What Makes a Robot Gay?
Jun. 23rd, 2008 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julieandrewsThe Feminist SF blog had a recent post about the trailer for Wall-E and the apparently straight robots. You can see that post and the comments.
And today I found that io9 is running a poll on Who is the Gayest Robot in Science Fiction?. It's a whole lot of fluff and obviously not meant to be taken seriously, but here I am getting a bit serious with it anyhow.
How do you define gay when it comes to robots?
- First they're going to need a sex. Or at a least a gender.
Technically all robots should be biologically neuter, since they have no biology. So thus, no gay robots. But that would be a non-starter, so let's assume a gender is enough.
Do they have to be androids and thus be in human form with appropriate equipment and preferably 'fully functional'? Or is it enough to have secondary sexual characteristics such as a masculine or feminine voice or plastic facial hair? Or is it yet enough for them to wheel around on pink treads or carry advertisements for Old Spice? Or maybe it all comes down to the names and pronouns they're given by humans.
- So assuming you have a male robot, however you define male, or a female robot, however you define female, what would make one gay?
Possibility 1
It could be an effeminate male robot, but wouldn't that get a bit tricky? They're already only male because of certain conventions. If they've got masculine and feminine traits, then that may just be moving them more toward their true neuter status.
Plus there's the fact that being effeminate doesn't make one gay and being gay doesn't make one effeminate.
So it seems to me that an effeminate male robot or a butch female robot does not a gay robot make.
Possibility 2
Is it enough for the male robot to have sex with male humans? Or do they have to have enough personality and free will to want to have sex with male humans? To in some manner be attracted to male humans. Or does that not even count, because a true same-sex relationship would have to be a robot with another robot of the same gender, rather than dating outside of their species?
Of course they would have to be exclusive in their gender, or then you'd have a bisexual robot. Or perhaps omnisexual if they're getting it on with humans, robots, cyborgs, and others.
Possibility 3
What if the robot acted gay? By which I mean took on the dress, mannerisms, and speech representative of gay culture. Is culturally gay enough for a robot to be gay?
Possibility 4
Self-determination. A robot self-identifies as male and gay, or as female and lesbian. Is it enough for a robot to claim to be gay? Does that make them gay?
Anyone up for publishing a gay robot anthology?
And today I found that io9 is running a poll on Who is the Gayest Robot in Science Fiction?. It's a whole lot of fluff and obviously not meant to be taken seriously, but here I am getting a bit serious with it anyhow.
How do you define gay when it comes to robots?
- First they're going to need a sex. Or at a least a gender.
Technically all robots should be biologically neuter, since they have no biology. So thus, no gay robots. But that would be a non-starter, so let's assume a gender is enough.
Do they have to be androids and thus be in human form with appropriate equipment and preferably 'fully functional'? Or is it enough to have secondary sexual characteristics such as a masculine or feminine voice or plastic facial hair? Or is it yet enough for them to wheel around on pink treads or carry advertisements for Old Spice? Or maybe it all comes down to the names and pronouns they're given by humans.
- So assuming you have a male robot, however you define male, or a female robot, however you define female, what would make one gay?
Possibility 1
It could be an effeminate male robot, but wouldn't that get a bit tricky? They're already only male because of certain conventions. If they've got masculine and feminine traits, then that may just be moving them more toward their true neuter status.
Plus there's the fact that being effeminate doesn't make one gay and being gay doesn't make one effeminate.
So it seems to me that an effeminate male robot or a butch female robot does not a gay robot make.
Possibility 2
Is it enough for the male robot to have sex with male humans? Or do they have to have enough personality and free will to want to have sex with male humans? To in some manner be attracted to male humans. Or does that not even count, because a true same-sex relationship would have to be a robot with another robot of the same gender, rather than dating outside of their species?
Of course they would have to be exclusive in their gender, or then you'd have a bisexual robot. Or perhaps omnisexual if they're getting it on with humans, robots, cyborgs, and others.
Possibility 3
What if the robot acted gay? By which I mean took on the dress, mannerisms, and speech representative of gay culture. Is culturally gay enough for a robot to be gay?
Possibility 4
Self-determination. A robot self-identifies as male and gay, or as female and lesbian. Is it enough for a robot to claim to be gay? Does that make them gay?
Anyone up for publishing a gay robot anthology?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-24 08:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-24 11:53 am (UTC)