Dr. Bo Ruberg (University of California Irvine) presented on their upcoming book Sex Dolls at Sea: Imagined Histories of Sexual Technologies on April 18. The virtual talk explored the histories and stories surrounding the interactive and playful sexual technologies. Ruberg’s research includes the complex history of sex dolls and robots and how that history has been misrepresented, often pointing back to rudimentary sex dolls supposedly made by European sailors.
Ruberg interrogated this story and presented an alternative take on the history of sex dolls and robots by presenting the commercial history of sex toys that were first produced, sold, advertised, distributed, and imagined in the mid 19th-century. Their research demonstrates how the histories of sexual technologies have been wrapped up in sexism, homophobia, racism, and colonialism. Ruberg argued that by challenging common misconceptions around sexual technologies, they can be reclaimed as a site of feminist and queer potential.