Sex with sex robots is considered cheating

What is it about?

In two studies, U.S. adults were asked about whether a variety of behaviors ranging from dancing, hugging, and buying gifts, to oral sex, intercourse, and lying about sex with a sex robot or with another human would be considered cheating in their relationship. In Study 1, people did not consider these behaviors with a sex robot as likely to be cheating in their relationship than these behaviors committed with another human. Males were also less likely to consider all behaviors with sex robots as cheating than their female counterparts. This may be because sex robots are predominantly shown as sexy females with hyper-feminized physical characteristics. Males in Study 1 may not have been thinking about male sex robots engaged in behaviors with their female partners. Thus, in Study 2, we asked people to think about a sex robot described specifically as either male or female. We found that behaviors committed with sex robots described specifically as male or female were more likely to be considered cheating than in Study 1, and male and female survey respondents no longer differed in their responses as to whether sex and other behaviors with sex robots were considered cheating.

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Photo by Robert Anderson on Unsplash

Photo by Robert Anderson on Unsplash

Why is it important?

These findings are important because the majority of the debate around whether sex robots could be good or bad for human societies is often focused on potential harm that sex robots could bring. Many scholars often claim that sex robots can be bad for human-human relationships. However, few researchers have actually tested this claim or tried to uncover why sex robots could be harmful to human relationships. This work for the first time collected data on how a sex robot could harm a human relationship, for instance as an actor in relationship infidelity. Finally, this work suggests that sex robots can bring harm to relationships because people think it is possible to commit relationship infidelity with a sex robot. In summary, this work helps to answer the following questions: 1. Can a person commit infidelity with a sex robot? Yes, especially when specific robots are considered. 2. Is sex outside of a relationship with a sex robot as problematic as sex with another human outside of a relationship? No. But again, when specifically male or female sex robots are considered, they are thought of as closer to their human counterparts. 3. Finally, can sex robots bring harm to a human relationship? Yes. Infidelity is harmful to relationship and thus, sex with sex robots can be harmful to (some forms of) human relationships.

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