Of all the panels I went to at SXSW, I felt three in particular that I wanted to share with Feministing, so here is the first of them. More to come including a round-up post. I had a very cerebral weekend, to say the least.
Sex and Computational Technology
This panel was by far the most interesting I went to. It discussed the role of sex in the creation of machines, networks and online spaces, and how sex exists in everything. And also how people LOVE their machines and probably want to, on some level, have sex with them. It was a discussion by different people educating and/or researching sex and technology.
Violet Blue, who's work is interesting, made the point that ignoring the role of sex and desire is an oversight on behalf of product developers and marketers of technological products. People do indeed use their computers for sex right? Whether it be finding people, looking at pornography or talking to your sweetie on aim. As a potential solution Kyle Machulis was designing products for folks that were trying to have sex with their computers and how to make this process more comfortable. Along with creating interfaces he has also helped design a sex toy charmingly titled the virtual hole and the virtual stick. These products are plugged into your computer and mimic the vibration of whatever it is you may be watching.
I really enjoyed the panel because it centralized the role of sex in technology and the reality that a lot of people really do use their technologies (computer, ipod, cell phone, pda) for sex. What I would have appreciated is an analysis of the ways that these technologies tend to cater to male/heterosexual models of sex. And how most internet porn is not only offensive but extremely racist and sexist. The assumed subject of most of this research is a young, straight, white man. The reality is that people of very diverse sexualities are using technology for sex.
Either way though, the internet is a sex filled place and some folks are developing hardware to further facilitate this new moment in sexuality. Despite its potential problems, how does this affect the ways in which we understand sexuality?
You can catch a live podcast here.
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I would very much like to read a good analysis of these technologies' focus on male/heterosexual models of sex, and some thoughts about possible solutions.
So, um, basically it would be like a PSP controller? Where if you're shot or there's an explosion then the controller vibrates? Your "joystick" would vibrate? And what of the boys?
I honestly don't know how I feel about that personally, but to each their own.
Just a quick note: I had no part in the design or implementation of the virtual hole. I was just demoing it as a new technology. ^_^
And to the PSP controller question... One of the things I built (using both XBox and PS2 controllers) does exactly that, yes. You can plug anything vibratory into it and it'll run that motor. The usefulness is rather limited to how much you like the game you're playing, though. ^_^
It was awesome meeting you. Even though I did end up sleeping rather late the next day. At least, late for me, like 9AM or something.
Samhita, I find this topic interesting also.
Not the sex-with-machines part. Sex with a machine (until some AI passes the Turing test) isn't partnered sex. It is just masturbation. We (many of us) masturbate with machines now; fine-tuning the machines is a perhaps interesting technical subject, but not a paradigm shift in sex.
Nor is the aspect of sexual desire and machines particularly new: before information technology, men created whole quasi-sexual relationships with cars and motorcycles -- in fact, I have a collection of 1950s sports race cars and customized British motorcycles on my Flickr account.
I do think that there is a lot of meat in the subject around the role of information technology in partnered sex: how people form different communities around sex than they did before.
The changes are not all for the better. I'm a sadomashochist, and I take something of a critical stance to some of the community -- because the community after the internet is not like it was before. Once, there were high barriers to entry and strong enforcement of norms. People got initiated and trained by folks with more experience. Then the internet democratized and demystified everything, demolishing the barriers to entry and destroying the ability to enforce norms. Being more specific would end up being inside-baseball, lost on a readership that has no particular background, so I'll leave it at that.
I'm not saying, "the damned innert00bs ruined everything." Probably, the impact is a net positive. GLBT folks have a much greater access to information and ability to network, and expecially the smaller and more dispersed sexual minority communities no longer need to live as islands in a hostile world. But I'm saying that there are both positive and negative aspects of the change.
The truth is that the Craigslist casual encounter and the AFF profile are not really the same thing as the '70s disco one-night-stand scene. The latter still exists in local bars and clubs everywhere in America, the former two really are something new under the sun. People find partners for sex and find communities around sex in ways that are, actually, new.
That's where I think the core of the interesting discussion is -- and with all apologies to Mr. Virtual Stick, dildonics is not at a place yet where it is actually changing anything. We'll talk about direct genital stimulation as a virtual intermediator between online sex partners when it has been done outside a lab.