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An emerging sexual identity known as “digisexuality” is said to be gaining traction among open-minded youngsters in Britain, Japan, Russia and the United States. Research by academics Neil McArthur and Markie Twist, who co-authored a paper titled “The Rise of Digisexuality”, suggests the trend is becoming more commonplace. These digisexuals are forgoing humans in favour of intimate, and even sexual, relationships with advanced computer software and lifelike robots, according to Markie and McArthur. One digisexual Akihiko Kondo, a 35-year-old school administrator who married a virtual reality singer in Japan, deems himself to be sexual minority facing discrimination.

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For those who identity as digisexuals, Markie and McArthur believe they may be resistance akin to the pushback against other sexual minorities such as homo, trans, and bisexuals. Pressuring for human rights protections could be one way in which digisexuals attempt to achieve recognition. The campaign, it seems, has already begun online.

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“I think we are moving towards a system that grants broad sexual freedom and recognises the value of alternative sexual identities in general,” Dr McArthur, a philosophy professor at the University of Manitoba, told Daily Star Online. “Canada and the Nordic countries are the leaders at this but the rest of Europe and America are not far behind.”Markie, a sex education expert and family studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, said digisexuals could “possibly” start to agitate for equality of recognition and rights in the same way other sexual identities have. She said some people “are also fighting in anticipation for robots to have rights as well”. She showed Daily Star Online a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “digisexual rights are human”, for sale on Amazon for $19.97, as an example.

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Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled regardless of who they are. They include, but are not limited to, the right to life, liberty, and property, freedom of expression, pursuit of happiness and equality before the law. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDRH), a historic treaty adopted by the United Nations in 1948, was the first international agreement on the basic principles of human rights. In the UK, human rights are protected by the Human Rights Act 1998, legislation based on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

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McArthur said he does not believe there will be any need for specific protections “within a broadly tolerant legal and social system”. In less tolerant countries, however, McArthur said “there will be stigma”, especially among older people. He said: “Anything to do with sex and technology makes people panic. He said: “Many people are also very uncomfortable with the idea of alternative sexual identities.”Markie, a licensed marriage and family therapist, said people already “speak and comment of these digisexuals in primarily disparaging ways”. In their paper, McArthur and Twist explain why, according to their research, digisexuality has changed society in two distinct waves.

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The “first wave” is characterised by people using technology such dating apps, online porn or electronic dildos to fulfill their sexual desires in a practical way. In the “second wave”, meaningful relationships between humans and immersive technologies such as virtual reality and have become more commonplace.Sex robots fit into the second wave of digisexuality, Dr McArthur, director of the University of Manitoba’s centre for professional and applied ethics, said.“Sex robots are the easiest form of second wave digisexuality for people to get their heads around, because they are such a common feature of movies and television, and we think we know what a sex robot would look and act like,” he said. “I think they may actually prove to be one of the last forms of this technology to come to market. “They’re still coming, but they may ultimately not quite be like Jude Law in AI.”