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ToolsPloeger, Daniel (2014) Eerie Prostheses and Kinky Strap-Ons: On the Ableist Ideology of Mori’s Uncanny Valley. Body, Space & Technology, 13 (1). ISSN 1470-9120
Abstract
In his paper 'The Uncanny Valley' (1970), Masahiro Mori advises designers to avoid high degrees of human likeness in prosthetic body parts in order not to evoke uncanniness. Building on a discussion of the difference in the commonly experienced uncanniness of 'realistic' looking prosthetic hands and strap-on dildos, this paper argues that Mori's hypothesis and his approach to design are based on an essentialist concept of the human body, which is complicit in the persistence of ableist body ideologies. Reading recent empirical research on the uncanny valley in the context of Jentsch's and Freud's writing, it is suggested that the design of body-related artefacts should promote, rather than avoid, repetitious uncanny experiences. Such a project aims to diminish uncanniness through 'force of habit', thus facilitating the acceptance of a broader variety of bodies as equal.
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