A gynoid, or fembot, is a

feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered fe ...

humanoid robot A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipedal locomotion, or for other pu ...

. Gynoids appear widely in science fiction film and art. As more realistic humanoid robot design becomes technologically possible, they are also emerging in real-life robot design.

Name

A gynoid is anything that resembles or pertains to the female human form. Though the term '' android'' has been used to refer to robotic humanoids regardless of apparent gender, the Greek prefix "andr-" refers to ''man'' in the masculine sense. The term ''gynoid'' was first used by

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

in a 1979 editorial, as a theoretical female equivalent of the word ''android''. Other possible names for feminine robots exist. The

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsThe Bionic Woman'' in the episode "Kill Oscar" (1976) and later used in the ''

Austin Powers ''Austin Powers'' is a series of American spy action comedy films: '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997), '' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' (1999) and '' Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (2002). The films were produced ...

'' films, among others. "Robotess" is the oldest female-specific term, originating in 1921 from ''

Rossum's Universal Robots ''R.U.R.'' is a 1920 science-fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. "R.U.R." stands for (Rossum's Universal Robots, a phrase that has been used as a subtitle in English versions). The play had its world premiere on 2 January 1921 in ...

'', the same source as the term "

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

Feminine robots

Examples of feminine robots include: * Project Aiko, an attempt at producing a realistic-looking female android. It speaks Japanese and English, and is produced for a price of €13,000 *

EveR-1 Ever may refer to: * Ever (artist), creator of street art, from Buenos Aires, Argentina * Ever, Kentucky * -ever, an English suffix added to interrogative words in forms like ''wherever'' * KT Tech EVER, a South Korean mobile phone manufacture ...

Actroid Actroid is a type of android (humanoid robot) with strong visual human-likeness developed by Osaka University and manufactured by Kokoro Company Ltd. (the animatronics division of Sanrio). It was first unveiled at the 2003 International Robot ...

, designed by Hiroshi Ishiguro to be "a perfect secretary who smiles and flutters her eyelids" * HRP-4C *

Meinü robot A Meinü robot is a Chinese fembot that was reported on in Chinese news sources in 2006. In Mandarin, Měinǚ Jīqìrén 美女机器人 literally means "beautiful-woman robot" and is officially translated "beauty robot". The first Meinü was later ...

* Mark 1 Researchers note the connection between the design of feminine robots and roboticists' assumptions about gendered appearance and labor. Fembots in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, for example, are designed with slenderness and grace in mind, and they are employed to help to maintain traditional family structures and politics in a nation of population decline. People also react to fembots attributable to gender stereotypes. This research is used to elucidate gender cues, clarifying which behaviors and aesthetics elicit a stronger gender-induced response.

As sexual devices

Gynoids may be "eroticized", and some examples such as Aiko include sensitivity sensors in their breasts and genitals to facilitate sexual response. The fetishization of gynoids in real life has been attributed to male desires for custom-made passive women and compared to life-size

sex doll A sex doll (also love doll, fuck doll or blowup doll) is a type of anthropomorphic sex toy in the size and shape of a sexual partner. The sex doll may consist of an entire body, or just a head, pelvis, or other body part ( vagina, anus, mouth, ...

s. However, some science fiction works depict them as

femmes fatales A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...

, fighting the establishment or being rebellious. Robot sex partners may become commonplace in the future. Female robots as sexual devices also appeared, with early constructions quite crude. The first was produced by Sex Objects Ltd, a Brit company, for use as a "sex aid". It was called simply "36C", from her chest measurement, and had a 16-bit microprocessor and voice synthesiser giving primitive responses to speech and push-button inputs. In 1983, a busty female robot named "Sweetheart" was removed from a display at the

Lawrence Hall of Science The Lawrence Hall of Science is a public science center in Berkeley, California that offers hands-on science exhibits, designs curriculum, aids professional development, and offers after school science resources to students of all ages. The Hall ...

after a petition was presented claiming it was insulting to women. The robot's creator,

Clayton Bailey Clayton George Bailey (March 9, 1939 – June 6, 2020), was an American artist who worked primarily in the mediums of ceramic and metal sculpture. Early life and education Clayton George Bailey was born on March 9, 1939 in Antigo, Wisconsin. In ...

, a professor of art at

California State University, Hayward California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 post ...

called this "censorship" and "next to

book burning Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politi ...

In fiction

Artificial women have been a common trope in fiction and mythology since the writings of the ancient Greeks (see the myth of Pygmalion). This has continued with modern fiction, particularly in the genre of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

. In science fiction, female-appearing robots are often produced for use as domestic servants and sexual slaves, as seen in the film ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populate ...

'', Paul J. McAuley's novel ''Fairyland'' (1995), and

Lester del Rey Lester del Rey (June 2, 1915 – May 10, 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and scienc ...

's short story "

Helen O'Loy "Helen O'Loy" is a science fiction short story by American writer Lester del Rey, originally published in 1938 in ''Astounding Science Fiction''. It was subsequently published many times in various collections or anthologies. The latest publica ...

" (1938), and sometimes as warriors, killers, or laborers. The character of Annalee Call in ''

Alien Resurrection ''Alien Resurrection'' is a 1997 American science fiction horror film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, written by Joss Whedon, and starring Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder. It is the fourth installment of the ''Alien'' franchise, and wa ...

'' is a rare example of a non-sexualized gynoid.

Metaphors

The perfect woman

A long tradition exists in literature of the construction of an artificial embodiment of a certain type of ideal woman, and fictional gynoids have been seen as an extension of this theme. Examples include

Hephaestus Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter B ...

in the

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...

who created female servants of metal, and

Ilmarinen Ilmarinen (), the Eternal Hammerer, blacksmith and inventor in the ''Kalevala'', is a god and archetypal artificer from Finnish mythology. He is immortal and capable of creating practically anything, but is portrayed as being unlucky in love. He ...

in the

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and ...

who created an artificial wife. Pygmalion, from

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

's account, is one of the earliest conceptualizations of constructions similar to gynoids in literary history. In this myth a female statue is sculpted that is so beautiful that the creator falls in love with it, and after praying to

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...

, the goddess takes pity on him and converts the statue into a real woman, Galatea, with whom Pygmalion has children. The

Maschinenmensch The ''Maschinenmensch'' (literally 'machine-human' in German) is a fictional robot featured in Thea von Harbou's novel '' Metropolis'' and Fritz Lang's film adaption of the novel. In the movie, she is played by German actress Brigitte Helm bot ...

("machine-human"), also called "Parody," "Futura," "Robotrix," or the "Maria impersonator," in

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary '' Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. ...

's ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

'' is the first example of gynoid in film: a femininely shaped robot is given skin so that she is not known to be a robot and successfully impersonates the imprisoned Maria and works convincingly as an

exotic dancer A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event. M ...

. Fictional gynoids are often unique products made to fit a particular man's desire, as seen in the novel '' Tomorrow's Eve'' and films '' The Perfect Woman'', '' The Stepford Wives'', ''

Mannequin A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles. ...

'' and '' Weird Science'', and the creators are often male "

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly am ...

s" such as the characters

Rotwang C. A. Rotwang is a fictional character in Fritz Lang's 1927 science fiction film '' Metropolis'', as well as screenwriter Thea von Harbou's original novel '' Metropolis''. In the film, Rotwang was played by Rudolf Klein-Rogge. Character overv ...

in ''Metropolis'', Tyrell in ''Blade Runner'', and the husbands in ''The Stepford Wives''. Gynoids have been described as the "ultimate geek fantasy: a metal-and-plastic woman of your own." '' The Bionic Woman'' television series coined the word ''fembot''. These fembots were a line of powerful, lifelike gynoids with the faces of protagonist Jaime Sommers's best friends. They fought in two multi-part episodes of the series: "Kill Oscar" and "Fembots in Las Vegas," and despite the feminine

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy''. Particul ...

, there were also male versions, including some designed to impersonate particular individuals for the purpose of infiltration. While not truly artificially intelligent, the fembots still had extremely sophisticated programming that allowed them to pass for human in most situations. The term ''fembot'' was also used in ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the 1992 film of the same name, also written by Whedon, although the events of the film are not consid ...

'' (referring to a robot duplicate of the title character, a.k.a. the

Buffybot This article lists the major and recurring fictional characters created by Joss Whedon for the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. For detailed descriptions, see individual character pages. Cast Main cast The following characters we ...

) and ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years ...

''. The 1987 science-fiction

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage i ...

Cherry 2000 ''Cherry 2000'' is a 1988 American science-fiction film directed by Steve De Jarnatt and starring Melanie Griffith and David Andrews. It was produced by Edward R. Pressman and Caldecot Chubb. The screenplay was by Michael Almereyda. Plot In ...

'' also portrayed a gynoid character which was described by the male protagonist as his "perfect partner". The 1964 TV series ''

My Living Doll ''My Living Doll'' is an American science-fiction sitcom that aired for 26 episodes on CBS from September 27, 1964, to March 17, 1965. It was produced by Jack Chertok and filmed at Desilu studios by Jack Chertok Television Productions, in associa ...

'' features a robot, portrayed by

Julie Newmar Julie Newmar (born Julia Chalene Newmeyer, August 16, 1933) is an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for a variety of stage, screen, and television roles. She is also a writer, lingerie designer, and real-estate mogul. She won the Tony ...

, who is similarly described. The film

Her Her is the objective and possessive form of the English-language feminine pronoun she. Her, HER or H.E.R. may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Music * H.E.R. (born 1997), American singer ** ''H.E.R.'' (album), 2017 * HIM (Finnish ...

(2013) depicts an Artificial Intelligence assistant called Samantha, whom the protagonist, Theodore, falls in love with until her intelligence surpasses human comprehension and she leaves to fulfil her higher purpose. More recently, the 2015 science-fiction film '' Ex Machina'' featured a genius inventor experimenting with gynoids in an effort to create the perfect companion.

Gender

Fiction about gynoids or female cyborgs reinforce essentialist ideas of femininity, according to Margret Grebowicz. Such essentialist ideas may present as sexual or gender stereotypes. Among the few non-eroticized fictional gynoids include Rosie the Robot Maid from ''

The Jetsons ''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produced ...

''. However, she still has some typical feminine qualities, such as a

matron Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person ...

ly shape and a predisposition to cry. The stereotypical role of wifedom has also been explored through use of gynoids. In '' The Stepford Wives'', husbands are shown as desiring to restrict the independence of their wives, and obedient and stereotypical spouses are preferred. The husbands' technological method of obtaining this "perfect wife" is through the murder of their human wives and replacement with gynoid substitutes that are compliant and housework obsessed, resulting in a "picture-postcard" perfect suburban society. This has been seen as an allegory of male chauvinism of the period, by representing marriage as a master-slave relationship, and an attempt at raising feminist consciousness during the era of

second wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains. Wh ...

. In a parody of the fembots from ''The Bionic Woman'', attractive, blonde fembots in alluring baby-doll nightgowns were used as a lure for the fictional agent

in the movie '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery''. The film's sequels had

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s of characters revealed as fembots.

Jack Halberstam Jack Halberstam (; born December 15, 1961), also known as Judith Halberstam, is an American academic. Since 2017, he has been a professor in the department of English and comparative literature and the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, an ...

writes that these gynoids inform the viewer that femaleness does not indicate naturalness, and their exaggerated femininity and sexuality is used in a similar way to the title character's exaggerated masculinity, lampooning stereotypes.

Sex objects

Some argue that gynoids have often been portrayed as sexual objects. Female cyborgs have been similarly used in fiction, in which natural bodies are modified to become objects of fantasy. The female robot in visual media has been described as "the most visible linkage of technology and sex" by Steven Heller. Feminist critic Patricia Melzer writes in ''Alien Constructions: Science Fiction and Feminist Thought'' that gynoids in Richard Calder's ''Dead Girls'' are inextricably linked to men's lust, and are mainly designed as sex objects, having no use beyond "pleasing men's violent sexual desires." The gynoid character Eve from the film '' Eve of Destruction'' has been described as "a literal sex bomb," with her subservience to patriarchal authority and a bomb in place of reproductive organs. In the 1949 film '' The Perfect Woman'', the titular robot, Olga, is described as having "no sex," but Steve Chibnall writes in his essay "Alien Women" in ''British Science Fiction Cinema'' that it is clear from her fetishistic underwear that she is produced as a toy for men, with an "implicit fantasy of a fully compliant sex machine." In the film ''

'', female robots actually engaged in intercourse with human men as part of the make-believe vacation world human customers paid to attend. Sexual interest in gynoids and fembots has been attributed to fetishisation of technology, and compared to

sadomasochism Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refe ...

in that it reorganizes the social risk of sex. The depiction of female robots minimizes the threat felt by men from female sexuality and allow the "erasure of any social interference in the spectator's erotic enjoyment of the image." Gynoid fantasies are produced and collected by online communities centered around chat rooms and web site galleries.

writes that his robots were generally sexually neutral and that giving the majority masculine names was not an attempt to comment on gender. He first wrote about female-appearing robots at the request of editor

Judy-Lynn del Rey Judy-Lynn del Rey née Benjamin (January 26, 1943 – February 20, 1986) was a science fiction editor. Born with dwarfism, she was a fan and regular attendee at science fiction conventions and worked her way up the publishing ladder, startin ...

. Asimov's short story "Feminine Intuition" (1969) is an early example that showed gynoids as being as capable and versatile as male robots, with no sexual connotations. Early models in "Feminine Intuition" were "female caricatures," used to highlight their human creators' reactions to the idea of female robots. Later models lost obviously feminine features, but retained "an air of femininity."

Criticisms

* Critics have commented on the problematic nature of assigning a gender to an artificial object with no consciousness of its own, based purely on its appearance or sound. It has also been argued that our innovation should part from this essentialising notion of a woman and focus on the purpose of creating robots, without making them explicitly male or female. Indeed, very few robots are explicitly male; it is the contrast with the female robot that makes the neutral one male (the principle of the male default). * Critics have also noticed how the creation of gynoids is associated with service roles, while androids or systems with male voices are employed in positions of leadership.

Name

Feminine robots

As sexual devices

In fiction

Metaphors

The perfect woman

Gender

Sex objects

Criticisms

See also

Notes

References

External links