River
Active member
I just read (well, part of) an article which begins, "There’s nothing weird about owning a sex doll. Most of us would, if they were cheaper." (Source: https://medium.com/@JessicaLexicus/everyone-should-buy-a-sex-doll-459de0e40c7f )
Okay, I didn't even get far into that article before coming here and posting this. I'll read the rest later.
I found that claim startling! Most people would own a sex doll ... if they were cheaper?!
This claim does several things, but one of them is that it reveals how many of us imagine other people are much like ourselves, so that we make predictions about others which presume others are motivated in the same way, by the same things, as we are. That's an interesting psychological and social phenomenon all by itself, and worthy of discussion on its own terms.
Honestly, I cannot even imagine for a second wanting a sex doll. And this helps reveal why, for me, what I sometimes call "the human connection" is so crucially central to what sex is about for me. It's mostly about that: the human connection. Obviously no sex doll or AI robot could ever provide a genuine human connection. So why go there? Why?
Now I can see wanting or having a vibrator. That makes sense. It's simply a higher tech, zippy way to masturbate. In this case, the human connection is not between man (or woman) and machine, but between me, myself and I. (Note: I don't actually own a vibrator, though I have played with them and enjoyed it, long ago.)
A sex doll (or AI robot) is meant to resemble a person. But it has no more person-ness than a pumpkin or a tree stump. Right?
This thread is obviously not about poly relationships, per se. It's about the relationship of sex and ... the human connection. It's about what intimacy and love are. It's a weird way to explore, a kind of "thought experiment"... meant to reveal whatever it may, in conversation. Perhaps it could help us understand poly relationships -- and relationships in general, somehow? Le'ts find out.
Okay, I didn't even get far into that article before coming here and posting this. I'll read the rest later.
I found that claim startling! Most people would own a sex doll ... if they were cheaper?!
This claim does several things, but one of them is that it reveals how many of us imagine other people are much like ourselves, so that we make predictions about others which presume others are motivated in the same way, by the same things, as we are. That's an interesting psychological and social phenomenon all by itself, and worthy of discussion on its own terms.
Honestly, I cannot even imagine for a second wanting a sex doll. And this helps reveal why, for me, what I sometimes call "the human connection" is so crucially central to what sex is about for me. It's mostly about that: the human connection. Obviously no sex doll or AI robot could ever provide a genuine human connection. So why go there? Why?
Now I can see wanting or having a vibrator. That makes sense. It's simply a higher tech, zippy way to masturbate. In this case, the human connection is not between man (or woman) and machine, but between me, myself and I. (Note: I don't actually own a vibrator, though I have played with them and enjoyed it, long ago.)
A sex doll (or AI robot) is meant to resemble a person. But it has no more person-ness than a pumpkin or a tree stump. Right?
This thread is obviously not about poly relationships, per se. It's about the relationship of sex and ... the human connection. It's about what intimacy and love are. It's a weird way to explore, a kind of "thought experiment"... meant to reveal whatever it may, in conversation. Perhaps it could help us understand poly relationships -- and relationships in general, somehow? Le'ts find out.
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