Social surrogates or posthuman lovers? : love dolls in the robotic moment

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dc.contributor.authorWong, Nathan
dc.contributor.authorUniversity of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
dc.contributor.supervisorMair, Kimberly
dc.date.accessioned2015-09-30T00:42:24Z
dc.date.available2015-09-30T00:42:24Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.degree.levelMastersen_US
dc.description.abstractIn this study, I address the status of human relationships with the contemporary sex or love doll by situating these relationships at the intersection between communications technologies and subjectivity. Critical discourse analysis of testimonials, advertising, a sub forum from The Doll Forum website, and photographs challenged the two prevalent perspectives: the surrogacy thesis, which suggests that dolls operate as stand-ins for absent human partners, and the commodification of sex thesis, which cast love dolls as masturbatory devices and their users as sexually deviant. Drawing upon critical social theory, particularly Sherry Turkle’s (2011) concept of the robotic moment and a reconfiguration of Keith Basso’s (1996) notion of interanimacy, I argue that, rather than supplements or surrogates, sociable technologies and objects are participants in social interactions, communications, and relationships.en_US
dc.embargoNoen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/3753
dc.language.isoen_CAen_US
dc.proquest.subject0628en_US
dc.proquest.subject0626en_US
dc.proquest.subject0451en_US
dc.proquestyesYesen_US
dc.publisherLethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Sociologyen_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Sociologyen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesThesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science)en_US
dc.subjectlove dollen_US
dc.subjectrobotic momenten_US
dc.subjectsimulated relationshipsen_US
dc.titleSocial surrogates or posthuman lovers? : love dolls in the robotic momenten_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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