Will Sex Robots Replace Human Sex Workers?

Posted by Sarah Greenmore on November 4, 2016

With the recent announcement from Abyss Creations that the company’s next generation of sex dolls will have realistic features such as warm skin and lifelike genitals, sex workers are once again forced to consider the future of our trade as sex robot technology continues to advance and adult companies begin to incorporate this technology into their sex businesses. 

As a fan of sci-fi, I’m excited and interested in the possibilities presented by the humanoid robots featured in popular movies and TV shows like Star Trek, Westworld, and Ex Machina. Westworld’s Mariposa saloon-brothel, staffed with gorgeous robot prostitutes indistinguishable from human beings, is particularly thought-provoking with regard to technology’s potential role in shaping the future of prostitution. Doll brothels are already somewhat popular in Japan, so it’s seemingly not a stretch to imagine a scenario where the bordellos of the future are populated with hot-to-trot sex robots, catering to the physical needs of their horny human clients. 

But when we step back from our imaginative fancies, and think about the actual reasons people visit sex workers like me, we begin to realize that a future replete with sex robots is likely to remain in the realm of science fiction. 

In this blog post I’d like to present three reasons why I feel sex robots will never replace human prostitutes, and as a licensed sex worker at the world’s most respected legal brothel, the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, I think that I’m very qualified to opine on the topic.

1. I offer much more than just sex

Building a connection with people is the cornerstone of my work at the Bunny Ranch. Sharing common interests, trading stories, cultivating a friendship allows me to break down the nerves many of my clients have when first seeing a sex worker. When people come to the the Bunny Ranch they are often seeking a much deeper connection than what many understand our appointments to be. Sex workers provide a nonjudgmental place for people to talk in confidence, share their experiences, and establish a genuine rapport.

A sex worker has vast knowledge on human sexuality and human compassion. As unique individuals, we each provide a truly unique experience. Sex robots, however, will only be able to provide what they have been programmed to. They won’t have the ability to comfort and work with someone through, for example, erectile dysfunction. They will not have the ability to actively engage on a personal level. Sex work is one of the world’s oldest professions, and although computing and engineering may have many workers nervous about job-obsolescence, robotics will never be able to contend with the human empathy and emotion shared between sex workers and their clients.

2. We’ve heard that “the end is near” before

For over a decade, sex workers have been hearing that technology will be putting us out of business. In the late 90’s, when the internet became popular and online pornography proliferated, we were told that “computers” will replace us. When online video technology made it possible for cam girls to remotely engage with customers one-on-one via video chat, we were again told that our jobs were in jeopardy, and that we would soon be usurped by these video vixens. More recently, the emergence of VR technology and teledildonics, devices that create a tactile, sex-like sensation, has critics saying that our number is up. 

The truth is that all of these technologies have, so far, served to enhance our business. Internet porn sites are influential in promoting the services that Bunny Ranch porn stars (like me) provide. Several of the ladies working at the Ranch are cam girls or adult video entertainers, and we effectively use these technical mediums to advertise our prostitution services. Sex workers and legal brothels work hand-in-hand with these technologies, using them as “gateway opportunities” that introduce potential Bunny Ranch customers to the amazingly talented and sweet women who these virtual clients can one day meet face-to-face.  

3. If sex robots really get that good, we’re all in trouble

It can be surmised that sex robot technology is still in its infancy, and that one day these cybernetic sex-droids may actually develop the ability to connect with human beings on a truly deep level, like their human sex worker counterparts. In other words, sex robots would need to be sentient beings themselves in order to legitimately compete with compassionate courtesans like me. If science fiction teaches us anything, this would not be a good thing.

If this were to happen, and sex robots truly became independent thinking organisms, Westworld just might become a reality, and all human existence may be threatened by the robot sex slaves that decide to turn on their cruel human masters. If we, in our hubris, create machinery that truly becomes emotionally aware, we just might find ourselves done in by the sexbots, Terminator-style.  

Perhaps instead of asking ourselves how we can create robots that could provide sexual and sensual pleasure to humans, we should ask ourselves why we want to create such technology. Prostitutes provide a very human service, extending far beyond the sexual, that could never be duplicated by any technology. Maybe, for the sake of humanity, we should keep it that way.