Sweet things

EVERYBODY LOVES ROBOTS," says Jeanne Dietsch, vice-president of business development for ActivMedia, a New Hampshire-based robot manufacturer.

Yes, well, some people love them more than others.

Take Vinnie, who also goes by the technonym Robodoll. For three years, Robodoll has hosted a Web site (http://www.asfr.com) "dedicated to the concept of sex with or sexual attraction to robots and robot-like beings."

Despite its, um, quirky subject matter, Robodoll's site is pretty innocuous, featuring fiction ("He pinched her nipple severely, checking her eyes carefully for any sign of pain. There was none."), a technosexual discussion forum, and "stuff to buy." Oh, and a banner ad for McCain2000.com.

We spoke with Vinnie/Robodoll from his office in New York, where he works as a Web designer.

Q: Is this a gag?
A: It's as serious as anything this silly can be. It's a preference that is inherently humorous, but the site's not meant to be laughed at.

Q: How widespread is this "preference"?
A: There are at least 10 or 15 Web sites that I know of. We've had at least 100,000 hits. And this year alone you've got fembots in Austin Powers, the videos for The World Is Not Enough, Garbage's Shirley Manson, Lenny Kravitz's Sex Robot, Duran Duran's Electric Barbarella. So there's obviously an audience. You don't hear that many songs about people wearing leather diapers.

Q: What kinds of people are robot fetishists?
A: There isn't a standard. There are men, women. There are people who act out their fantasies, some who only think about it and write about it. There's rarely a standard for any preference.

Q: Women? Really?
A: I am in fact chatting [online] with one as we speak. As is customary with the Web, women are a small percentage. They're split up into ones who want to have a robot and those who want to be one -- that dominant-submissive thing.

Q: Are guys who are interested in this also interested in blow-up dolls?
A: That hasn't really come up, to be honest. There's a whole subgroup that's very much into mannequins, but I don't think blow-up dolls. Now a woman turned into a blow-up doll, that's another matter.

Q: Isn't that an objectification of women?
A: If anything, it's the opposite. It's the humanization of objects, seeing beauty in a non-human thing.

Q: Are people generally ashamed of their robot fetish?
A: Absolutely. That's part of the reason I put together the site. Ninety-nine out of a hundred people I talk to start by saying, "My God, I thought I was the only one." I've told my wife. Her basic reaction is, she isn't into it herself, but she appreciates that I like it. It's a hobby -- I don't go out looking for partners.

Q: Do robot fetishists actually want to live out their fantasies?
A: Well, that's not possible yet. But anybody who has a fantasy has a desire to live it out, whether it's pitching for the Yankees or this. There are people who have acted this out in a variety of ways.

Q: What sparked your interest?
A: I got interested in my teenage years. What sparked it? Well, the two flash points are the wedding episode of I Dream of Jeannie, where she makes a mannequin to look like herself; and -- believe it or not -- a musical number in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But there are all sorts of things. I know someone who got started because of an episode of the Mickey Mouse Club. When correctly viewed, everything is lewd, as Tom Lehrer said.

-- CW

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