Teledildonics

Teledildonics (also known as cyberdildonics) is the name coined for virtual sex encounters using technology to mimic and extend human, sexual interaction. The term was first used in 1991 by technology critic and writer Howard Rheingold in his book Virtual Reality.[1] In the publication, Rhinegold made futuristic conclusions and summaries surrounding technology and used the term 'teledildonics' to refer to remote sexual activity using technology.[1] Nowadays, the term is commonly used to describe remote sex (or, at least, remote mutual masturbation), where tactile sensations are communicated over a remote cloud between the participants. The term can also refer to the integration of telepresence with sexual activity that these interfaces make possible and can be used in conjunction or interchangeably with sex-technology. The term has also been used less accurately (since there's no "tele-" element) to refer to robotic sex, i.e., computer-controlled sex toys that aim to substitute for or improve upon sex with a human partner.[2][3] Nowadays, it is commonly used to refer to Bluetooth enabled sex toys.

Background

Teledildonics is commonly used to describe Bluetooth enabled sex toys, many of which have entered the market in the last decade. As well as being open to a remote connection for control, some toys can also be connected with corresponding devices to deliver synchronized movements between couples and remote partners. Teledildonics have also been used within the adult industry to create 'immersive' webcam shows, whereby users control the vibrations of the webcammers sex toy.[4] Some media outlets have reported on 'teldildonic' technology used by long-distance couples in order to maintain sexual relations.[5]

As well as offering remote functions, many teledildonic toys can be synchronized with pornography movies. Synchronization of porn with teledildonic or Bluetooth toys actions are controlled by means of a previously-written script. A report in 2008 suggested that teledildonics, along with text and email and webcams, can be used to "wind each other up to fever pitch during the working day" as a prelude to sex with a human during the evening hours.[6] New technologies can help people establish "emotional connections" via the web.[7] Indeed, teledildonics technology has already been integrated with adult online webcam services and certain sex toys,[8] such as OhMiBod, Lovense and We-Vibe.[9][10] One Dutch manufacturer, KIIROO, offers a two-way connection between both female and male sex toys.[11]

History

The idea of virtual sex has been prominent in literature, fiction and popular culture. Promoters of these devices have claimed since the 1980s they are the "next big thing" in cybersex technology.[12] At the time Howard Rhinegold coined the term teledildonics in 1990, there were already many enthusiasts seeking to explore the power of technology, sex and intimacy. A report in the Chicago Tribune in 1993 suggested that teledildonics was "the virtual-reality technology that may one day allow people wearing special bodysuits, headgear and gloves to engage in tactile sexual relations from separate, remote locations via computers connected to phone lines."[13] It was the same year that the Cyber-SM suit was released by Stahl Stensile, which featured on the cover of FutureSex publication, a 1990's San-Francisco based magazine that focused on the emergence of teledidlonics.[14] Some products have been shown at the Museum of Sex in New York City[15] and there was an exhibition about Stensile's Cyber-SM suit in 2016.

The responses to teledildonics have been mixed; however, the dominant concern has centered on the separation of personal intimacy and embodied presence. In the words of one early text on the subject:[16]

Indeed, pushing at the cultural-technical limits of the integrity-fragmentation contradiction can, in the short term, supercharge the disembodied body with 'sensual', transgressive ambiguity. For example, ‘teledildonics’, computer-simulated; sexual arousal by wearing plugged-in bodysuits, may never become widely practised, but it certainly provokes interest as a risque possibility ... [T]echno-sex contributes to hollowing out the corporeal taken-for-grantedness of which, paradoxically, it depends.

Controversy

Many companies experimenting in the field have been hit with patent lawsuits.[17][18] At the 2016 South by Southwest Festival, virtual reality entrepreneur Ela Darling asserted that patent holders were preventing the production of teledildonic technology.[19]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has named one such patent the "stupid patent of the month".[20] That patent expired in August 2018, lowering the barrier of entry to the field.[21]

See also

References
  1. "Where Did the Word Teledildonics Come From?". Future of Sex. 2016-08-19. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  2. Stein, Joel "Will cybersex be better than real sex?" Time magazine, June 19, 2000. Retrieved July 23, 2008
  3. Stuart Jeffries (reviewer) David Levy (author) (10 May 2008). "Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships (book)". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-02-08. we're in for a cybersexual revolution that will make the pill a negligible historical footnote.
  4. "Cam Girls Are Charging Clients to Control Their Vibrators Over the Internet". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  5. "Kiiroo Onyx+ Review: Does It Work With the OhMiBod Fuse?". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  6. Stuart Jeffries (9 September 2008). "How has The Joy of Sex changed since 1972?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-02-08. ... Text, email, webcams, teledildonics can all be used to wind each other up to fever pitch during the working day prior to extended evening action ...
  7. Aleks Krotoski (6 February 2011). "What effect has the internet had on our sex lives?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-02-08. And the web is all about helping people establish emotional connections. Throw in some erotic imagery, augmented teledildonics technologies, or a bit of sexting or Skyping, and you have the makings of a rather extraordinary, albeit mediated, relationship.
  8. "Teledildonics and Live Webcams". Webcam Reports. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  9. Alptraum, Lux (8 October 2015). "Cam Girls Are Charging Clients to Control Their Vibrators Over the Internet". Motherboard (website). Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  10. Wakeman, Jessica (16 November 2016). "Virtual Brothels: How Teledildonics Is Revolutionizing Sex Work". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  11. "How the Fleshlight Predicted the Future". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  12. Grossman, Anna Jane "Single, white with dildo." Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine Salon, July 23, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2008
  13. David Rothschild (September 28, 1993). "High-tech Sex". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  14. "See Visions of Cybersex Suits and Teledildonics from the 1990s". Future of Sex. 2018-03-26. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  15. "For Pleasure". Slate Magazine. 2011-02-08. Archived from the original on February 11, 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-08. At a small and private teledildonics demonstration on June 1, 2005, sex writer Violet Blue, while in San Francisco, induced two orgasms in her partner, who was riding a custom-made mega-vibrator known as a Thrillhammer at the Museum of Sex in New York City. The event included a few technical hitches: At one point the woman (shown here at a different demonstration) knocked an electrical cord out of the socket. It seems that teledildonics—remote-control vibrator sex via computer—has a long way to go.
  16. Carkeek, Freya; James, Paul (1992). "This Abstract Body: The Self, the Body and Identity". Arena (99–100): 66–85.
  17. Mike Masnick (2015-10-08). "Kickstarter Refuses To Settle Or Be Silenced Over Ridiculous 'Teledildonics' Patent Lawsuit". Techdirt. Retrieved 2016-08-15.
  18. "Expiration of Major Cybersex Patent Could Set Off Explosive Innovation". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  19. Alex Needham (2016-03-18). "SXSW panel explores virtual reality porn: 'more eye contact and dirty talk'". The Guardian. Austin, Texas. Retrieved 2017-10-29. Eventually, some suggest, “teledildonic” technology will enable them to feel sex as well as see it, though a strict patent, according to delegate Ela Darling, has prevented technological developments in this area.
  20. "Stupid Patent of the Month: Trolls Go After Sex Toy Manufacturers". Electronic Frontier Foundation. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  21. "The 20-Year Patent on Teledildonics Has Expired". Motherboard. 2018-08-17. Retrieved 2018-08-19.
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