Digisexuality: the emerging trend

Digisexuality is an emerging concept in the studies of Sex and relationship and with the widespread reach of technology, it is not faraway that digisexuality becomes a common sexual orientation as any other. The concept was discussed and elaborated in the Journal of Sexual and Relationship Therapy in the article ‘The Rise of Digisexuality’. Neil MacArthur, the co-author of the article is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manitoba.

According to him, digisexuality is not something alien to us. It happens anytime we use technology in sex or relationships. This might happen through dating sites, sharing of pictures and even porn. In this first wave sense, everyone in the modern world might seem to be digisexual.  At the same time, it cannot be compressed just into that general understanding as is an emerging trend in sexual orientation wherein individuals experience sexual and emotional experiences through the new advances in robotics and artificial intelligence. Digisexuals thus are those who find intense connections with technology just as they find in their relationships with human partners.

There have been earlier instances reported wherein individuals married robots, hologram etc. but individuals find it hard to open up, owing to the stigma that they may have to face and partly because this kind of identity is quite new.  McArthur is also quite doubtful about the stigma that those individuals would have to face and hopes that once they do come out, they wouldn’t have to face the stigma of the society as it was faced by those of other marginalized sexualities.