On Objectamory – And “Marriage Rights”
OK, so I might have coined a term here. But there is reality behind the term. I refer to those who love inanimate objects, and even “marry” them. This small but growing movement may easily just be dismissed as so much foolishness, but of course the same could have been said about homosexuals “marrying” a few short decades ago.
Back then such a concept was laughable. But today of course the laughable has become the actual, and there is most certainly a slippery slope now going on here. I have documented many, many cases of the slippery slope in action, since the push for homosexual marriage has become reality.
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All sorts of radical sexual lifestyle groups are demanding their rights to marry as well. And in my book Strained Relations I spoke about those even marrying objects. Let me offer a few paragraphs from my book:
Consider a recent article in the Futurist, produced by the World Futurist Society based in America. A cultural historian wrote an article entitled “The Transformation of Marriage”. Stephen Bertman, professor emeritus of languages, literatures, and cultures at Canada’s University of Windsor, argued that marriage may be “a semantic artefact of a lost world”. He argued that it is not just the transience of marriage that is at issue now. “It is the very definition of the term that futurists must now address. A radical redefinition of marriage is now under way that promises to transform its meaning for all future time”…
And finally, presumably still with the utmost seriousness, he speaks of the “theoretical possibility” of “the marriage of human beings to inanimate objects”. He speaks of how many men love their cars, or how many people have formed an intimate relationship with their computer. “Why should not this bond of tactile intimacy be validated by more than an owner’s manual?” he asks, seemingly in complete sincerity.
Well, there have been plenty of objects that people have “married”. I have documented some of them elsewhere. And consider this article which features “13 People Who Married Inanimate Objects”: http://www.ranker.com/list/13-people-who-married-inanimate-objects/jude-newsome
While many of them may well be a joke, it is no joke that some folks are taking all this quite seriously. Let me offer another example, which also may be regarded as a joke, and then look at a rather serious exploration of all this. The recent case comes from Europe:
“An Australian woman has taken her desire for the ‘strong and silent’-type to a new extreme when she married a bridge. Jodi Rose married Le Pont du Diable Bridge in Céret, southern France after falling head over heels for the ‘sensual’ 14th century stone structure….
“The wedding between Jodi and Le Pont du Diable, which translates to The Devil’s Bridge, took place in front of 14 guests and was blessed by the mayor of neighbouring town Saint-Jean-de-Fos. The pair made their vows at the groom’s entrance. Rose wore a custom bridal gown and veil, and commissioned rings for both her and the bridge. ‘He understands that I love other bridges – and men – ours is a love that embraces the vagaries of life, as materialised in the swirling currents of the river that flows beneath his magnificent body,’ Rose wrote on her website….
“Their union is not legally recognised in France, but Rose claims their marriage is as strong as any other. ‘This is not a decision I undertake lightly, just as our curves complement, we truly bring joy to each other, and the strength of his pylons will always carry me home.’ Ms Rose, who says she is completely devoted to her new husband, has yet to explain how she determined the sex of the bridge.”
But leaving aside this case without further comment, consider a very lengthy interview done in a rather serious magazine, The Atlantic. It has to do with a guy in love with, and married to, a doll. Yep. While the whole interview is quite revealing, let me offer a few excerpts from it:
“Davecat met his future wife, Sidore Kuroneko at a goth club in 2000, so the story goes. The less romantic but perhaps more true version is that he saved up for a year and a half to buy her online. She cost about $6,000. Sidore is a RealDoll, manufactured by Abyss Creations in the shape of a human woman. She is covered in artificial skin made of silicone, so she’s soft. These high-end, anatomically correct—even equipped with fake tongues—love dolls (or capital-D Dolls) are ostensibly made for sex.
“But 40-year-old Davecat (a nickname acquired from videogames that he now prefers to go by) and others who call themselves iDollators see their dolls as life partners, not sex toys. Davecat and Sidore (or, as he sometimes calls her, Shi-chan) obviously aren’t legally married, but they do have matching wedding bands that say ‘Synthetik [sic] love lasts forever,’ and he says they’re considering some sort of ceremony for their 15th anniversary. Davecat considers himself an activist for synthetic love….
“Have you always been interested in dolls, and if so, was it always in a sexual way?
“I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of artificial people, specifically artificial women. Before I knew Dolls existed, I’d long identified as being a technosexual, even before I knew there was a word for it. A technosexual is someone who is attracted to robots. Like any subculture, there’s many shades within the term. Some technosexuals prefer their organic partners to dress as robots; others are attracted to robots who don’t necessarily have a humanoid appearance, such as R2-D2. My preference is for humanoid robots that are covered in artificial flesh, so they look organic upon first glance; both Geminoid-F and the Actroid series of Gynoids by Hiroshi Ishiguro are excellent examples.
“Obviously, I’m sexually attracted to synthetic humans, such as Gynoids and Dolls, but the much larger part of their appeal is that they’re humans, but they don’t possess any of the unpleasant qualities that organic, flesh and blood humans have. A synthetic will never lie to you, cheat on you, criticize you, or be otherwise disagreeable. It’s rare enough to find organics who don’t have something going on with them, and being able to make a partner of one is rarer still….
“In your episode of My Strange Addiction, you talk about how you’re perfectly aware she’s a doll, and you’re not trying to pretend she’s a person. Yet you consider yourself married to Sidore, a marriage/relationship being something that is inherently two-sided. How do you reconcile those two things in your head at once?
“Both Sidore and Elena have two backstories. One in which Sidore is the daughter of a Japanese father and an English mother, and was born in Japan and raised in Manchester, England. Elena’s is similar; she grew up in Vladivostok, Russia. The other backstory they have is that they’re Dolls. Self-aware Dolls, but Dolls nonetheless. In one backstory they have favorite foods; in the other, they don’t eat, because they don’t have digestive tracts… because they’re Dolls. You get the idea….
“Also, I have to ask—do you really feel fulfilled? Does it ever get lonely, is there anything that Sidore and Elena can’t offer that you wish you had?
“At this stage in the game, I’d have to say that I’m about 99 percent fulfilled. Every time I return home, there are two gorgeous synthetic women waiting for me, who both act as creative muses, photo models, and romantic partners. They make my flat less empty, and I never have to worry about them becoming disagreeable. Because of my status as an iDollator, I’ve met people across several countries and forged solid friendships. I’ve seen things I would never have seen were I not an iDollator.
“I’ve been interviewed for various television programs and websites, and asked to speak in front of a room full of psychology students about the benefits of synthetic partners. I’ve collaborated with performance artists and sociology teachers. To this day, I still get people contacting me online, saying that they saw how happy I am with Sidore, and they’re saving up for a Doll of their own, to pull them out of their own loneliness. It’s true that Sidore and Elena wouldn’t exist without me, but without them, I’d be a much more reduced individual, so I owe them quite a lot.
“However, that 1 percent of unfulfillment? That’s only there because neither Sidore nor Elena are Gynoids. Once that technology becomes affordable, I’ll have one made in my wife’s likeness, and that’ll be the final piece of the puzzle. She’d be able to hug me back whenever I embrace her, we’d be able to attend films and concerts together, and do all manner of things besides. There would be genuine interaction. The foundation for the technology is already there, so I’m convinced it’ll happen; it’s just a matter of waiting.”
On and on it goes. The fact that this mainstream periodical chose to even run with the story shows that something is underfoot. Whether or not this guy is a bit of a nutter is immaterial here. Increasingly the serious, respectable parts of the mainstream media are devoting a lot of attention to all this.
And that simply helps to make my point: there is a real slippery slope going on here, and once we countenance an oxymoron like homosexual marriage then we might as well push the door wide open and allow any “love” to be formally recognised, and even become the stuff of marriage.
http://www.koorong.com/search/product/strained-relations-the-challenge-of-homosexuality-bill-/9780646560953.jhtml
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2356774/Australian-woman-Jodi-Rose-marries-bridge-France–gets-mayors-blessing.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/09/married-to-a-doll-why-one-man-advocates-synthetic-love/279361/
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Such is the wickedness of Magog, edged on by Satan-Gog himself. Anything that allows Satan to mock the immutable truths of the Word of God is put into motion by Magog. They don’t even realize that such concepts are being placed into their minds by Satan, acting as Gog. Were you to ask any one of these silly tools if they believed in Satan, they would laugh in your face.
So blind are these, they don’t even see their descent back into the ancient worship of idols. In some pagan religions, the priests or priestesses were considered to be married to the idol they served. (Think vestal virgins.) Yet, these are the very same people who would deny the concept of the Church being married to Christ, as Scripture teaches.
Part of me thinks that perhaps we should let them have their way so the rest of the world can see them for the fools they really are.
Ed Sumner
Bill
Oh for the simple days of yore when The Four Lads could sing: “I’d rather have a paper doll to call my own than have a fickle minded real live girl” and the listeners would all understand it was all part of the disappointments and joys and wonder of being in a relationship with another human being.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Vic Trudeau
Quite so Vic.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
I have always said that I love home-grown tomatoes, but I wouldn’t want to spend my life with one. In fact I think its attractiveness would go off pretty quickly.
But I must not be bigoted…
David Morrison
You may in fact be tomatophobic David.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Bill,
Do you really think this will happen in Australia?
How does an inaminate object give “consent” or sign the register?
David Ryan
Bill, zoophilia is now edging towards being a “lifestyle choice”… marriage will be next. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2352779/Bestiality-brothels-spreading-Germany-campaigner-claims-abusers-sex-animals-lifestyle-choice.html
German ‘zoophile’ group ZETA has announced it will mount a legal challenge should a ban on bestiality become law.
‘Mere concepts of morality have no business being law,’ said ZETA chairman Michael Kiok
ZETA, or Zoophiles Engaging for Tolerance and Enlightenment, a German group lobbying for more acceptance of human-animal relations.
The leaflet the organization put together for the protest says that “animals, which have been domesticated by humans for years, see people as pack members – the step from that to sexual partner is not large.”
Kiok said he could not see how he was committing a crime, if an animal is big enough to protect itself from human sexual advances yet still submits willingly. For him it’s love, but in a different package. Despite a few early problems with Kiok’s many cats, Cissy soon became part of the family and they have been inseparable ever since.
http://www.thelocal.de/20130201/47711
Jo Deller
Hold onto your stomachs everyone, no doubt we will be bombarded with pictures and news stories about all the gay weddings happening in the ACT this weekend after the High Court delayed its decision on their legitimacy, creating a dogs breakfast.
How sick and twisted.
God help Australia.
Annette Williams
While we’re dealing with the nonsense that is perpetrated by some people with strange ideas, I was wondering what it would be like, if I were single, because of my love for trains, to marrry a steam train.
Such a marriage would have its problems. We would always be on the move (unless the marriage went off the rails), my partner would have the advantage when tensions arose of being much better at letting off steam, and a diet of coal and water would not be very nourishing for one of us.
Since I’m actually against people marrying trains, or even trains marrying trains, my great fear that not only will I be accused of being locomotophobic, but of being against carriage equality.
Enough from me already. I promise.
David Morrison
To Jodi Rose I would say the bridge is an “it” and perhaps the name Le Pont du Diable attributes an element of power to the object of her love, with the mention of the word Devil in its name. I am glad she has found solace, for now, with her bridge and I am sure that the marriage ceremony and make-believe relationship is something Jodi has creatively invented to stave off the loneliness and longing to be part of a couple. Imaginary friends or comfort objects such as little bits of blanket are often taken up by babies, children or distressed adults – indeed as a small child I had an imaginery friend which, I am told, was an invisible goat!! Jodi will soon get fed up with the bridge’s refusal to talk back – and I am sure she will then have the wherewithal to seek a relationship with another person and come back to reality.
Davecat has adopted a name from a video game which sounds like his avatar – a virtual character inhabiting a more idealised life than his reality. The Dolls sound like amazing feats of technology – I love the names Sidore and Elena. They seem to be synthetic humans which take on an imaginery life of their own like the replicants that featured in the film Blade Runner – great science fiction stuff – one of my favourite films. Who knows what technology will bring. But Davecat does say that the Dolls make his flat less empty and he does not have to worry about either of them becoming disagreeable.
Which says it all in a nutshell. These attachments to objects are a way of displacing the underlying loneliness and perhaps a sense of despair that it may not be possible to find a life partner. Or it could be a social pressure not to be seen to be lonely. The creative solutions to the unsatisfactory sense of loneliness are impressive but it is important to have a reality check and to find your way back to reality – otherwise you could surely get lost in a maze of fantasy.
It is important to be grounded in reality. Lots of people with lots of different realities is not going to work. My grounding is in my belief in God, which means for me that when I am alone, I am not lonely. I would recommend it as far better than the dangerous relativity of everything being just another lifestyle choice, particularly when we look around us and see how corrupt our environment has become and how it is adversely affecting our institutions, behaviour, quality of life and morality.
Rachel Smith
Thanks Jo. Yes I have written often about zoophilia, eg;
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2013/05/20/this-is-just-beastly/
And here;
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2012/02/06/sexual-insanity/
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
I would like to add to my post above, if I may, that when I say my grounding in reality is in my belief in God, that could give the wrong impression of just another imaginary friend. In fact with my faith comes the back story of spiritual peace and the laws of how to live a good life in the ten commandments.
My belief also brings hope in the teaching of Jesus Christ that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that God’s kingdom will come to earth according to His purpose.
On top of that, human beings are essentially sociable beings. We need each other’s company and the family is the best place to start – look after your family. No one need ever be lonely – someone somewhere near you needs help. We can reach out in kindness to help people nearby or even on the other side of the world by financial donation and contribute to the good. We can help to nourish and nurture the people and wildlife of our world. With faith, hope and charity we can have the real thing.
Rachel Smith
If this wasn’t so awful Bill it would be awful …no I mean If it wasn’t so funny it would be funny…hmm I’m not sure what I mean…
Terry Darmody
Rachel, as well as the difficulty of reciprocated conversation in the case of the lady “marrying” the bridge, I can see privacy, being bound to one locale, should they desire to stay together and also the threat of others who may want to marry the same bridge as potential problems. How do you claim faithfulness from an inanimate object?
I can only pray that these bazaar examples of where our having taken sexuality out of the context of heterosexual marriage has led, can lead, people would retrace the logical steps that have led to this and maybe find the one sidestep of logic that happened exactly there, of separating sex and heterosexual marriage.
God uses all kinds of things to bring His people back to Himself, evil, though never created or desired by Him He nevertheless uses as a tool.
Many blessings
Ursula Bennett
Found this a very interesting and timely article considering all the buzz I’ve had to sit through regarding a new Hollywood film about just this topic!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Once it’s made it in the mainstream it’s all downhill from there!
Sarah Johanssen
Quite so Sarah.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Good point Ursula. That would keep lawyers of the future busy – could be quite a money spinner! That way madness lies!
Rachel Smith