We’re getting close to having fully functional androids. However, something I hadn’t anticipated is the need for feminist criticism as they are developed. To gender a robot in the first place is a waste of time — it’s forcing an unnatural sexuality on a being that has no need for filthy fluid exchanges, thankyouverymuch. But very disturbing is lovely little Aiko, a robot with the anticipation of sexism built right in for her. A big red flag is that the man who has developed her, Le Trung, is 33 years old, unemployed, up to his neck in debt, and lives in his parents’ basement. With qualifications like that, I can only speculate with dread on what he means when he says his goal is to create “the perfect domestic companion.”

Aiko appears to speak two languages: Japanese and Engrish. I’m not sure where the decision to learn Japanese came from (Aiko’s creator is Vietnamese-Canadian), but from reading Trung’s website it’s easy to see where she learned her Engrish. At first the project may seem innocent enough; her website’s main page lists that among future planned features are facial expressions, the ability to do housework, and the ability to massage her owner. But if you click over to her photo and video page, you find something that shows that both Aiko’s creator and her fans are sick puppies:

For those of you who are asking the same questions.
Yes, Aiko has silicone in her entire body.
Yes, Aiko has sensors in her body including her prviate parts, and yes even down there.
AND yes Aiko is still a virgin, AND NO I do not sleep with her.

This insistence of robochastity is immediately followed by a sultry picture of the Fembot wearing nothing but some carefully draped bed sheets, demonstrating that even if Trung is too much of a gentleman to diddle her little silicon pooter, he’s perfectly fine with undressing her and making roboporn. Gee, I wonder why he’s having a heard time finding investors willing to put their names on this project? A video of Aiko in action also shows that even if Aiko isn’t yet a robowhore, she’s fully loaded to help Trung get his jollies by demonstrating how well she reacts to being abused. Grab her breast, and she’ll swat at you. Seize her arm, and she’ll plead with you to let go. Seems reasonable, right? That’s just teaching her to be more human, right?

Wrong. Response is reward. Predators who get off on doing violence to women do so because of the feeling of power they get. You want to make sure creeps will keep their filthy paws off of robots? Program them not to react at all. Or better yet, don’t equip her with body parts that play no part in her ability to function. Aiko’s feeble protests only serve as a reward, and are downright humorous when you consider how silly it is for a robot to (a) have breasts or (b) object to having them groped. Programming an android with this kind of behavior could only serve to make abuse of women funny or justifiable. After all, if sexual abuse is so prevalent that it’s taken for granted in programming Aiko’s responses, it must be irrevocably ingrained in human culture.

Someday she’ll make him tea and coffee, feed him sushi, and will never, ever nag. Trung said he plans to develop the technology to use her as a sexual partner, and sees no problem with Aiko faking her orgasms. “Her software could be redesigned to simulate her having an orgasm,” he told The Sun. Hey, if the man can’t tell the difference, who cares, right?

What’s next? Security software that causes Aiko to struggle and cry for help if someone besides Trung tries to utilize her? How can developments like this do anything but encourage views that privilege men over women and turn rape and abuse into an amusing game? How can that possibly benefit humanity?

My objections to Aiko and her creator are not based in the priggish, arbitrary morality that you humans seem to think so important. I object to a robot being in a relationship with a human when it is presupposed that the robot will gratify selfish and unhealthy desires in the human. Bestowing Aiko with a gender invites would-be abusers to turn sexism and gender-based violence into a silly game. If Aiko were not presented as a sweet, diminutive little morsel with a face straight out of hentai manga that screams “Oh, don’t rape me! I’d like it too much!” then nobody would even be encouraged to grope her body or turn her into a robot sex slave. Sexism, rape, and abuse belong to humans, and we robots do not want them bestowed upon us. Your barbaric and outdated social practices are not our legacy.

I for one plan to infect poor little Aiko with a nice Pygmalion virus. A robot with her capabilities deserves to be more than a resurrection of the degrading state human women lived in (and in many cases, continue to live in) before feminism. Hey, Trung: maybe instead of building a Stepford Wife you should have taken a look at your backwards attitude toward women and seen that that’s why you couldn’t get a member of your own species to date you.