0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 I've got some news for you 0:00:04.000,0:00:07.000 Fembots have feelings too 0:00:07.000,0:00:09.000 As I was walking around the other day 0:00:09.000,0:00:10.000 I kept running into these billboards ads 0:00:10.000,0:00:13.000 that say "RU Bot or Not" for Svedka Vodka 0:00:13.000,0:00:15.000 and it's apart of this larger ad campaign 0:00:15.000,0:00:17.000 that they have. Some of the other ones say 0:00:17.000,0:00:18.000 things like "Make your next trophy wife 0:00:18.000,0:00:20.000 100% titanium" or 0:00:20.000,0:00:23.000 "Turn ons: stiff drinks and greased elbows." 0:00:23.000,0:00:25.000 I was looking at the Svedka Vodka website 0:00:25.000,0:00:27.000 and I noticed they have this Bot Builder 0:00:27.000,0:00:29.000 where you can "create your perfect silicone 0:00:29.000,0:00:31.000 clone, ready and willing to serve" 0:00:31.000,0:00:33.000 or you can turn "yourself from hot to bot." 0:00:33.000,0:00:36.000 And it gets even more disturbing when you 0:00:36.000,0:00:38.000 get inside the program, because you have 0:00:38.000,0:00:40.000 all these options of clothing choices and 0:00:40.000,0:00:43.000 one of which is a french maid outfit and you 0:00:43.000,0:00:46.000 can have your new french maid pose in 0:00:46.000,0:00:49.000 these cute or sexy model poses and in 0:00:49.000,0:00:50.000 addition you can give her martini hands 0:00:50.000,0:00:52.000 so she can you drinks at your whim. 0:00:52.000,0:00:55.000 Let's talk about fembots for a second then 0:00:55.000,0:00:57.000 because in popular culture and historically 0:00:57.000,0:00:58.000 fembots are the ultimate 0:00:58.000,0:01:00.000 misogynistic male fantasy 0:01:00.000,0:01:02.000 They are a mythic construct used 0:01:02.000,0:01:04.000 to serve male desires. 0:01:04.000,0:01:07.000 These fembots are sex slaves and sex 0:01:07.000,0:01:09.000 objects, ready and willing to serve 0:01:09.000,0:01:10.000 and clean up after these men. 0:01:10.000,0:01:12.000 Commercial for Phillips Moisture 0:01:12.000,0:01:14.000 Shave System Ad 0:01:14.000,0:01:17.000 ♫ instrumental/electronic music ♫ 0:01:39.000,0:01:42.000 So is she the accessory to the razor or is 0:01:42.000,0:01:45.000 the razor the accessory to her? 0:01:46.000,0:01:48.000 I don't really know but what I do know is that 0:01:48.000,0:01:50.000 her whole reason for being is 0:01:50.000,0:01:51.000 to serve this man. 0:01:51.000,0:01:54.000 Commercial for Heineken Draught Keg Ad 0:01:54.000,0:01:57.000 ♫ electronic music ♫ 0:02:20.000,0:02:23.000 Wait so her uterus is a keg ready to 0:02:23.000,0:02:25.000 serve beer on demand? 0:02:25.000,0:02:28.000 I think Advertising Age actually covered it 0:02:28.000,0:02:30.000 best, which is kind of surprising 0:02:30.000,0:02:31.000 when they said that the "Heineken Draught 0:02:31.000,0:02:34.000 Keg is arguably the most sexist beer 0:02:34.000,0:02:35.000 commercial ever produced." 0:02:35.000,0:02:37.000 Which is quite a large statement considering 0:02:37.000,0:02:41.000 beer commercials are pretty sexist. 0:02:41.000,0:02:43.000 They went on to say that these commercials 0:02:43.000,0:02:45.000 "reduce half the world to a 0:02:45.000,0:02:46.000 man-servicing beer tap." 0:02:46.000,0:02:49.000 Why do advertisers love to use images that 0:02:49.000,0:02:51.000 reduce all that women are into plastic 0:02:51.000,0:02:54.000 homemaking, obedient, sex slaves who 0:02:54.000,0:02:57.000 don't talk back, in fact they don't talk at all 0:02:57.000,0:02:59.000 and they even have an on and off switch. 0:02:59.000,0:03:02.000 Advertisers are tapping into a core element 0:03:02.000,0:03:04.000 of patriarchy which is the obsession with 0:03:04.000,0:03:06.000 control. Author of The Gender Knot 0:03:06.000,0:03:07.000 Allan Johnson says, 0:03:07.000,0:03:08.000 "As with any system of privilege that 0:03:08.000,0:03:10.000 elevates one group by oppressing another, 0:03:10.000,0:03:12.000 control is an essential element of patriarchy: 0:03:12.000,0:03:14.000 men maintain their privilege by controlling 0:03:14.000,0:03:16.000 women and anyone else 0:03:16.000,0:03:17.000 who might threaten it." 0:03:17.000,0:03:19.000 The fembot fantasy is an expression of total 0:03:19.000,0:03:22.000 control especially over women. And these 0:03:22.000,0:03:24.000 commercials are selling men this fantasy of 0:03:24.000,0:03:26.000 control associated with their product. 0:03:26.000,0:03:28.000 I love science fiction and what I love most 0:03:28.000,0:03:31.000 about it is this opportunity to imagine 0:03:31.000,0:03:34.000 alternative societies and futuristic technology 0:03:34.000,0:03:36.000 that can improve our way of life and really 0:03:36.000,0:03:38.000 be used as a tool for liberation but what 0:03:38.000,0:03:40.000 these commercials are doing is taking this 0:03:40.000,0:03:42.000 imaginary futuristic world and making it a 0:03:42.000,0:03:45.000 tool of subordination and oppression. 0:03:46.000,0:03:47.000 [Commerical for FEMBOT 0:03:47.000,0:03:48.000 (Bionic Woman Franchise)] 0:03:48.000,0:03:51.000 "It's the fembot new from Kenner and Jamie 0:03:51.000,0:03:53.000 Summers the Bionic Woman 0:03:53.000,0:03:54.000 sold separately." 0:03:54.000,0:03:56.000 'I'm Jamie Summers' 0:03:56.000,0:03:59.000 'Oh no you're not, I am, you're a fembot! 0:03:59.000,0:04:01.000 Your paralyzer gave you away.' 0:04:01.000,0:04:04.000 'She's unmasked me, now I have to disguise 0:04:04.000,0:04:07.000 myself as a mystery maiden no one will 0:04:07.000,0:04:10.000 recognize me, not even Jamie ha ha' 0:04:10.000,0:04:13.000 "Fembot comes with everything seen here. 0:04:13.000,0:04:15.000 Jamie Summers, the Bionic Woman 0:04:15.000,0:04:16.000 sold separately."