Julie Wosk is Professor Emerita of English, Art History, and Studio Art at the State University of New York Maritime College. Her research centers on the social and cultural impact of technology. She is author of several books, including My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves; Women and the Machine: Representations from the Spinning Wheel to the Electronic Age; and Breaking Frame: Technology and the Visual Arts in the Nineteenth Century. She is also an artist and photographer.

Klappentext

"Artificial Women confronts age-old perceptions of women as empathetic caretakers, compliant sex workers, nurturing mothers, and dutiful daughters as well as preconceptions of artifice and authenticity in a new age of robotics technology. Envision the ability of a simulated woman to be her own Pygmalion through technology. She can reinvent and enliven herself with ease. She can provide physical and emotional companionship and fulfill the role of caretaker without similar needs of her own. Portrayals of female robots in film and literature reveal a burst of fascination with simulated females who appear as sexual partners, healthcare aides, artificial friends, and even virtual duplicates of deceased friends and family. These robots are wide-ranging, including AI-endowed robots and dolls, virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, and real or imagined female robots whose purpose is to assist. While some functional robots are in development stages, filmmakers, television writers, novelists, and playwrights are already living in an exciting world where these simulated females are fully in play. The simulations are becoming more inclusive with a diversity of body types, races, and ethnicities. With increasingly lifelike simulations comes increasingly provocative questions. Will female robots seem superior to real women and disrupt human relationships? Is a simulation of empathy helpful or disruptive? Do gendered robots reinforce or upend conventional notions about women's roles? Will they seek their own chance to be free?"--

Inhalt

Acknowledgments
Introduction

A New Breed of Sex Robots and Sex Dolls
Under the Skin: The Fabricated Femme Fatale
Female Robot Caretakers, Doubles, and Companions
Paradoxes of Perfection: A Servant No More
Virtual Voices: Talking Barbie Dolls, Alexa, Bitchin' Betty, and More
Coda
Bibliography
Index