Sexual Culture Goes Online

CHRISTMAS DINNER DEBATE

OnlyFans: The Uber for Porn?

What does the blurring between social media and the pornographic industry mean for interpersonal relationships?

Is the decentralisation of the porn industry through Onlyfans’ direct-to-consumer model a democratisation, or a sign of a societal shift to a more consumerist understanding of sex as a product?

Is the seeming incongruity of Onlyfans subscriptions symptomatic of want for emotional recognition in a world in which anyone with a smartphone can become his or her own pornographer, and content is often free?

Erotic Robots and Inanimate Intimacy

How will the advent of erotic robots and increased involvement of technology in sexual relationships transform human sexuality, if at all? Are there risks?

How do we define sex with robots? Does this go beyond our current vocabularies for sexuality, and require new concepts? How should sex with robots be regulated, if at all?

Is it ethical for engineers and roboticists to program their machines to mimic and manipulate human emotions to evoke loving or amorous reactions from their human users?