title: 'And next, just for your enjoyment!': sex, technology and the constitution of desire.
abstract: In the 1976 sci-fi film Logan's Run, actor Michael York, relaxing in a fetching caftan after a day hunting 'Runners', logs-in to the 'Circuit', a de- and re-materialisation technology that allows those seeking sex to select partners. Logan's first candidate, a young man, is passed over with a smile. The second is co-star Jenny Agutter; she is accepted and we join a sexual ride in the future. Online dating sites such as Gaydar® and RSVP® would seem to have a long way to go to achieve that, and Microsoft™ needs some fast apps development to get us there. Against this background, this paper examines some starting points in our fascination with technosex, long before the Internet, in books and magazines, the creative arts and other media and cultural forms. It focuses upon gay men's contribution to this fascination, and looks at the queering of heterosexuality and the part technology has played in that process. Online technologies are examined, particularly in relation to the 'publicisation' of sexual life and to shifts in sexual identity and practice related to changing processes of sexual objectification, self-objectification and subjectification. Finally, the transformation of sex into health and healthy sex is discussed.
authors.affiliation: a Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University , Melbourne , Australia.
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Dowsett
mesh_terms: D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013672:Technology
keywords: Internet; gay men; sexual subjectivity; sexuality; technology