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SDSU Template, Version 11.1 THE SYNTHETIC HYPER FEMME: ON SEX DOLLS, FEMBOTS, AND THE FUTURES OF SEX _______________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of San Diego State University _______________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Women’s Studies _______________ by Krizia Puig Fall 2017 ProQuest Number:10687918 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ProQuest 10687918 Published by ProQuest LLC ( 2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 iii Copyright © 2017 by Krizia Puig All Rights Reserved iv DEDICATION A Oliva, por abrirme las puertas del mundo… v Will sex robots be more like vibrators, pets, partners, or slaves? -Elizabeth Brown Nolan Sex, Love, and Robots vi ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS The Synthetic Hyper Femme: On Sex Dolls, Fembots, and the Futures of Sex by Krizia Puig Master of Arts in Women’s Studies San Diego State University, 2017 In this thesis, I use queer of color and intersectional feminist knowledges and practices–and draw from performance studies, media and cultural studies, post-humanist theories, and robotics to read the hyper realistic sex doll and robotic prototypes of female sex robots as cultural artifacts and as objects. I specifically analyze the processes of production of the dolls and the ways in which owners and producers genderize and racialize them. I argue that, beyond the simple commodification of women, the high-end sex doll is a performative commodity comprised of technologies produced and able to endure the reproduction of categories of social difference (gender, race, class, and so on). The ability to sustain the reproduction of those categories through performative practices, makes the dolls able to provide the experience of owning a stable female servant subject –with a customized appearance, identity, and personality. Their impressive performative power exposes the socially constructed nature of fixed and oppressive humanistic notions of the subject, precisely because they reveal that categories of social difference can be mass produced and customized. I explore the ways in which signifiers and/or representations of womanhood are becoming womanhood itself. I argue that womanhood–as a gender category–is detaching from what we know as organic women and is becoming a commodified performative space, in which womanhood is performed without hiding the simulations that gender involves for sexual pleasure. In this sense, I highlight the existence of what I am calling “synthetic hyper femininity”: a performative location (habitable by organic and synthetic women) that exists in that space in which the sex industry intersects with the industrial complex that reinforces whiteness, thinness, being cis-gender and being heterosexual as what is considered desirable and beautiful. I argue that the sex doll is a high-tech puppet with agency that, despite her immobility, drives the simulation of synthetic hyper femininity. To conclude, I delve into my experience visiting Abyss Creations, and explain why looking forward to a queer futurity where womxn of color and Queer Trans People of Color can live their lives to their fullest involves a process of reimagining sexual technologies. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 SILICONE AND POWER .............................................................................................1 Mapping The Archive of Hetero-Erotic Desires ......................................................6 What Is Yet to Come…......................................................................................9 2 GALATEA, MY LOVE...............................................................................................16 The Fantasy of the “Perfect Woman” ....................................................................16 Why Are You Blushing, Galatea? .........................................................................21 Automated Galateas: The Modern Ladies .......................................................26 Galateas for Sale ........................................................................................29 3 THE “SYNTHETIFICATION” OF WOMANHOOD ................................................31 “Control a Woman”: Muteness, Submission and Objectification .........................33 The “Synthetification” of Womanhood ...........................................................36 Renée: From Plastic to Flesh .....................................................................41 #Perfect: From Flesh to Plastic ..................................................................44 4 DOWN THE ABYSS ..................................................................................................49 The Agency of the High-End Sex Doll ..................................................................49 The Doll Itself: A High-Tech Puppet Created to Endure Acts of Domination ............................................................................................................52 When I met Laila, My Synthetic Love: Stillness as an Act of Resistance ........................................................................................................64 “The Amber Doll Project”: Self-Objectification, Queerness and Vulnerability ..............................................................................................70 EPILOGUE: TINKERING WITH THE FUTURE .................................................................75 viii Queer Radical Sexual Politics and Sexual Technology .........................................75 Envisioning The Future, Together… .....................................................................80 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................82 ix LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1. “Inflatable Perfect Woman. Price: $6.30 & FREE Shipping”. .................................30 Figure 2. Control Your Woman Remote Controller. ...............................................................34 Figure 3. Renée (RealDoll2) Config. 2. Photography by Stacey Leigh. .................................42 Figure 4. ValerieSins. Still from free room within her Live Cam Pornhub Channel. .............47 Figure 5. “Everard’s family portraits”. Still frame. Guys and Dolls. ......................................60 Figure 6. I know guacamole is extra! Posted by @abyssrealdoll. ...........................................62 Figure 7. Solana, BT4. .............................................................................................................63 Figure 8. “Whiter Laila: My Synthetic Love”. Picture by Krizia Puig. Visit to Abyss Creations. Oct 26, 2016. ..............................................................................................67 x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want these acknowledgements to be an act of radical intimacy. Few times we have the chance, within academic environments, to express our feelings for the people we love and for our femtors and role models–whom we also love in the way we love those who hold our hands and teach us to fly, to trust ourselves, to speak loud and clear. I believe this moment– myself writing these acknowledgements–is a statement of the resilience of my mother who has fought, since I can remember, for me to be free. I want you to know Má, that we will soon be together again, very soon. This thesis means that. Oliva, the faith you have had in me changed my life 8 years ago, when I was a broken queer young woman trapped in a country that was falling apart. Today, your faith keeps me moving. Thank you for your patience when I speak about my research for hours in a row, for understanding the thrill of teaching, of having an academic life– and for the many hours you spent proof-reading these lines! I want, also, to thank my first femtors–Virginia Aponte, Mariana Libertad Suárez, and Elisa Martinez– they are the women who taught me that I could write, that my voice was valuable, that what I had to say was important. In addition, I want to thank Val Pearson, my therapist, whose wisdom, kindness, and companionship have taught me how to be alive. This is also a statement of my love and appreciation for the people who nurtured me and supported me within this program and during my time at San Diego State University. Especially, I want to thank Anne Donadey for trusting my academic voice, for encouraging me to explore my “weird” research ideas, for her support and investment in my intellectual development since the first day of class. I want to thank Irene Lara, who turned into a key role model in my life, as a human being and as a professor. I don’t have words to explain how grateful I am for the
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