Populism in Robots

Populism has rarely been discussed in the context of robotics. This chapter will explore how intimate relationships, such as love and sex, between human and robots, will bring populism to the populist masses. Intimacy between humans and robots was first raised and discussed by David Levy in his book titled Love and Sex with Robotics published in 2007. As a result, the subject of human-robot romantic and intimate relationships rapidly developed into an academic research discipline in its own right. Since then, researchers have come up with many implementations of robot companions like sex robots, emotional robots, humanoid robots, and artificial intelligent systems that can simulate human emotions. This chapter presents a summary of significant activity in this field during the recent years, predicts how the field is likely to develop, and its ethical and legal background. They also discuss their research in physical devices for human-robot love and sex communication.

Parents ASSIST: Acceptability and Feasibility of a Video-Based Educational Series for Sexuality-Inclusive Communication between Parents and Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Sons

Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) between the ages of 13 and 24 are a key population for HIV prevention. The parents of gay, bisexual, and queer (GBQ) adolescent males and the sex communication they have with their sons has yet to be explored as an HIV prevention intervention. We developed an online video series called Parents ASSIST (Advancing Supportive and Sexuality-Inclusive Sex Talks) to educate parents about sexual health topics pertinent to GBQ males. We pilot tested the series with a sample of 54 parents of GBQ males using a single-group post-test design. Participants viewed the videos and completed a survey measuring the acceptability and feasibility of an online video series to educate parents. Most of the parents (70.4%) believed that the videos would make parents more likely to initiate talking about sex with their sons. The results suggest that online videos are an acceptable way for parents to learn about GBQ sexual health topics.

Parent-Child Sex Communication Prompts, Approaches, Reactions, and Functions According to Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Sons

Minimal research on parent-child sex communication between parents and gay, bisexual, and queer (GBQ) adolescent sons prevents the formulation of interventions that would buffer or brake this youth population’s risks for HIV/STI. We sought to describe the perspectives of GBQ adolescent males on this process and the potential ways they think parents can address their sons’ informational needs, including countering youth access of sexually explicit media. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with GBQ male youth aged 15–20 years. Thematic and content analysis revealed four central themes: prompts and triggers, parents’ approaches, sons’ reactions, and the functions assigned to sex communication. Parents can be sources of reliable sexual health information and may be leveraged for future HIV/STI risk reduction work.

Queer Safer Sex Communication

Although communication scholars have been exploring the role of partner communication in sexual health promotion since the 1960s, the term safer sex, and its corollary safer sex communication, emerged in the late 1980s in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which was and still is disproportionately affecting queer individuals. Numerous studies, along with some meta-analyses, point to the protective potential of safer sex discussions, defined here as the communicative management of health concerns with sex partners. Despite scholarly agreement regarding its importance, the term safer sex communication has received little explication, and much of what is known about it comes from studies with predominantly heterosexual samples. A review of the literature on queer safer sex communication points to some key issues related to age, race, trauma history, place, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and suggests important considerations for future research efforts.