Researchers have found that in a study of people who feel sexual attraction towards themselves, those who scored highly for narcissism showed more intention to buy sex robots modeled on themselves.
So, it’s official: self-loving narcissists want to literally fuck themselves.
Or, perhaps not quite.
Amit Mahimkar, a marketing researcher at Illinois State University, was the lead researcher on the paper, called Mirroring Desire: Narcissism, Psychological Ownership, and Purchase Intentions for Self-replicated Sex Robots. It was published in the Journal of Retail and Consumer Services.
The study was undertaken to better understand a culture in which people are increasingly creating versions of themselves, be they gaming avatars or AI assistants styled to look like them. What kind of a person would take the next step, and buy a sex robot that looks exactly like them?
The study surveyed 406 people self-described as autosexual, meaning that they said they were sexually attracted to themselves. They rated how likely they were to buy a sex robot modeled on their own body. Those who were rated highly for narcissism had higher scores for sex robot purchase intention.
The researchers said that this finding could help sex robot brands better understand a potential market, albeit seemingly a somewhat niche one. They could also target marketing to appeal to narcissistic tendencies.
The researchers wrote: “While this population may seem niche, it provides a theoretically revealing vantage point for examining the broader consumer shift toward technologically constructed selfhood.”
They added: “In an era when mirror selfies, virtual avatars, and AI-based personalization tools enable consumers to externalize and refine their identities, studying autosexuals clarifies the psychological processes through which technology turns self-perception into an object of consumption.”
Ummm…
We must, however, raise a few quibbles. The researchers cite US humanoid robot company Realbotix in the study, and its modular robots that can cost between $100,000 and $200,000. Realbotix is linked to the RealDoll sex robot brand, but self-replicated sex robots aren’t a specific product offered by the company or its offshoots.
Brands like RealDoll do offer customisable sex robots, but normally these are ‘female’ dolls sold to male users, rather than narcissists buying robotic versions of themselves. That’s just not really a thing.
Furthermore, any answer about sex robot purchase intention is almost always close to entirely hypothetical. We’d bet that not one of those 406 people surveyed will ever buy a sex robot, or would have considered buying one were they not asked about it. It’s a leap to suggest that this could be a significant sales niche.
Still, a meaningful survey result difference is a meaningful survey result difference. The researchers also found that autosexuals with grandiose self-views were more likely to have a feeling of ‘possession’ of a sex robot that looked like them, even before they (hypothetically) bought it, perhaps offering more insight into who would most want a self-replicated sex robot.
This information could, of course, also potentially be used to protect people from having their personality types exploited by companies seeking to sell them enormously expensive sex bots.
The researchers wrote: “The results highlight the moral and psychological consequences of technologies that blur the line between human consumers and the products they consume. For users who struggle with self-definition, interacting with a flawless technological replica can worsen body dissatisfaction and mental health issues.”
They added: “The flawless mirror image provided by the artificial companion sets an impossible standard of desirability based on the user’s own likeness.”
While the era of self-styled sex robots may be a way off, AI sex robots are becoming a bit more affordable. The brand Jiggly Joy recently released a sex doll with an AI robot head (pictured above) that sells for less than $3,000.
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