Kokoro Relation: Relation Between Human and Contemporary Vibrators

• In Event: Feminist Engagements with the Im-materialites of Gender and the West

Abstract

Encouraged by movements such as the Quantified Self, a growing number of people voluntarily track and quantify aspects of everyday life in order to get a grip on the complexity of life and mostly in order to improve their health and wellbeing (see for example Lupton 2016). Now, a self-tracking device is available for tracking sexual activity: the "smart" vibrator Lioness. Lioness offers a vibrator equipped with biosensors for measuring pelvic floor movement, motion, and temperature. The data of these sensors is sent to and visualized in a linked mobile app. The developers claim that by using the vibrator the user will explore her “own unique body and sexuality” (Lioness 2018).

In this paper, I will focus on how these kinds of technologies that are aimed at self-improvement and sexual pleasure can be understood. Postphenomenological theory focuses on the relations between human beings and particular technological artifacts (see Don Ihde 1996 and Peter Paul Verbeek 2008). However, as I will show in this paper, contemporary postphenomenological theory is unable to explain the relation that can be formed with the Lioness. Therefore I will introduce the concept of the kokoro relation, which can fill in the aforementioned gap. I will use the Japanese word kokoro, which refers to the body/mind as a whole rather than a conjunction of the two, to explain the relation someone might have with the self and technologies aimed at self-improvement and sexual pleasure.

Author

• Christl de Kloe, Utrecht University