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Technology, Sex, and the Control of Women

In the past few weeks, two seemingly disparate events took place regarding control of female sexuality and technology. On April 4, The Telegraph reported that a Saudi woman was beaten, shot, and killed by her father when he discovered her chatting with a man on Facebook. Gizmodo published an interview with "Zoltan," a self-described "technosexual" who invented a robot who could consent to having sex with him because real women made him uncomfortable (and apparently said no). Both stories are interesting (and horrifying) juxtapositions of how technology can help break sex discrimination, and how they can reinforce old notions of the need to control women's behaviors.