Gynoid

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A gynoid (from Greek γυνη, gynē - woman) is a humanoid robot designed to look like a human female, as compared to an android modeled after a male.[1][2][3][4][5] The term is not common, however, with android being used to refer to both "genders" of robot. The word fembot (female robot) has also been used.[6]

An Actroid at Expo 2005 in Aichi

Gynoids have also been used as a metaphor in feminist discourse, as part of cyborg feminism, representing female physical strength and freedom from the expectation to reproduce. "Fembot" is sometimes used as an insult towards feminist women.[6]

Contents

[edit] In real life

See also: Android and Humanoid robot
"Aiko", an early attempt at creating a realistic-looking female robot

Female-appearing robots have also appeared in real-life, with early constructions being crude. The first gynoid was produced by Sex Objects Ltd, a British company, for use as a "sex-aid". It was called simply "36C", from her chest measurement, and had a 16-bit microprocessor and voice synthesiser that allowed primitive responses to speech and push button inputs.[7] Later examples include:

Female-appearing robots have also generated controversy. In 1983 a "busty female robot" was removed from a display at Berkeley college after a petition was presented claiming it was insulting to women. The robot's creator called this "censorship" by the "feminist movement" and akin to book burning.[14]

[edit] Functions

Posited functions of gynoids include performing jobs traditionally seen as women's work, such as housework, secretarial work and teaching small children.[by whom?]

Gynoids may be "eroticized", and some examples such as Aiko include sensitivity sensors in their breasts and genitals to facilitate sexual response.[15] The fetishization of gynoids in real life has been attributed to male desires for custom-made passive women, and has been compared to life-size sex dolls.[4]

The reaction of people to robots that appeared female to different degrees has been studied. The reaction of people to such robots has been attributed in part to gender stereotypes. This research has been used to elucidate gender cues, clarifying which behaviours and aesthetics elicit a stronger gender-induced response.[16]

[edit] In fiction

See also: List of fictional gynoids

Artificial women have been a common trope in fiction and mythology since the writings of the ancient Greeks. This has continued with modern fiction, particularly in the genre of science fiction. In science fiction, female-appearing robots are often produced for use as domestic servants and sexual slaves, as seen in the film Westworld, the Paul McAuley novel Fairyland (1995), and the Lester del Ray short story "Helen O'Loy" (1938)[2] as opposed to male-appearing robots who are traditionally warriors, killers, or laborors. The term gynoid was created by Gwyneth Jones in her 1985 novel Divine Endurance to describe a robot slave character in a futuristic China, that is judged by her beauty.[3]

[edit] Metaphors for racism and misogyny

The treatment of gynoids in fiction has been seen as a metaphor for both misogyny and racism, as in the film Blade Runner, in which all three of the important female characters are gynoids, two of whom use their sexuality to attempt to manipulate or kill the protagonist Rick Deckard, often using sexualised imagery, such as when Pris attempts to strangle him between her thighs. Daniel Dinello writes that the violence with which the gynoids is treated represents Deckard's hatred of women. The third gynoid, Rachel, acts as a submissive female, even after Deckard "virtually rapes her".[2] Thomas Foster writes, about the novel Dead Girls by Richard Calder, that the technological bodies of gynoids depict sexism and racism in an unnatural context, highlighting their negative impact. They also show that stereotypes and societal attitudes will not necessarily be altered through technological progress.[17]

Japanese anime and manga both have a long tradition of female robot characters. The artist Hajime Sorayama is particularly influential, with his "sexy robot" images, found in his collection The Gynoids (1993).[18] These pieces depict primarily females with metallic skin, and have been regarded as comments on gender and sexual conventions, and race, by highliting the "whiteness" of the traditional pin-up girl.[19] The sexualised images of gynoids have also been interpreted as fetishisation of the female body, racial differences, and technology.[20]

[edit] The perfect woman

Étienne Maurice Falconet: Pygmalion et Galatée (1763). Although not robotic, Galatea's inorganic origin has led to comparisons with gynoids

A long tradition exists in fiction, of men attempting to create the stereotypical ideal woman, and fictional gynoids have been seen as an extension of this theme.[1] Examples include Hepahestus in the Iliad who created female servants of metal and Ilmarinen in Kalevala who created an artificial wife. Probably most famous, however, is Pygmalion, one of the earliest conceptualizations of constructions similar to gynoids in literary history, from Ovid's account of Pygmalion.[1] In this myth a female statue is sculpted that is so beautiful that the creator falls in love with it, and after praying to Venus, the goddess takes pity on him and converts the statue into a real woman with whom Pygmalion has children. The first gynoid in film, the Maria impersonator in Fritz Lang's Metropolis is also an example.[1] In Metropolis a femininely shaped robot is given skin so that she is not known to be a robot and successfully impersonates the imprisoned Maria and works convincingly as an exotic dancer. Such gynoids are designed according to patriachal stereotypes of a perfect women, being "sexy, dumb, and obedient", and show the sexist beliefs of their creators.[2] Fictional gynoids are often unique products made to fit a particular man's desire, as seen in the novel Tomorrow's Eve and films The Benumbed Woman, Stepford Wives, Mannequin and Weird Science,[21] and the creators are often male "mad scientists" such as the characters Rotwang in Metropolis, Tyrell in Blade Runner, and the husbands in Stepford Wives.[22] Gynoids have been described as the "ultimate geek fantasy: a metal-and-plastic woman of your own".[6]

The Bionic Woman television series coined the word fembot. These fembots were a line of powerful life-like gynoids with the faces of protagonist Jaime Sommers's best friends.[23] They fought in two multi-part episodes of the series: "Kill Oscar" and "Fembots in Las Vegas", and despite the feminine prefix, there were also male versions, including some designed to impersonate particular individuals for the purpose of infiltration. While not truly artificially intelligent, the fembots still had extremely sophisticated programming that allowed them to pass for human in most situations. The term "fembot" was also used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (referring to a robot duplicate of the title character, a.k.a. the Buffybot) and Futurama.

The 1987 science fiction cult movie Cherry 2000 also portrayed a gynoid character which was described by the male protagonist as his "perfect partner".

[edit] Sex objects

Some argue that Gynoids have often been portrayed as sexual objects. Female cyborgs have been similarly used in fiction, in which natural bodies are modified to become objects of fantasy.[1] The female robot in visual media has been described as "the most visible linkage of technology and sex" by Steven Heller.[24]

Feminist critic Patricia Melzer writes in Alien Constructions: Science Fiction and Feminist Thought that gynoids in Richard Calder's Dead Girls are inextricably linked to men's lust, and are mainly designed as sex-objects, having no use beyond "pleasing men's violent sexual desires".[25] The gynoid character Eve from Eve of Destruction has been described as "a literal sex bomb", with her subservience to patriarchal authority and a bomb in place of reproductive organs.[21] In the film The Perfect Women, the titular robot Olga is described as having "no sex", but Steve Chibnall writes in his essay "Alien Women" in British Science Fiction Cinema that it is clear from her fetishistic underwear that she is produced as a toy for men, with an "implicit fantasy of a fully compliant sex machine".[26]

Sex with gynoids has been compared to necrophilia.[27] Sexual interest in gynoids and fembots has been attributed to fetishisation of technology, and compared to Sadomasochism in that it reorganizes the social risk of sex. The depiction of female robots minimizes the threat felt by men from female sexuality and allow the "erasure of any social interference in the spectator's erotic enjoyment of the image".[5] Gynoid fantasies are produced and collected by online communities centered around chat rooms and web-site galleries, such as Doll Forum and Gynoid Gallery.[28]

Isaac Asimov writes that his robots were generally sexually neutral, and that giving the majority masculine names was not an attempt to comment on gender. He first wrote about female-appearing robots at the request of editor Judy-Lynn del Ray.[29][30] Asimov's short story "Feminine Intuition" (1969) is an early example that showed gynoids as being as capable and versatile as male robots, with no sexual connotations.[31] Early models in "Feminine Intuition" were "female caricatures", used to highlight their human creators reactions to the idea of female robots. Later models lost obviously feminine features, but retained "an air of femininity".[32]

[edit] Gender

Fiction about gynoids or female cyborgs reinforce essentialist ideas of femininity, according to Magret Grebowicz.[33] Such essentialist ideas may present as sexual or gender stereotypes. Among the few non-eroticized fictional gynoids include Rosie the Robot Maid from The Jetsons. However, she still has some stereotypically feminine qualities, such as a matronly shape and a predisposition to cry.[34]

Exaggeratedly feminine Fembots with guns in their breasts, from Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery

The stereotypical role of wifedom has also been explored through use of gynoids. In The Stepford Wives, husbands are shown as desiring to restrict the independence of their wives, and obedient and stereotypical spouses are preferred. The husbands' technological method of obtaining this "perfect wife" is through the murder of their human wives and replacement with gynoid substitutes that are compliant and housework obsessed, resulting in a "picture-postcard" perfect suburban society. This has been seen as an allegory of male chauvinism of the period, by representing marriage as a master-slave relationship, and an attempt at raising feminist consciousness during the era of second wave feminism.[22]

In a parody of the fembots from The Bionic Woman, attractive fembots in fuzzy see-through night-gowns were used as a lure for the fictional agent Austin Powers in the movie Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery. The film's sequels had cameo appearances of characters revealed as fembots. Judith Halberstam writes that these gynoids inform the viewer that femaleness does not indicate naturalness, and their exaggerated femininity and sexuality is used in a similar way to the title character's exaggerated masculinity, lampooning stereotypes.[35]

[edit] See also

Robotics portal

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Melzer, Patricia (2006). Alien Constructions: Science Fiction and Feminist Thought. University of Texas Press. p. 202. ISBN 9780292713079. 
  2. ^ a b c d Dinello, Daniel (2005). Technophobia!: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology. University of Texas Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780292709867. 
  3. ^ a b Tatsumi, Takayuki (2006). Full Metal Apache: Transactions between Cyberpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America. Durham NC: Duke University Press. p. 213, Notes. ISBN 0822337746. 
  4. ^ a b Stratton, Jon (2001). The desirable body: cultural fetishism and the erotics of consumption. US: University of Illinois Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780252069512. "The automaton becomes both a philosophical toy and sexual fetish; I extend the meaning of gynoid to include non-mechanical models of women such life-size dolls" 
  5. ^ a b Foster, Thomas (2005). The souls of cyberfolk: posthumanism as vernacular theory. U of Minnesota Press. p. 103. ISBN 9780816634064. "Gynoids are frames that enable us to desire differently, by accommodating libidinal investments in male lack." 
  6. ^ a b c Wallace, Julia (16 December 2008). "Return of the Bodacious 'Bots". Popular Science. http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2008-12/return-bodacious-bots. 
  7. ^ Yazdani, Masoud; Ajit Narayanan (1984). Artificial intelligence: human effects. E. Horwood. pp. 276–277. ISBN 9780853125778. 
  8. ^ Nixon, Geoff (11 December 2008). "Ontario man builds real-life female android". CTV.ca. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081211/project_aiko_081211/. 
  9. ^ "I'm your guide". Science (5779): 1449. 9 June 2006. doi:10.1126/science.312.5779.1449d. 
  10. ^ Newitz, Annalee (10 August 2006). "The Fembot Mystique". Popular Science. http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2006-08/fembot-mystique. 
  11. ^ "Life-like walking female robot". BBC News. 16 March 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7946780.stm. 
  12. ^ "First Chinese 'beauty' robot destined for Sichuan". China Daily. 4 August 2006. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-08/04/content_657625.htm. 
  13. ^ "1st beauty robot in China". Sina.com. 8 August 2006. http://english.sina.com/p/1/2006/0808/85533.html. 
  14. ^ New scientist, Volume 100, ,PC Magazines, 1983.[page needed]
  15. ^ "Frequently Asked Question(s)". Project Aiko. http://www.projectaiko.com/faq.html. 
  16. ^ Carpenter, J.; Davis, J.; Erwin-Stewart, N.; Lee, T.; Bransford, J.; Vye, N. (March 2009). "Gender representation in humanoid robots for domestic use". International Journal of Social Robotics (Springer Netehrlands): 1. doi:10.1007/s12369-009-0016-4. 
  17. ^ Foster, Thomas (2005). The souls of cyberfolk: posthumanism as vernacular theory. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816634064. 
  18. ^ Sorayama, Hajime (1993). The Gynoids. Treville. ISBN 9784845707829. 
  19. ^ Foster, Thomas (2005). The souls of cyberfolk: posthumanism as vernacular theory. U of Minnesota Press. p. 107. ISBN 9780816634064. "'that metallic feeling' seems to heighten and make visible a form of whiteness that in a pin-up girl would seem unremarkable or banal (that is, to the extent that Soyorama's gynoids can be said to embody racial meanings at all, it is through this displacment of "white" skin)" 
  20. ^ Foster, Thomas (2005). The souls of cyberfolk: posthumanism as vernacular theory. U of Minnesota Press. p. 107. ISBN 9780816634064. 
  21. ^ a b Stratton, Jon (2001). The desirable body: cultural fetishism and the erotics of consumption. US: University of Illinois Press. p. 230. ISBN 9780252069512. 
  22. ^ a b Dinello, Daniel (2005). Technophobia!: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology. University of Texas Press. p. 78. ISBN 9780292709867. 
  23. ^ Browne, Ray B., Forbidden Fruits: Taboos and Tabooism in Culture, Popular Press, 1984, 9780879722555
  24. ^ Heller, Steven (2000). Sex appeal: the art of allure in graphic and advertising design. Allworth Press. p. 155. ISBN 9781581150483. 
  25. ^ Melzer, Patricia (2006). Alien Constructions: Science Fiction and Feminist Thought. University of Texas Press. p. 204. ISBN 9780292713079. 
  26. ^ Hunter, I. Q. (1999). British Science Fiction Cinema. p. 58. ISBN 9780203009772. 
  27. ^ Michele, Aaron (1999). The body's perilous pleasures: dangerous desires and contemporary culture. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 108–124. ISBN 9780748609611. 
  28. ^ Foster, Thomas (2005). The souls of cyberfolk: posthumanism as vernacular theory. U of Minnesota Press. p. 103. ISBN 9780816634064. 
  29. ^ Asimov (1976). The Bicentennial man and other stories. Doubleday. p. 5. ISBN 9780385121989. 
  30. ^ Asimov, Isaac (1994). I. Asimov: a memoir. Doubleday. p. 320. ISBN 9780385417013. 
  31. ^ Asimov, Isaac (1995). Gold: the final science fiction collection. HarperPrism. p. 172. ISBN 9780061052064. 
  32. ^ Asimov (1976). The Bicentennial man and other stories. Doubleday. p. 15. ISBN 9780385121989. 
  33. ^ Grebowicz, Margret; L. Timmel Duchamp, Nicola Griffith, Terry Bisson (2007). SciFi in the mind's eye: reading science through science fiction. Open Court. p. xviii. ISBN 9780812696301. 
  34. ^ Rudman, Laurie A.; Peter Glick, Susan T. Fiske (2008). The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. Guilford Press. p. 178. ISBN 9781593858254. 
  35. ^ Halberstam, Judith (2005). In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. NYU Press. p. 144. ISBN 9780814735855. 

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