Help me figure out why sex with Robot 'females' is WORSE than paying for prostituted women

[LaurieFairyCake]

I'm massively on the fence and it's giving me splinters but my gut is telling me it's even slightly worse to have sex with robots which sounds completely ridiculous to my feminist brain

In case anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about it's this horrible article in the Mail here

What I've got so far is that it will increase dehumanisation of 'real' women as if they are lifelike and you can do anything to the robot including being violent then it will go some to way blur and confuse the lines between fantasy and reality.

I'm really interested in others opinions.

Can you point to one time when DioneTheDiabolist said you or anyone else didnt have a 'right' to their feelings or were 'wrong' for feeling them?

You have not justified why you feel that your comments are not policing but others are. You cant say that others are saying things are right or wrong (which they arent by the way) and then yourself say that they are wrong for doing so. You are perpetuating the same thing, Its illogical.

Here you go:
"we do not have the right to extrapolate what we feel about [the sexual behaviour of others] into what the user of the robot thinks and feels about us."

This is a clear diversion from a discussion about feelings and their wider contexts to defining 'rights' and 'wrongs'. Also this statement is devoid of qualification. Because I can always ask why don't I have the right?

For example, if I'm shown evidence of a sexual trend of men who like to photoshop images of female colleagues being tortured, dismembered and begging for mercy in order to masturbate over, and find this unsettling - I need pretty compelling arguments and justifications as to why I 'do not have the right' to extrapolate from this unsettled feeling as to what these men think and feel about women, and by implication me.

This following example dianethediabolist used is certainly not justification enough: Homophobes find gay sex abhorrent, they can feel that way if they like [here the muddled thinking is evidenced when feelings become opinions] they are entitled to their opinion.
Surely an opinion is a judgement based on evidence? Yes, feelings might be part of that evidence, but a judgement of that evidence is also required to call it an opinion.

And because the forming of opinions requires many things, such as, gathering evidence, thrashing out arguments, first hand experience, detached analysis, feelings - and yes - even extrapolating from these feelings in order to make a judgement- it seems really weird to suggest that 'extrapolating from feelings' is somehow de facto, absolutely wrong and bound to lead to error (and the hounding of an oppressed minority).

So this final closing statement of the example is unsupported: It is wrong for them to try to extrapolate that homosexuality is damaging to them as heterosexuals, or society as a whole. Because perhaps it is not just the extrapolation of their feelings of 'ew' that leads them to think homosexuality is damaging to them as heterosexuals, or society as a whole, but that 'ew' along with an extrapolation of that 'ew', along with a preacher who says homosexuality is of the devil [poor evidence and hate speech], along with a culture that deplores the feminine [cultural misogyny], along with a primitive need to have scapegoats that makes persecuting outsiders enjoyable, etc, etc.....

Basically dianethediabolist's example is simplistic and doesn't allow for the complex causes of homophobia. If it were logical and realistic then we would live in a world where people get beaten up for eating marmite as much as being homosexual.

That statement doesnt not say you dont have the right to those feelings or to share and express those feelings. It says you dont have the right to 'extrapolate' those to assume you understand what the user 'thinks and feels'. This is not a moral question, but a logical one so perhaps the word' right' is unhelpful. It should read 'you cannot begin to assume categorically that because you feel something in a certain way that you can know how another person feels about it'. It is conjecture at best but you and anyone else have the right to your own feelings and to express them in any way you see fit.

I take your point about the masturbating men, although i think it was a slight abuse of hyperbole and not completely true. Taking it down a notch i could say that i feel that your arguments are very controlling and that you seek to undermine the contributions and thoughts of others for your own gratification. I need a compelling argument as to why 'i do not have the right' to extrapolate from this feeling as to what you think about people and by implication me.

Regards to homosexuality you are making a very simple statement so convoluted. Feelings and opinions and interlinked but also independent. Someone can feel that gay sexual intercourse is disgusting, that is their feeling for which they need no evidence, its just how they feel. They could also have an opinion about gay marriage, thinking that it undermines the traditional institution of marriage. This, im sure, would be backed up by some sort of fact or statistic. Doesnt make it true of course but its still an opinion, informed by a feeling.

This person can extrapolate from their feeling to come to a conclusion about their own opinion or further feelings but they cant speak on behalf of others around this matter. When i say cant i dont mean it as a moral restriction but as a practical one. We are all responsible for our own actions, thoughts and feelings...not those of others.

This is not a moral question, but a logical one so perhaps the word' right' is unhelpful

This is my entire point.

To begin to speak about 'rights' - you turn it into a moral argument.

You have probably heard of 'the personal being political' in feminist consciousness raising. Well extrapolating about feelings informed by a shared understanding of the common everyday oppressions of being female is central to that.