The 5th Installment of Talk Series on “Inequity, Stereotypes, and Stigma in Leisure”

The B’AI Global Forum will hold a talk by Ayukawa Patty entitled “Against the ‘New Exploitation’ Caused by Technology: Issues on Virtual YouTuber and the ‘Objectification of the Body,’” which is the 5th Installment of our talk series on “Inequity, Stereotypes, and Stigma in Leisure,” on Thursday, August 4, 2022.

【Abstract】

Against the “New Exploitation” Caused by Technology: Issues on Virtual YouTuber and the “Objectification of the Body”

Ayukawa Patty

（Visiting Research Associate, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo; Part-time Lecturer, College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo）

Words such as “virtual reality” and “metaverse” have become household words for quite some time now. The speaker of this talk, Mr. Ayukawa, does affirm that a person can achieve the self-image he or she desires in the virtual space, unlike in the real space. The advancement of virtual technology will help many transgender people. Simultaneously, on the other hand, this talk will problematize the fact that traditional discrimination against women and transphobia are reemerging along with new technologies. In this talk, the issue of unreasonableness that is still prolonged in real space (everyday life) will be discussed along with some examples of virtual YouTubers.

Leisure is an “extraordinary” escape from the “daily routine” of life and work and allows people to endure the “daily routine” that will continue tomorrow. In other words, “everyday life” is prolonged by leisure. The unreasonableness of daily life is also prolonged. In a sense, leisure and daily life are two sides of the same coin and can be said to be in a complicit relationship.

Now, in 2022, so is the real world and the Internet. The existence of the Internet (the virtual world) can actually prolong the unreasonableness in the real world. Desire (unreasonableness), which has already become unacceptable in the real world, erupts without restraint in virtual space. And the desire is convinced. “I (my desire) was not something to be denied.” Desires that have gained confidence, even if not affirmed, will continue to lurk in the real world. As if waiting for their turn to come out.

This presentation is a more in-depth discussion of the “problems that occur at the intersection of technology and gender,” which Mr. Ayukawa pointed out in his book Lecture on “Vocaloid Music Theory” at the University of Tokyo (Bungeishunju) published on July 13. The speaker agrees with the main purpose of the B’AI Global Forum, which aims to realize the social goal of “ensuring gender equality and minority rights in an AI society.” What is the new ethics required to resist the traditional discrimination that is reoccurring at the frontier?

【Date & Venue】

・Date: Thursday, August 4, 2022, 17:00‐18:00 (JST)

・Venue: Zoom Meeting (No registration required)

・Language: Japanese

・Organizer: B’AI Global Forum, Institute for AI and Beyond at the University of Tokyo

・Co-organizer: Leisure Studies Kenkyukai, and the Association for Leisure and Tourism Studies

【Inquiry】

Yuko Itatsu (Professor, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo)

itatsu[at]boz.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Please change [at] to @)