Technosexual (derived from Greek – technē , "art, ability, craft" and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

sexuālis, "sexual") is a term that circulated in media, fashion, and online outlets of the 2000s to describe a male that possesses a strong

aesthetic Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...

sense and a love of

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

."Word Spy contributors" (2004
Technosexual
wordspy.com

History

The term "technosexuality" had been in use since the 70s, originally referring to a sexual attraction toward machines, robots, and androids, being synonymous with ASFR or "other sexual devices not really occurring in real life". The first usage of the term as a concept distinct from ASFR was coined by US physicist and mathematician Ricky Montalvo in 2003, as a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of " technophile" and "

metrosexual Metrosexual (a portmanteau of '' metropolitan'' and '' heterosexual'') is a term for a man who is especially meticulous about his personal style, grooming and appearance. It is often used to refer to heterosexual men who are perceived to be 'ef ...

". He launched the website "Technosexual.org" the same year, where he provided the following description of a technosexual man: Montalvo later shared the same definition to the

Urban Dictionary ''Urban Dictionary'' is a crowdsourced English-language online dictionary for slang words and phrases. The website was founded in 1999 by Aaron Peckham. Originally, ''Urban Dictionary'' was intended as a dictionary of slang or cultural word ...

, while augmenting it with the following passage: At Technosexual.org, each "technosexual" wrote under pseudonyms related to their topic of choice for their column, collectively known as "The Mr's". These consisted of Montalvo as "Mr. Gadget", Geoff Nelson as "Mr. Style", Dave Chen as "Mr. Technology" and Derek Dukes as "Mr. Culture". Nelson described the group as "the revolutionary brothers of the metrosexual movement". They sought to "redefine the term to a lifestyle where gadgets are a part of everyday style and life". The term soon gained traction across news websites and social media, being dubbed as "the uber tribe of

Geek The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In th ...

s". A Facebook group titled "I married a technosexual" was created by Joanna Wiebe, who dedicated it "for anyone who is married, or attached, to a total technosexual". Taken from the description of a community for Brazilian technosexuals hosted on

Orkut Orkut was a social networking service owned and operated by Google. The service was designed to help users meet new and old friends and maintain existing relationships. The website was named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkö ...

: In 2005 the Calvin Klein company trademarked the term technosexual as part of their 'CK in2u'

fragrance An aroma compound, also known as an odorant, aroma, fragrance, flavoring or flavor, is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor. For an individual chemical or class of chemical compounds to impart a smell or fragrance, it must be sufficien ...

campaign. The fragrance bottle was designed by Stephen Burks, resembled an Apple iPod, featuring glass and white plastic. Tom Murry, the president of the company, claimed they had "envisioned K in2uas the first fragrance for the technosexual generation". Press materials for the product highlighted modern-day technology-driven interactions, with lines such as "She likes how he blogs, her

texts Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including: **Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred **Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...

turn him on. It's intense. For right now."

Characteristics

Swedish footballer Fredrik Ljungberg is often cited as the perfect example of a technosexual man, due to an image of

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some beh ...

sensuality and tech savviness. Fredrik Ljungberg modeling

In a 2004 interview, Montalvo gave the following description of a technosexual lifestyle: It has been suggested that a female counterpart to a technosexual is a "technosexualista" or a "technodiva". A change in women's standards when searching for a partner is suggested to be part of the technosexual appeal, as "the woman's ideal man" has been transformed by technology from "someone who can mow the lawn, change the oil in the household cars, and clean the rain gutters" into "someone who can troubleshoot the household

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

or get last-minute movie showtimes".

References

{{Improve categories, date=July 2023 Popular culture neologisms Stereotypes of men

History

Characteristics

See also

References