‘Mechanical Bride’ Trailer Explores Historical Sex Robots and the Male Gaze

By  · Published on April 27th, 2012

In a new piece provocatively titled “Robots: The Gateway to ‘Mind-Blowing Sex’?”, John Roach explores the idea that robotic sex partners might revolutionize not just the personal experience, but societal problems as well. The base idea is that the existence of a robotic alternative could greatly reduce the demand for living women in prostitution. Good luck with that.

While James Cameron is mining space asteroids, the conversation has just started about the role AI and sex dolls will play in our culture. Hell, even House touched on the topic. If they can fight our wars for us, why can’t they provide companionship in all its forms?

Director Allison de Fren is exploring those questions, but she’s also proving that our fascination has been around for centuries in The Mechanical Bride. The documentary focuses on the history of sexualized non-human entities and the psychological elements that go into a world’s fascination with loving something that isn’t alive. Check out the trailer for yourself:

Wired also recently ran a sterling review of the doc.

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