thread which I somehow had neglected to put in here.
And, of course, Milo’s already written his panicky screed about it. ‘Cause OF COURSE he would.
If they want their sexbots that badly, then let them. Any man who would rather fuck a sexbot than interact with real women is better off out of the market, so to speak.
It’s always so damn bizarre to me that they talk about women like they’re objects, with some sort of supply and demand on them. Like “Oh no, a new product (sex robots) is going to come out in the market, and women will lose their sexual capital!”
It always feels like I’m reading something from the Twilight Zone when I read this stuff.
I can’t even relate to where their thinking comes from at all.
You know, prostitution used to be one of those issues I was a complete glibertarian about. Then I came to this site, and started reading what the manosphere writes about sex work, and that has done more to push me to a more nuanced position than even feminist writings, because holy fuck these guys are sickening.
I like how Chef Lebowski seems to think sex robots are actually already a thing in Japan, and that somehow they just haven’t been allowed to come to Western countries or something.
I’d find the ethicists point of view odd if I hadn’t read MRAs’ comments on sex robots.
1)Mras tells women to worry about women in other countries and stop complaining and overreacting about 1st world problems then later complain about things like sex robots and “having little or no rights” (LOL)
2)say they’re not misognists then uses misognist slurs like “c***” and have a “value system” for women.
3)complain about women bashing male sexuality but see number 2
Mras/antifeminists-hypocrites
http://oi48.tinypic.com/2wpthzd.jpg
@ freemage
Maybe they should try ‘Muji’. That shop has all sorts of Japanese things you can’t normally get.
This is hilarious. Also, “Sexbot Pearl Harbor” should be a Daft Punk cover band.
http://33.media.tumblr.com/f974a85f90698fad44b7b50ce1963b4b/tumblr_nt57m6O37s1ri36afo1_500.gif
So much irony.
A woman can be a genius, have many wonderful qualities and accomplishments, but all these guys see is whether she is fuckable or not. If she’s not fuckable, she’s invislble.
If she is fuckable, and also has many other wonderful qualities, these guys would hook up with her (if they could) just to bang her, and (if they could), they’d discourage her other qualities (like talents, a great career) if they believed it would take away her attention or time from them.
I just love it when these guys talk about how most women bring nothing else to the table, but at the same time complain if she’s too engrossed in getting an education or career. They want a fucktoy who is a genius, but who is willing to give up all her other accomplishments to be *their* fucktoy.
Let them have their sexbots!
The last link points to the BBC article about the campaign, rather than the Reddit thread. It’s an improvement, but not as useful for those of us inclined to dig through the comments for further gems.
I am sort of amused that Brad Pitt himself would not be considered fuckable according to ExpendableOne … he’s not over six feet tall, if Google is to be believed.
These guys want a fuck-maid they can dominate. Would a non-sentient robot actually provide the level of satisfaction they’re looking for, or would they become dissatisfied by the response and move back to people?
And if they are successful at providing people with that level of satisfaction, will the companies making them try to promote and normalise that need? (Yes of course they would)
So barring technology, it’s really the same questions we ask of porn and sex work now: does abusive pornography serve as an outlet for that desire, normalize that behaviour in society at large, or only serve to drive violent predators to participate in the real thing?
I don’t think they’re wrong at all. Just the other night, a feminist snuck into my bedroom and stole my sexbot from below my bed. The next day, just it’s hand was returned with a note that said “I’m keeping the rest, misogynerd.” A few days after that, I got papers for divorce from my sexbot. Truly a heartless, totally not sci-fi world we live in.
I forgot to add: They refuse to see what else women have to offer. But, if you look at some of their memes, they bitch that women have no interests and have historically never accomplished anything. But these same guys hate it when women accomplish anything! That’s the *last* thing they want!
One, they’re really not, and two, I’d love to see him move to Japan and become a shut-in that all the lovely, “submissive”, “western-man-loving” Japanese girls wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.
Wasn’t there a whinge-piece on TRP about Japanese women who were choosing their careers over children, or was that a troll we had scamper in here screeching about the “death of the modern family”?
I’m pretty sure it was the latter.
Not to mention we had a discussion a few threads back about how TRPers were discussing how they consume media that is “popular” solely so they can make small talk to get laid.
They whinge when they think women are “boring”, but refuse to do anything that would give them a glimmer of a personality.
*Sigh* *Facepalm*.
While I do have my disagreements with Drs. Richardson and Bolling regarding this issue, the “Men’s Movement” has proven, once again, what willfully ignorant asshats they are. Can’t say much else to that, really.
*Also, Billing, not Bolling. Apologies for the typo.
Seriously, how can nobody have posted this yet?
Ahem. Since when was the Netherlands not a western country?
“men will walk through fire to get laid”
where does this stereotype come from? or am I just that weird that I’ve never cared that much?
I haven’t had sex in ten plus years and I’m not losing my shit over it. and it’s not like I have a super low sex drive. it might not be super high, and in the last year, getting back on anti depressants has reduced it a bit more, but still… even like twelve years ago, when I was like 21, and single, and definitely had a higher sex drive that wasn’t being chemically affected, I didn’t really understand the other guys I knew, for whom sex seemed to be the most important thing in life.
so is this me, the MRAs, both, or neither?
Oh great, a guy who comments on the news that I like to watch is repeating this crap and getting a swarm of antifeminists worked up into a frenzy.
Wow. I wish I’d known how hard being a heterosexual man was back in my teens; it would have helped with my coming out process.
Sarcasm aside, I actually know men and women who are married to each other, apparently happily. Do these unfortunate MRAs not know any? They seem to be persuaded that all straight men act, feel and believe as they do. How restrictive does your life have to be for that to work? There’s a whole world of possibilities out there, and they keep chewing the same mouthful of gristle while complaining that it’s not delicious cake.
If you look at the actual page, you’ll notice something about the names of the protesters; namely that only one of them has a female name. That’s right, one of the researchers against sexbots is a dude. A dude named Erik. And he is probably sick an tired of your MRA bullshit too.