The city of Houston recently approved an ordinance preventing the development of a robot brothel, which would have been the first one of its kind in the country.
Canadian company KinkySdollS was behind the plan, and was already building a space where users would be able to rent out dolls and have sex with them privately. According to Mashable, the dolls are priced between $2,500 and $10,000, and have different features such as body heat and A.I. voice commands.
Many citizens took offense with the idea of a robot brothel and organized protests, claiming that a place like this would destroy the homes, families and finances of all sorts of community members. As one resident expressed, “As a woman, I am concerned and horrified to see where our society is taking us.”
The amendment to prevent the development of this establishment was passed unanimously by Houston city council members with some of them claiming that Houston is not “Sin City,” while calling the idea of a robot brothel “weird” and “gross.”
“The Bible says a man will leave his father and mother and become one with his wife. It doesn’t say anything about a man becoming one with a robot,” said one very invested Houston resident.
KinkySdollS has a robot brothel in Toronto that opened over a year ago and has developed quite a following. According to USA Today, the Canadian company targeted Houston because it’s one of the largest cities in the U.S. and it also has a strong history of resisting regulations.