anthrotechnologist

Alex Comfort's ground-breaking 1972 book Joy of Sex is being re-released in a new edition, updated to reflect changes in technology and culture. The Globe and Mail has an article interviewing the first female author, British psychologist Susan Quilliam.

Our drive to reproduce ourselves is deeply considered in the fundamental aspects of anthropology. Beyond Darwinism and evolutionary biology as core components of physical anthropology, cultural anthropology studies the social constructs in behavior and culture around gender roles, mating rituals and reproductive strategies. It can be competently argued that sex is the primary motivator, and that all species really have a one-track mind.

Obviously, the Internet has a profound impact on the sexuality of all cultures who use it. What caught the anthrotechnogist's eye in the new Joy of Sex more than anything though, was the coining of the term teledildonics.

Teledildonics is the long-distance use of a sex toy controlled from afar. The update is that it is possible to not only plug a sex toy into your computer and have your lover operate it from afar, but also there are MP3 players that double as vibrators.

Virtualization in sexual behavior is tied to communications technology, from love letters to phone sex to using the Internet to share images. That virtual sexual activity is now technologically enabled to manipulate a physical device in sexual behavior is quite new. And certainly, it is a practice that will grow.