Pitching for human rights of sex robots? Yes, they deserve human rights, says law professor

sex toy
Sex dolls are piled up at a factory in China, a leading manufacturer of sex toys (Representational Image) Reuters

The popularity of sex robots is on the rise, and many people are making use of these humanoid figures to meet their sexual needs. But sometimes, the wild imagination of humans turn cruel, and they may even fulfill their fantasy of raping and sadistic attitude on these machines. Last year, during a tech fair in Austria, Samantha, the ravishing sex robot faced molestation and severe sexual assault which left her two fingers broken.

Now, Victoria Brooks, a lecturer in law at the University of Westminster has said that humans need to change the way in which they look at these artificial beings. According to Brooks, banning sex robots is not an option, but an effective measure needs to be taken to rework on the relationship between humans and robots.

Victoria Brooks has made it clear that wrong treatment of Samantha's body raises many ethical questions on the way in which we are viewing sex robots.

"Yes, Samantha is a machine. But does this mean it is justifiable to act destructively towards her? Surely the fact she is in a human form makes her a surface on which human sexuality is projected and symbolic of a futuristic human sexuality," argued Brooks, Daily Star reports.

Victoria argues that a time will come when humans will be compelled to seek permission from these robots before engaging in sexual acts with them. She also added that sex dolls deserve human rights, as they are used for satisfying human lust.

"In legal terms, this would mean having to recognize the robot as human. We are making these robot lovers in our image and we ought not to pick and choose whether to be kind to our sexual partners, even when we choose to have relationships outside of the norms," said Brooks pitching for human right of sex robots.

During the initial days of the sex doll industry, manufacturers have developed only male and female sex dolls which offer pleasure to the opposite gender humans. But now, Lumidolls, the world's first sex doll brothel has also developed a gay robot to meet the needs of heterosexual males.

All these indicate the rising popularity of these machines and the underlying truth in Brooke's words that has to be reckoned with.

This article was first published on April 9, 2018
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