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Queering Sex Machines : the Re-Articulation of Non-Normative Sexualities and Technosexual Bodies

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Queering Sex Machines : the Re-Articulation of Non-Normative Sexualities and Technosexual Bodies Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Cultural Studies 2009 Queering sex machines : the re-articulation of non-normative sexualities and technosexual bodies Hok Bun, Isaac LEUNG Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/cs_etd Part of the Gender and Sexuality Commons Recommended Citation Leung, H. B. I. (2009). Queering sex machines: The re-articulation of non-normative sexualities and technosexual bodies (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/ 10.14793/cs_etd.5 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Cultural Studies at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. QUEERING SEX MACHINES: THE RE-ARTICULATION OF NON-NORMATIVE SEXUALITIES AND TECHNOSEXUAL BODIES ISAAC HOK BUN LEUNG MPHIL LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2009 QUEERING SEX MACHINES: THE RE-ARTICULATION OF NON-NORMATIVE SEXUALITIES AND TECHNOSEXUAL BODIES by Isaac Hok Bun LEUNG A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Cultural Studies Lingnan University 2009 ABSTRACT Queering Sex Machines: The Re-articulation of Non-normative Sexualities and Technosexual Bodies by Isaac Hok Bun LEUNG Master of Philosophy From the simple electronic vibrator to the complex assemblages of cybersex, sex and technology have always intersected. The dynamic relations between sexuality and technology are constantly changing along with the ways in which human beings achieve psychological and bodily pleasure through these devices. Sex machine, a term that denotes an automated device that can assist human in the pursuits of sex, has been broadly defined as therapeutic and pleasure machines in the West. Large numbers of sex machines have been documented in Europe and America starting from the nineteenth century, and were widely produced and utilized by medical practitioners, sex toy makers and individuals throughout history. This research focuses on three kinds of sex machines that have been produced and represented visually in recent years: fucking-machines, teledildonics and humanoid sex machines. By using the poststructuralist approach of combining the material and symbolic dimensions in the analysis, the thesis aims at investigating the cultural significance of sex machines by studying how they are identified, represented and produced as cultural text/artefact in the Euro-American subcultural sexual context. Through a queer reading of sex machines, the project will explore how sex machines re-configure the way we understand body, gender, sexuality and technology in the human pursuit of pleasure and desire. DECLARATION I declare that this is an original work based primarily on my own research, and I warrant that all citations of previous research, published or unpublished, have been duly acknowledged. Isaac Hok Bun LEUNG 21st, July, 2009 CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL OF THESIS QUEERING SEX MACHINES: THE RE-ARTICULATION OF NON-NORMATIVE SEXUALITIES AND TECHNOSEXUAL BODIES by Isaac Hok Bun LEUNG Master of Philosophy Panel of Examiners : _______________________________ (Chairman) (Dr. CHAN, Shun-hing) _______________________________ (External Member) (Dr. HO Sik Ying, Petula) _______________________________ (Internal Member) (Prof. ERNI John Nguyet) _______________________________ (Internal Member) (Dr LI, Siu-leung) Chief Supervisor : Name: Prof. ERNI John Nguyet Approved for the Senate : (Dr. CHAN Shun-hing) Chairman, Research and Postgraduate Studies Committee Date Table of Contents Introduction - Stepping into the world of sex and technology 1 - What are sex machines? 2 Methodology 7 - The re-modified framework “circuit of culture” 8 - Lacanian’s model of psychoanalysis 10 - Sampling method and objectives 11 Chapter 1 - Background - Technosexual Evolution of Sex Machines and 13 its Cultural History - The cultural construction of fact and artifact: the crossroad of 14 technology and sexuality of sex machines - Technologies of sexual practices from the modern industrial and 16 scientific revolutions to the recent sexual paradigms: o Family value in civil society, the discourse of sexing and 20 reproducing marriage o Discursive construction of self-pleasuring illness, the discourse of 24 self protection o The discourse of potency and the formulative gendered body 27 o The discourse of sexual liberalism and the rise of pleasure sex 30 machines o Safe sex machines and the technologies of epidemic circulation 34 - From the past the present - the bedrock of contemporary sexual 37 machinery Chapter 2 - The cultural representations and interactions of sex 40 machines - Sexual and technological “surplus” of sex machines in SF 41 - Cyberpunk and sex machines - the extension of SF in the networked 51 spatialities - The fantastic “non-space” of I.K.U.: 52 I o The cultural context of “Tokyo” 54 o The queerness of identity narrations in I.K.U. 61 - The representation of fucking-machines and teledildonics in 66 pornography within the virtual space - from the presentability to imaginability: o Fucking Machines and its “excess” of Real 67 o Sex Machine Cams and its “lack” of Real 73 - The representations of sex machines - a mutational process of 81 identities Chapter 3 - The cultural production of sex machines and the 85 contemporary technosexual practices - Identification of the “sexual field”: 85 o Independent productions of sex machines 86 o Industrial productions of sex machines 89 o Institutional productions of sex machines 90 - Techno-fetishism of sex machines: 92 o American garage - the suburban machines 94 o “Opensourcing” sex in teledildonics 104 - Re-articulation of gender dynamics in sex machines pornography 109 o Repositioning the cultural phallus 109 o Mediated- voyeurism of the teledildonics porn 114 - From biological body to the transformation of new bodies 118 - The politics of sex machines productions 124 o Regulations on sex machines 125 o Gender politics of sex machines 130 - A brave new world - new configuration of sex, technology, gender 132 and body Chapter 4 - Queering sex machines - the theorization of postmodern 137 technology and sexuality II Critical perspectives - Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalysis and queer 138 theory - The queerness of contemporary sex machines at-large 140 - Cyborgian’s technobiological apparatus - queering the paradoxical 143 human/machine, “techno”/“sexual” and “men”/”women” in sex machines - Postmodern turn, simulation and body ontology 149 - Queer politics of sex machines - contradictions of pedagogies 153 - Sex machines and political economy 155 - The paradox of gender politics 157 Conclusion - The contemporary technosexual culture, from visual 161 “public-ness” to visible “public-ness”， from the material reality to the “second-life” - From “discipline” to “surplus” 163 - The politics of “surplus”一 from the visual “public-ness” to the visible 166 “public-ness” - The public and counter-public of sex machines 168 - Politics of gender and economy 172 - Our time and the future of technosexual - a queered “lifeworld” in the 174 multiple spatialities References 178 III List of Figures Figure 1 Simple fucking-machine 4 Figure 2 “Fuckzilla” - a remodeled “Johnny 5” 4 Figure 3 The control-panel of teledildonics 6 Figure 4 Product list from a sex doll company 6 Figure 5 Gigolo Joe from A.I. Artificial Intelligence 7 Prix from Blade Runner Figure 6 Pessaries 22 Figure 7 Triggering chastity devices 26 Figure 8 Electronic pneumatic pumps 28 Figure 9 Mechanical penile splints 29 Figure 10 “Helper device” 31 Figure 11 “Self-contained gynecologic stimulator” 31 Figure 12 Condom garment 35 Figure 13 THX 1138 43 Figure 14 The “Orgasmatron” inSleeper 44 Figure 15 Barbarella in the spaceship 46 Figure 16 Flesh Gordon 2 and its excessive masculinity 47 Figure 17 The TV commercial of the Genom Corporation 55-56 Figure 18 Sexual intercourses superimposed by 3D animations 58 Figure 19 “Cartoon box house” 60 Figure 20 The bulgy crotch of “I.K.U. Runner” clad in underpants 63 Figure 21 Without underpants on 64 Figure 22 “Storage room” of the porn studio 69 Figure 23 Masturbating addiction - Sindee Jennings 70-71 Figure 24 The studio of Sex Machine Cams 75 Figure 25 Dwaine Baccus, Emmett, Idaho 96 Figure 26 A fucking-machine made by James Vermeer, Victorville, 97 California Figure 27 Ruiin, a former airplane mechanic who built a series of Gothic 97 fucking- machines Figure 28 Rick of Spindoll Manufacturing and Sales 100 Figure 29 New Orleans-based Ken Cruise 100-101 “Hide-a-Cock” Figure 30 Scott Ehalt and his “Ultimate Ride” 102 Figure 31 Interview with Kyle Machulis, 29 Sept, 2008, San Francisco 105 Figure 32 “Sex Box” 105 Figure 33 Interview with Alan Stein, the owner of Thrill Hammer, 3 Oct, 114-115 2008, Los Angeles Figure 34 Sex dolls made by First Androids 119-120 IV Introductions Stepping into the world of sex and technology One evening in 2003, when I was sitting in my apartment in Chicago, I watched the HBO documentary series, Real Sex1, an episode about realistic sex dolls. The show included interviews with the biggest manufacturers of sex doll in the United States and also documented their customer’s relationships with sex dolls as lovers
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