2010년 5월 18일 화요일

The Future of Pleasure (Love Hotels and Electronics)


With the development of technology and other equipments for communication, how would man’s experience of pleasure change in the near future? Regarding the issue of “the future of pleasure,” I thought of two major changes in mankind’s experience of pleasure.
As it was mentioned by Aldous Huxley in his famous novel, “Brave New World,” people could maintain their status of feeling pleasure by taking pills. Even though some people illegally take drugs these days, with development of technology, people could easily invent pills that make them feel pleasure. For instance, regarding sexual relationship, both men and women could take those pills to experience pleasure during their intercourse.

Yet, the main focus of the future of pleasure seems to be lying in the development of technology related to online communication. With the development of 3D technology and the internet, it seems possible for people to have online sex games and online love hotels. Instead of having to go to bricks-and-mortal sites, people can visit a website that provides such service to them. For example, mankind can choose certain avatar, giving them physical features that they desire. With the selected avatar with features they want, they can actually play an online sex game. Moreover, due to the development of 3D technology, wearing glasses that help create 3D visual aid would become possible. Thus, people could find virtual sex partners in virtual reality. The inserted image explains what it would be like to give wanted features to their chosen sex partners.

In this process, instead of just choosing and forming their partners, the internet technology would allow people to create a plot that leads to the sexual relationship and let them establish the situation, such as the mood and the atmosphere of the online, virtual love hotels. As they have created and chosen the avatar, the game player can also start by creating the love hotel, the virtual reality, and establish the plot as he wanted. Moreover, the combination of the virtual reality, online sex game, and the development of pill that gives mankind the feeling of pleasure would integrate to design human pleasure in the future. However, I personally think this situation would lead people to become disconnected from personal, face-to-face communication. Even though virtual world can give humans a sense of pleasure, it would leave a void in their minds and emotion. Moreover, if this online sex games become prevalent, finding the real lovers in the real world might not be as satisfactory as before. With the help of pills, humans might feel the pleasure, and they can set the situation, create the perfect partner for them. This condition would make humans feel unsatisfactory with the situation in their real world. However, I still believe that real pleasure comes from unexpected and unpredictable situations and events. With the love hotels online, mankind could get into living a dystopia where they cannot feel the real pleasure that we can have now.
The next scenario or imagination that I came up with regarding the future of pleasure is related to robots. Human beings are in the stage of developing robots. For now, it is an incomplete technology, however; in the near future, robots that are indistinguishable from human beings can appear. The image from the movie, “Bicentennial Man” shows man-like robot and a girl holding his hand. Although it is not related to the plot of the movie, the image shows what it could be like in the future. A robot with human features or robots that are indistinguishable from humans can substitute the actual online sex partners. Humans might be able to select certain physical features for the wanted robots for their experience of pleasure. This could be an extended version of online sex games.
The future of pleasure in this sense of “love hotels and electronics” might include the scenes I have explained throughout this writing. People might enjoy the experience of pleasure through online sex games, choosing their partners online or robots, and even taking pills and creating plots and atmosphere of the love hotels online. Yet, if this situation comes to reality, I would be unhappy and worried. With the established settings, the selected partners, and even the chosen plot, some people can enjoy the perfect experience of pleasure. However, some people might oppose to this idea. Online love hotels, online sex partners or the robots with selected physical features scare me. Real pleasure to me comes from the real feeling of understanding even if things are not satisfactory and imperfect. Idea of having all things pre-conditioned suffocates me. Thus, even if the technological development allows us to have online love hotels, online sex partners, or robots and even pleasure pills, I hope people prevent this situation from actually taking place.

2010년 4월 28일 수요일

2010년 4월 4일 일요일

Fetishism in Korea: Wearing Braces

These days, when you search online communities, it is easy to find those people who are interested in wearing braces and having straight teeth. Even I have a sister who is wearing braces now for desire of having straight teeth, and there are lots of other friends who are now starting to wear braces.
It has not been long, since Koreans started to wear braces for reasons other than clinical issues. With Yuna Kim, Kang Hye Jung, and Su Ae, and other celebrities’ changes in overall impression after wearing braces, the public began to get interested in having straight teeth. When I searched online and saw my friends and sister wearing braces, they go through some pain. There are individual differences, but most people have hard time adjusting to the braces, have to spend so much time visiting hospitals, once in two weeks, to see how their teeth are changing. They go through all these process and pain to get straight teeth.
Then, why do I call this fetish? It is because I see people who do not actually have clinical problems wearing braces, just to get straight teeth. They have to wear braces and get ulcers all over their mouths, have some kind of metals inside their mouth to get prettier. How is this different from African women wearing necklaces? Moreover, I see this phenomenon of fervent trend of wearing braces in line with plastic surgery. Most people think by wearing braces, they get their impressions changed without plastic surgery. In class, we discussed how far Koreans would go with experimenting with their faces if plastic surgery gets so much easier. One of the celebrities, Kang Hye Jung once on a TV show said she regrets wearing braces. She herself said her face changed so much, that she couldn’t get used to her new face. Even without painful plastic surgery, people can change their faces with braces. I see this wearing of braces as a beginning step of people starting to experiment with their faces. Experts say that more people will want braces in the future. I personally think that with the technological development came the specification of requirements for a beauty. With improved technology regarding this wearing of braces, now qualification for a beauty has been added: the straight teeth.