Sex Robots in Care: Setting the Stage for a Discussion on the Potential Use of Sexual Robot Technologies for Persons with Disabilities

Abstract

Although every human should enjoy physical touch, intimacy, and sexual pleasure, persons with disabilities are often not in the position to fully experience the joys of life in the same manner as abled people. The United Nations stated in 1993 that persons with disabilities should enjoy family life and personal integrity and should not be denied the opportunity to experience their sexuality, have sexual relationships, and experience parenthood. However, after nearly 30 years of discussion, universal access to sexual and reproductive health remains an unfinished agenda for the disabled, as if society failed in recognizing people with disabilities as sexual beings. In this respect, a growing body of scholars have started to explore the idea of using technology to help disabled people satisfy some of these needs, although not without controversy. In concrete, ideas surrounding the use of robots for sex care purposes have been put forward, as service robots performing actions contributing directly towards improvement in the satisfaction of a user s sexual needs. This paper continues to explore the potential use of these robots in disability care for sex care purposes, including for those with physical and mental health disabilities, which is currently underexplored. Our contribution seeks to understand whether sex robots could serve as a step forward in realizing the sexual rights of persons with disabilities. By building on a conceptual analysis of how sex robots could empower persons with disabilities to exercise their sexual rights, we hope to inform the policy debate around robots regulation and governance and set the scene for further research.