Sexbots as Synthetic Companions: Comparing Attitudes of Official Sex Offenders and Non-Offenders
Publication Date
2022-03Journal Title
International Journal of Social Robotics
ISSN
1875-4791
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
14
Issue
2
Pages
479-498
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Zara, G., Veggi, S., & Farrington, D. P. (2022). Sexbots as Synthetic Companions: Comparing Attitudes of Official Sex Offenders and Non-Offenders. International Journal of Social Robotics, 14 (2), 479-498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-021-00797-3
Description
Funder: Università degli Studi di Torino
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This is the first Italian study to examine views on sexbots of adult male sex offenders and non-offenders, and their perceptions of sexbots as sexual partners, and sexbots as a means to prevent sexual violence. In order to explore these aspects 344 adult males were involved in the study. The study carried out two types of comparisons. 100 male sex offenders were compared with 244 male non-offenders. Also, sex offenders were divided into child molesters and rapists. Preliminary findings suggest that sex offenders were less open than non-offenders to sexbots, showed a lower acceptance of them, and were more likely to dismiss the possibility of having an intimate and sexual relationship with a sexbot. Sex offenders were also less likely than non-offenders to believe that the risk of sexual violence against people could be reduced if a sexbot was used in the treatment of sex offenders. No differences were found between child molesters and rapists. Though no definitive conclusion can be drawn about what role sexbots might play in the prevention and treatment of sex offending, this study emphasizes the importance of both exploring how sexbots are both perceived and understood. Sex offenders in this study showed a high dynamic sexual risk and, paradoxically, despite, or because of, their sexual deviance (e.g. deficits in sexual self-regulation), they were more inclined to see sexbots as just machines and were reluctant to imagine them as social agents, i.e. as intimate or sexual arousal partners. How sex offenders differ in their dynamic risk and criminal careers can inform experts about the mechanisms that take place and can challenge their engagement in treatment and intervention.</jats:p>
Keywords
Article, Sexbots, Synthetic relationships, Sex offending, Sexual deviance, Treatment
Identifiers
s12369-021-00797-3, 797
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-021-00797-3
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/335516
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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