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Despite Past Terror Threat and Ban, Sex Robot Conference Announces 2018 Event

February 24, 2018

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Fingers crossed the annual congress avoids controversy of prior years.
Organizing a conference of any kind is often a big task. But when it comes to a conference on sex robots, you better be prepared to handle some extra complications and backlash.

So we wish all the best to the organizers of the Fourth International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots! The two-day event is set to take place at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana, on December 13 and 14, 2018.

Let's hope that this US location is more accommodating than previous choices. When the annual conference was first held in Portugal in 2014, it went off more or less unnoticed by the media and without any major problems. Unfortunately, this luck didn't last.

Malaysian authorities shut down the Second Annual Congress on Love and Sex Robots in 2015 that was originally planned to take place in the country. It was deemed illegal since the sexually conservative Muslim nation considers sex with robots immoral, similar to its views against homosexuality. The event was canceled as a result and held the following year in London, England.

Then shortly before the third yearly sex robot conference was set to take place in December 2017, again in London, England, and at Goldsmiths University, the unthinkable happened. Co-organizer Adrian Cheok was tipped off to a terror threat from Malaysian police. Wanting to ensure the participants' safety, the congress was reportedly moved to a secret location.

To learn more about the Fourth International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots, visit the event homepage here. There you can find more information on registration, how to submit papers for presentation, as well as details on the organizing committee and event topics.

Image sources: Fourth International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots

Jenna Owsianik

Jenna Owsianik is a Canadian journalist and sex tech expert. Since 2014 she has been Editor-in-Chief of FutureofSex.net, the world’s leading publication on how technology is changing human sexuality, today and tomorrow.

Jenna is the primary author of the Future of Sex Report (2016).

Her expertise covers state-of-the-art sex technologies and the major fields driving innovations in intimacy: robotics, virtual reality, remote sex (teledildonics), immersive adult entertainment, human augmentation, virtual sex, and sexual health.

A trained journalist with a Masters of Journalism from The University of British Columbia, Jenna’s reporting has appeared on Futurism.com, Al Jazeera English, CTV British Columbia online, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS 60 Minutes, Global News, and CKNW Radio in Canada and the United States.

As a sex tech industry consultant, she is especially passionate about helping companies deliver accessible services and products to people with disabilities and other underserved communities.

Jenna also runs the sites SexforEveryBody.com, a sex-positive, body-positive online magazine that promotes inclusive sex education; and DisabledSexGuide.com, an adult resource on sex, disability, and erotica.

In 2013, Jenna won two Canadian Online Publishing Awards for her work on The Pain Project, a multimedia site on global access to palliative care.

She won second place at the 2011 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism’s Public Health category for her participation in the documentary Freedom From Pain.

Jenna has an Honors BA in Women’s Studies and Feminist Research as well as a French minor from The University of Western Ontario. She spent a year studying at L’Université Lumière Lyon 2 in Lyon, France.