Mechanical intimacy: A new materialist exploration of sex robot assemblages
A BSA New Materialisms Study Group Event
3 December 2026 (14:00-15:00 GMT)
Online
About the Event
Speaker: Joanne Cassar
Abstract
The prospect of engaging sexually with robots is characterised by competing and often contradictory cultural forces. These opposing perspectives are intertwined and contribute to the very construction of sex robots as a social and cultural phenomenon.
Drawing on a new materialist perspectives, the presentation explores the cultural discourses, meanings and tensions surrounding sex robots, as well as some of the implications that sexual intimacy with artificial humanoids may have for the understanding of sexuality, intimacy, embodiment and human–machine relations.
The presentation also discusses the elements that might constitute a sex robot assemblage. It interrogates the relational dynamics between human users, sex robots, robotic technologies, and the broader socio-technical environment, emphasizing the agential capacities of non-human actors. By employing concepts about intra-action and notions of matter that is active, productive, relational and agentic (Barad, 2007), the study analyzes how a sex robot assemblage could emerge from a complex interplay of material forces, affective intensities, and technological affordances.
Registration
This event is free to attend but registration is required.