Q: Why is this such a long page?
A: Why don’t you scroll down and find out?! (Although it is slightly shorter since I reduced the font size!) Alternatively just scroll up to the internal links above, or follow this internal link to the internal links....
Q: First: Who are you? Second: Where are you from? Third: Male or female? Fourth: How old are you?
A: Hey, no fair working four Questions into one paragraph! Anyway: First: Leem. Second: Somewhere in England (right). Third: Male, last time I checked. (Mind you, I’m so fat it’s hard to tell just by looking down.) Fourth: This reminds me of the time some journalist tried to find out Cary Grant’s age by sending him a telegram: HOW OLD CARY GRANT QUERY. Mr. Grant promptly replied: OLD CARY GRANT FINE STOP HOW YOU QUERY. So...old Leem fine, how you?
Q: What’s this site all about?
A: This is a showcase for my erotic stories about people being transformed into statues or otherwise immobilised. I’ve also included a Gallery of the art that inspired some of the stories.
Q: What’s so erotic about getting turned into a statue?
A: That’s where the site’s name comes from. “The Pygmalion Syndrome”, in its broadest definition, means falling in love with your own creation, which I guess is something that all writers are guilty of to some extent, but I’m using it in a narrower sense to mean sexual attraction to the idea of people becoming frozen or otherwise statue-like. Also known as petriphilia or agalmatophilia, it’s usually regarded as a subset of sexual attraction to robots and androids, also known as ASFR (“Alt. Sex. Fetish. Robots.”) A gentleman named Robotdoll posted an FAQ Page on his ASFR Site, which is now defunct :-( .
I’ve reprinted most of the key points of Robotdoll’s FAQ here, in more or less the original format (so don’t blame me for the background colour...!)
|
The material in this box is Copyright © by Robotdoll,
whose opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Leem.
Q-What is alt.sex.fetish.robots?
A-The alt.sex.fetish.robots (ASFR) newsgroup is dedicated to the discussion of the concept of sex with or sexual attraction to robots and robot-like beings. This can range from metallic, non-humanoid machines to humanoid androids. Discussions can deal with specific fantasies, fiction relating to the topic and connected ideas like people behaving like/turned into human mannequins, dolls, toys, and other hypnosis and mesmerism fantasies that involve the mechanical/monotone response that appeals to the members.
Q-You mean you want to have sex with robots? Why?
A-Well, many of us fantasize about such things, but as many newsgroups will state, there's a difference between imagining about something and actually doing it.
As for "why," to quote the breakfast cereal commercial, "we just do." We find the look, the movement and the sound of the mechanical body attractive. It's no different than liking people that wear a certain type of clothes, of hairstyle.
Q-What about scenes where people are frozen, paralyzed, or become statues? How about mannequins? Are they appropriate here too?
A-Of course; Immobility is also found very sexy by a techno-sexual fetishist. This "Living Statuary" idea is welcome here and is enjoyed by many members.
Q-What makes a good robot fantasy?
A-That's a little like asking what makes a good pizza. Tastes vary, but some common themes exist. The Author offers the following points of reference to indicate the quality of the robotic action in a fantasy or scene. Further tests/suggestions happily accepted.
START-UP/WIND-DOWN- In some cases, the only moments the actors will act robotic is when they are being activated or deactivated. A little jerkiness in their arms and legs, some stiff action. If done well, this can be very erotic.
VOICE- The monotone quality of the voice can add to the arousal of the viewer. The author prefers a clipped, monotone voice.
MOTION- In the few classic examples of robot people, the movement of the actors is stiff and jerky, really getting the feeling of being a robot across. Best examples would be mime team Shields and Yarnell (whom the author would seriously consider sacrificing major parts of his anatomy to see in a porn film doing their act...)
Immobility is also found very sexy; scenes where people are frozen/paralysed are also appealing to the robot fetishist.
Q-Is the ideal fantasy for living statuary different than for robots?
A-Yes, but there remains a lot of common ground. The emphasis in a living statuary fantasy is on motionlessness and loss of control. Following are some typical elements of a good statuary fantasy:
MOTION- There *isn't* any! The person is stiff and rigid and cannot move on their own at all. Sometimes they are slightly pliable so they can be posed but generally the solid-as-stone hardness is desirable.
INDUCTION/RELEASE- The fantasy is most effective if the person being changed is *aware* they are being turned into a statue. A struggle or moment of surprise right before motionlessness is an excellent contrast.
HELPLESSNESS- Frozen people can be undressed, moved around, fondled, or talked about and they are powerless to resist. If they remain conscious it also accentuates the situation.
POSE- A living statue remains in whatever position she is at induction; often that is not how they want to appear. The pose should emphasize the unnatural condition. People turned into mannequins should look as if they are window dummies with blank expressions and 'wooden' poses. Female mannequins should have an especially appealing physique and be made up to resemble an actual display figure to heighten the effect.
EXHIBITION- Often the living statue will be moved to a location which can cause embarrassment when they are reanimated. Being recognized by other characters while frozen also contributes to the fantasy's appeal. Statuary can act as furniture or fine art; mannequins are cheesecake.
Q-Isn't all this about the "woman as sex object" thing that women's groups complain about?
A - If anything, techno-sexualism is the exact opposite of the objectification of women-it's the feminization of objects. Why force a woman to do something she doesn't want to (something I find reprehensible) when you can create something that not only WANTS to do it, but LOVES to, because it's what she was built for. Radical feminists are always trying to get along without men; why can't we try the opposite?
Many have said it's the ultimate male fantasy. Guilt-free, reprecussion free. A robot girl is there for you, she'll never say no, she'll never get tired, and she's always pretty. But I think there's just something lovely about a pretty girl. And the robot girl is the (il)logical end result - a girl who has no purpose other than to be pretty. To please her man (or woman, there are female members [sic!] ) is all she's programmed for.
Q-Are there any books about robot people?
A-The author suggests ROBOTS, a book published by Starlog Press many years ago, chronicling nearly every robot (human and otherwise) in mainstream SF to that date. It is out of print now, but is still found at conventions. It features many pictures as well.
Q-Are there any good examples of robot people or living statuary in film and TV?
A-There are a large number of examples of robot people in both mainstream and porn entertainment. The depiction of the robots varies from example to example; often (in the case of much of the porn stuff) the characters are robots in the script only, with a line or two mentioning this but no action to back it up. |
You’re back with Leem. For further information on living robots and statuary in films, TV, comics and literature, check out WK’s ASFR Master List.
Q: So there’s a lot of this sort of thing about, is there?
A: See this site’s Links page for a fairly comprehensive listing of other sites devoted to the concept. And that doesn’t include all the various newsgroups and on-line groups that deal with it.
Q: How did you get started as a writer?
A: Way back in the spring of 1999 I got connected to the internet and did a search for the phrase “living mannequin”, never expecting to find anything that matched my particular fetish. Imagine my surprise!
So then I checked out the stories on those sites and decided it couldn’t hurt to try writing one of my own. A mere fortnight later, the original version of Jaskri and the Maiden was born (see also the final version) and I never looked back.
Q: What’s a fortnight?
A: You must be American. Look it up, for heaven’s sake.
Q: Where did the name Jaskri come from?
A: I honestly don’t know. It just sort of popped into my head. Maybe Diann travelled back from AD 3500-ish and put it there.
Q: Why did it take you so long to give all the stories logos?
A: Because making up logos can be a difficult and time-consuming process.
My favourite logos are the ones for The Chosen, for which I included a mock-up of a holday brochure; and for the Ketrin series, where I’ve incorporated a figure into the lettering. I’ve redone the logo for On Display again, with a silhouette of Donatello’s David in profile superimposed on the original art deco lettering. Anyway, I don’t suppose I’ll be pursuing a career in graphic desigm anytime soon.
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: I find notes pinned to the inside of the refrigerator door. How they get there I’ll never know.
Q: How do you know you’ll never know?
A: One of the notes told me so.
Q: Seriously, though. What tools do you use to create this site?
A: I originally used Microsoft Front Page Express (which comes free with Internet Explorer) to create the basic page template, but since then I’ve just cut and pasted the raw code for each new page. Originally I wrote stories in Microsoft Word 97 and saved them as plain HTML. Then I upgraded to Word 2000, and discovered to my horror that despite its many advantages as a word processor, it saves pages in a hideously bloated form of HTML complete with CSS and XML and God only knows what else. Removing all this extra code is a fiendishly time-consuming process, so nowadays I then began writing stories in raw HTML, using code based on Front Page Express but without its redundancies. Just lately I’ve begun using CSS (to quote Manuel from Fawlty Towers: “I learn it from a book”).
My preferred fonts are Georgia and Verdana, with a smattering of Garamond. Georgia is a nice chunky font that’s easy on the eye when reading. The only problem I have with it is that it uses ‘lower case’ numerals (0123456789), and I prefer numerals which are all the same height. So, despite the extra coding involved, I always switch to Times New Roman when displaying numbers (0123456789). They’re actually very slightly shorter than capitals in Georgia, so in CSS I’ve specified a slightly bigger size so the heights match.
Q: Any advice for budding writers?
A: Learn good spelling and grammar sos you can write good like what I does. Don’t leave it all to spellchekcers.
Then write about whatever you enjoy writing about. If you put your heart and soul into it, it’ll come across to your readers. Find sites that take your kind of writing and submit. Good luck, and don’t forget to drop me an e-mail when you win your Pulitzer Prize!
Q: I’ve written a story about living statues. Would you be interested in posting it here?
A: Sorry. This site is only for my stories. I don’t want to seem selfish, but I don’t have the time or patience to host a big story site. I admire the stamina and dedication of those that do. The story archive sites on the Links page are always looking for new material. Check out their Submission pages for details.
Q: I’ve written a sequel to one of your stories. Would you be willing to post it here?
A: Well, that’s a bit different. Obviously I’d need to read and approve of the story first. Assuming that I did approve I’d post the story here and give you full credit as the author, but it would still be ‘mine’ in the sense that the characters and settings would be mine.
Q: I love this story you’ve written and I’d like to post it on my site.
A: Like all creative types (!) I’m always vain enough to enjoy a little more exposure. If you’d like to post one (or all) of my stories on your site, there are just a few formalities I’d ask you to honour:
i) Please give me the URL so I can check out your site, just to make sure it doesn’t contain instructions on how to manufacture atomic weapons to blow up Portugal*, or suchlike shenanigans.
*That seemed a lot wittier when I first wrote it (sigh...)
ii) Once I’ve submitted the story, please post it uncut and uncensored. If you’d like to suggest any alterations or improvements that’s fine, but please don’t go changing it without telling me.
iii) Please include my e-mail address <leem10538a [at] hotmail [dot] com> [replacing the bracketed words with the appropriate symbols], and a link back to this site, and of course I’ll then add a reciprocal link to yours.
I don’t think any of these demands - ahem - requests are unreasonable, do you?
Q: I’ve just read this story of yours and I’d love to make it into a six billion dollar movie starring Viggo Mortensen, Ellen deGeneres, Harrison Ford and David Hyde Pierce. Only instead of all this crap about living statues I think we should have San Francisco being invaded by giant topless Neanderthal nymphomaniac women.
A: You must be crazy! There is no way you could ever persuade me to prostitute my Art for...sorry, how much was that again? Ahem. Please step right this way, Mister Spielberg.
(But on the other hand...)
Q: My God, these stories are evil! You deserve to burn in Hell for writing this depraved, obscene garbage!
A: Oh, get off your damn moral hobby-horse! Recent events have shown us what true evil means, and erotic stories don’t even begin to come close. If, even now, you really think I should burn in hell for writing about a harmless sexual fantasy, then there is no compassion in your soul.
(Fortunately the good people still vastly outnumber the evil, which is why the human race still has a slightly better than even chance of survival.)
Q: Will you be adding to this page as time goes on?
A: I’m sorry, our time is up. Please enjoy the rest of your visit to “The Pygmalion Syndrome”. Have a nice day!
--Leem
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