Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 6-25-2019 Love from the Machine: Technosexualities and the Desire for Machinic Bodies Ann-Renee Clark Florida International University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Clark, Ann-Renee, "Love from the Machine: Technosexualities and the Desire for Machinic Bodies" (2019). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4238. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4238 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida LOVE FROM THE MACHINE: TECHNOSEXUALITIES AND THE DESIRE FOR MACHINIC BODIES A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in GLOBAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES by Ann-Renee Clark 2019 To: Dean John F. Stack, Jr. Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs This dissertation, written by Ann-Renee Clark, and entitled Love From the Machine: Technosexualities and the Desire for Machinic Bodies, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Mark Padilla _______________________________________ Benjamin Smith _______________________________________ Dionne Stephens _______________________________________ Guillermo Grenier, Major Professor Date of Defense: June 25, 2019 The dissertation of Ann-Renee Clark is approved. _______________________________________ Dean John F. Stack, Jr. Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs _______________________________________ Andrés G. Gil Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School Florida International University, 2019 ii DEDICATION To my wonderful parents for their unending love and support, and to Wynnie - my heart and little love iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Undying gratitude to Dr. Guillermo Grenier for his incredible patience and support throughout this long, long... long process. A million thanks to my fantastic dissertation committee, Dr. Mark Padilla, Dr. Ben Smith, and Dr. Dionne Stephens, as well as to my past committee members - particularly Dr. Patricia Price who was instrumental in the formative years of this project. I also want to thank Dr. Nancy Marie White and all of my social science and various other professors who contributed to the making of a person who could undertake this research and write this dissertation. Special thanks to Jody Grove and the rest of the excellent staff at the FIU Global and Sociocultural Studies department for helping me navigate through this process. A big thank you of course to my research participants and the other great people at Fembot Central; without them, this dissertation would, quite literally, not be possible. This has been a group effort, and I couldn't have done any of this without all of you. Finally, I want to thank my parents - for literally everything. iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION LOVE FROM THE MACHINE: TECHNOSEXUALITIES AND THE DESIRE FOR MACHINIC BODIES by Ann-Renee Clark Florida International University, 2019 Miami, Florida Professor Guillermo Grenier, Major Professor This dissertation explores the dimensions and practices of technosexualities - human desires for machinic bodies. For the purposes of this project, technosexualities are defined as sexual and/or other intimate desires for technologically enhanced or constructed humanoid bodies (machinic bodies) or the desire to be such a machinic body. A machinic body may be mechanical (robotic) and/or digital, techno-biological (as per biological computing and/or a laboratory - grown or built body), or cyborg (cybernetic organism, a partially technologically-modified, partially biological body.) Rather than interpreting technosexuals as troubled or disturbed fetishists who are attracted to the unnatural, or imposing suppositions of feelings of impotence and desire for power as other sources have portrayed them, I explore technosexualities through the lens of “bodies and pleasures” (Foucault 1978.) As such, this project engages with literature on bodies and embodiment (including medical anthropology literature on the body,) gender, literatures of the burgeoning nonhuman turn in the social sciences that explores human/nonhuman bodily interactions, science and technology studies, stigmatization, and the pertinent literature on online communities. v Understanding the complication and fluidities of body/technology interactions with the nonhuman, especially surrounding desire, intimacies, and perceived bodily boundaries (particularly for individuals who want to be machinic bodies) is of increasing importance as new and emerging technologies become further integrated into contemporary life (and bodies, in the form of both medical and cosmetic surgical interventions) This project also explores this non-heteronormative, non-reproductive set of desires by looking at how those who engage in technosexualities of various types approach issues of stigmatization, secrecy, and the pressure of passing under compulsory heteronormativity. Although no attempt is made to discover some root cause of technosexualities per se (as this is not a medical investigation and technosexualities are not being treated here as a paraphilia - a fetish) a potential and partial explanation for technosexual desires is discussed. Through a combination of structured online interviews, participant-observation at the online research site of "Fembot Central" and discourse analysis at the research site, I investigate the thoughts, affects, practices, and group interactions of those who desire machinic bodies. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................1 On the (Non)Human Future.............................................................................................1 Operational Definitions ...................................................................................................2 Research Questions and Hypotheses ...............................................................................7 A Note on Participant Gender........................................................................................14 The Structure of the Dissertation ..................................................................................15 II. LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................16 Changing Bodies............................................................................................................16 Intimate Assemblages....................................................................................................24 Affective Assemblages ..................................................................................................28 Cyborg Bodies ..............................................................................................................31 Ideal (Female) Bodies....................................................................................................35 Prior Framings of Technosexualities.............................................................................38 Of Machines and Men ...................................................................................................42 III. METHODS..................................................................................................................50 Development of the Hypotheses....................................................................................50 Methodological Approach: Mixing the Methods ..........................................................59 Phases of the Project......................................................................................................64 Participant Demographics..............................................................................................72 A Note on Autoethnography..........................................................................................79 An Additional Note on Methods....................................................................................79 IV. THE CYBORG'S TALE: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHY............................................81 Early Encounters with the Machine...............................................................................81 Sexy Machines...............................................................................................................83 Becoming the Cyborg....................................................................................................86 Miss Pris Flips In...........................................................................................................88 Jude Law in AI? I'd hit that............................................................................................93 V. WE'VE GOT A THING THAT'S CALLED ROBOT LOVE......................................98