Chapter Text
Background
Even the most casual of readers can come away from the Murderbot Diaries understanding exactly how the titular protagonist feels about sex. It's very simple: Murderbot's relationship to sex can be succinctly summed up by the single word "no." In fact, the Murderbot Diaries is so eminently not about sex, sexual desire, or sexual relationships that it would be totally understandable if the narration never mentioned it, or if the one glimmering shard of mirror through which readers could see their asexuality reflected were a single throwaway line never mentioned again. Totally understandable--and yet that's not the case in the Murderbot Diaries. Not only is our protagonist's lack of sexual attraction a matter of textual, explicit canon, stated in no uncertain or ambiguous terms, it is a point made repeatedly by our protagonist, over the course of the series, and with more certainty each time.
However, aspec readers, hungry for representation and jaded by having it snatched away time and again with cries of "it was just a phase!" or "you just hadn't met The One!" or "you can be fixed--preferably by magic healing sex!" might justifiably examine a gift horse very carefully before putting any trust in it.
And what better way to conduct an examination of what should already be obvious than with the rigor of the scientific method? This series of essays thus begins by examining, in the kind of mistrustful detail worthy of Murderbot's own hypervigilance, the depiction of Murderbot's disinterest in sex in all six books of the Murderbot Diaries. The hypothesis, as it stands, is that Murderbot's relationship to sex is a) consistent with sex-repulsed (i.e. it desires not to be personally involved in sex) asexuality, and b) consistent throughout the books (i.e. not just a phase), without exception (i.e. it never meets The One), and not treated as a flaw (i.e. can't be "fixed").
Methods
A digital copy of All Systems Red (ASR), Artificial Condition (AC), Rogue Protocol (RP), Exit Strategy (ES), Network Effect (NE), and Fugitive Telemetry (FT) were legally obtained and downloaded. They were accessed using Calibre, an e-reader program that allows text to be searched per book. For each of the six books, the word "sex" was typed into the search bar and the results were manually filtered to remove false positive results (e.g. "Amena's expression"). Each passage containing the relevant search term was excerpted with chapter location and relevant context; literary analysis treats each passage as a single data point irrespective of the number of times the search term appears in the excerpt.
Data
| Ch. no. | Quote | Murderbot's Attitude to Sex | Rationale and Other Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Systems Red | |||
| 2 | I'd watched three episodes of Sanctuary Moon and was fast forwarding through a sex scene when Dr. Mensah sent me some images through the feed. (I don't have any gender or sex-related parts (if a construct has those you're a sexbot in a brothel, not a murderbot) so maybe that's why I find sex scenes boring. Though I think that even if I did have sex-related parts I would find them boring.) | avoidant, neutral | This first mention of sex in the text is an iconic one. Here, Murderbot avoids watching a sex scene in its media consumption freetime, and makes it clear that this is because it gets nothing out of sexual content. Note that while it acknowledges physiological reasons that sex doesn't interest it, it says its preferences would remain unchanged even if its body was different. Compare this excerpt (ASR 2) with (AC 2), which is also about sex in media. |
| 6 | He said, "Why don't you want us to look at you?" My jaw was so tight it triggered a performance reliability alert in my feed. I said, "You don't need to look at me. I'm not a sexbot." | Not immediately relevant to Murderbot's attitude to sex. (see Discussion) |
Murderbot's overall views on "sexbots" (ComfortUnits) are less straightforward than its opinion of sex. This excerpt has been removed from analysis, but some meaning can still be derived here: Murderbot dislikes being looked at, and draws a connection to the aforementioned "sexbot in a brothel" via the implication of being "on display" for human pleasure. Sex and sexbots are entwined in its repulsion. See Discussion for more. |
| Artificial Condition | |||
| 2 | In some of the worst shows, SecUnits would sometimes have sex with the human characters. This was weirdly inaccurate and also anatomically complicated. Constructs with intercourse-related human parts are sexbots, not SecUnits. Sexbots don't have interior weapon systems, so it isn't like it's easy to confuse them with SecUnits. (SecUnits also have less than null interest in human or any other kind of sex, trust me on that.) | avoidant, repulsed | This excerpt occurs in the context of Murderbot explaining what it dislikes about SecUnit depictions in media ("some of the worst shows"). Murderbot positions its dislike of sex as a SecUnit class-wide trait, but at this point in the series its solidarity with other SecUnits is tenuous- its only interactions with them have been violent. Thus when it says "SecUnits have less than null interest in sex," it can only speak for itself. (That it generalizes its experiences and preferences to other SecUnits so broadly is the subject of another essay.) |
| 3 | ART had an alternate, more drastic plan that included giving me sex-related parts, and I told it that was absolutely not an option. I didn't have any parts related to sex and I liked it that way. I had seen humans have sex on the entertainment feed and on my contracts, when I had been required to record everything the clients said and did. No, thank you, no. No. | repulsed | The second iconic sex-repulsed quote from Murderbot. In other places in the text, Murderbot is unhappy with various organic features of its body (leaking, etc), and so its adamant statement that it likes its body the way it is, i.e. without sex organs, is notable. Note also that- between media and observing real humans' daily lives- Murderbot is in no way ignorant of a vast spectrum of things sex could involve. |
| 5 | This was not a SecUnit. I was looking at a sexbot. That is not the official designation, ART said. The official designation is ComfortUnit but everybody knows what that means. Sexbots aren't allowed to walk around in human areas without orders, any more than murderbots. |
Not immediately relevant to Murderbot's attitude to sex. (see Discussion) |
Quote included to illustrate Murderbot's derogatory attitude towards ComfortUnits. Note that "sexbot" is not the proper term for ComfortUnits any more than "murderbot" (lower-case m) is the proper term for SecUnits. |
| 2, 3, 5-8 | 47 total hits for the term "sexbot" through Chapters 2, 3, 5-8. | Not immediately relevant to Murderbot's attitude to sex. | After the correct term for a ComfortUnit is introduced, Murderbot uses the term "sexbot" for the Ganaka Pit ComfortUnits only once, and refers to them as ComfortUnits for the rest of Chapter 6. It continues to refer to Tlacey's ComfortUnit as "sexbot" until Chapter 9, after Tlacey's death, at which point it calls it "ComfortUnit." At no point after AC does Murderbot ever use the term "sexbot" again. |
| Rogue Protocol | |||
| 2 | It was weird to be around humans who didn't monitor everything everybody did constantly via Sec- or HubSystems or drones [...] (After thousands of hours spent analyzing and deleting video of humans eating, having sex, performing hygiene, and eliminating excess bodily fluids, it was a relief, but still.) | repulsed, avoidant, neutral | This quote could fit in either the neutral or repulsed category, but I chose to place it in "repulsed"- Murderbot is relieved to be able to avoid viewing sex, i.e. sex is a negative presence. Note also that it lists sex as one of many inane, innocuous activities that humans do that it finds unpleasant. |
| Exit Strategy | |||
| No hits for "sex". | |||
| Network Effect | |||
| 1 | Even the individual humans' feed signatures only contained info about sexual availability and gender presentation, which I didn't give a damn about. | neutral | Murderbot takes a moment out of the middle of an action sequence to say that it doesn't care about other people's gender or sex lives. |
| 2 | Since the festival had started, I had been taking note of a potential hostile that Amena had been associating with. [...] (2) he never approached her when any family members or verified friends were with her, (3) he stared at her secondary sexual characteristics when her attention was elsewhere [...] | Not immediately relevant to Murderbot's attitude to sex. (see Discussion) |
Removed from analysis, but again some meaning can be derived: Murderbot acknowledges that the agents around it can be motivated by sexual desire, neutrally and without lingering over-long on it. That the potential hostile has sexual interest is only relevant and negative in the context of the other red flags that Murderbot took note of. |
| 3 | When the company owned me and rented me out for surveys, my security protocol included datamining, which meant monitoring and recording the humans every second for the duration of the contract, which was excruciating in a lot of ways. Pretty much all the ways. (All the ways involving sex, bodily fluids, and inane conversations.) | repulsed | Compare this quote with the one from Rogue Protocol- it expresses almost exactly the same sentiment, but in much stronger terms. Murderbot now describes the same experiences not just as a relief to avoid, but excruciating to have experienced. |
| 9 | Ratthi sighed, leaned against the wall and said, "So, you have a relationship with this transport." I was horrified. Humans are disgusting. "No!" Ratthi made a little exasperated noise. "I didn't mean a sexual relationship." Amena's brow furrowed in confusion and curiosity. "Is that possible?" "No!" I told her. |
repulsed | Unequivocally repulsed by the mere hint of sex- and arguably romance as well. Note that the presentation of Murderbot's vehement "No!" does not waver in reply to either implied question. Compare/contrast with the exchange immediately following: "Ratthi persisted, 'You have a friendship.' I settled back in the corner and hugged my jacket. 'No. Not—No.' 'Not anymore?' Ratthi asked pointedly." |
| 12 | I hadn't bothered to monitor [Arada and Overse] on ART's cameras or try to slip a drone in; the chances that they were having sex and/or a relationship discussion (either of which I would prefer to stab myself in the face than see) were far higher than the chance that they were saying anything I needed to know about. (I mean they might have been plotting against me, but you know, probably not.) |
repulsed | Murderbot inclination to monitor its humans occasionally clashes with other characters' sense of privacy throughout the book. The desire is partly the anxiety- both fear that they might be harmed and the lingering suspicion that they might mean it harm- and in other books (ES, FT) also from what's considered a medical issue. Murderbot would prefer to monitor them, but it prefers NOT to see sex or "a relationship conversation" much more strongly. |
| Fugitive Telemetry | |||
| No hits for "sex". | |||
| Key: Murderbot's Attitude to Sex |
|---|
| Green indicates favorable towards sex |
| Yellow indicates neutral towards sex |
| Red indicates repulsed towards sex |
Discussion
Relevant hits appeared in four books: ASR, AC, RP, and NE, with the majority of quotes found in NE. Data was confounded by the usage of the term "sexbot" in AC, where it was both a term that was used to refer to characters (i.e. Tlacey's ComfortUnit and the Ganaka Pit ComfortUnits), but also seemed to carry a derogatory connotation ("That is not the official designation, ART said.") towards ComfortUnits, as constructs built for a sexual function, that Murderbot only partially unpacks throughout the book. How Murderbot's feelings towards ComfortUnits as indicated by the term "sexbot" change over the course of ASR and AC is a fascinating area that deserves its own essay, perhaps delving into the topic of real-world stigma against sex work. What can be said about Murderbot's attitude to ComfortUnits is that its disparagement of sexbots seems to stem from dislike of sex itself. Unfortunately, the scope of this essay is limited to Murderbot's own sexual preferences or lack thereof, so while some excerpts are displayed for illustrative purposes, all quotes containing "sexbot" but not "sex" were removed from final analysis. A quote in NE about the behavior of the sex creep was similarly removed from analysis for topic irrelevancy.
Glossing through everything Murderbot has ever said regarding sex, one pattern supporting the hypothesis immediately becomes clear. Despite acknowledging the existence of sex multiple times over the series, Murderbot does not have a single favorable thing to say about sex. Sex is, at best, comparable to eating, drinking, cleaning, pissing, and shitting, to Murderbot--a neutral thing that humans do that it would rather not be involved in-- or else is something to be avoided or refused. Of the eight relevant quotes, in two of them Murderbot is actively saying "No"; in the remainder, Murderbot calls sex boring, says it has null interest, and would rather stab itself in the face than see its clients' sexual activities. None of this is because Murderbot is an ingenue unfamiliar with sex, either: in ASR and AC it's evidently used to seeing sex in media, and it talks about having been required to monitor real human clients' sex, in AC, RP, and NE. Murderbot's lack of interest in sex also can't be attributed solely to its physical state or machine nature; it acknowledges the possibility of sexual equipment in ASR and AC and, given the choice, prefers its body unsexed.
At no point does Murderbot ever make an exception for anyone or any situation--not any of the humans, nor any of the bots; when the question comes up of whether a sexual relationship with ART is desired or possible, its answer is two definitive "No!"s in a row. (Compare the surety of those No!'s with its answer when, immediately after, it's asked if ART is its friend: "No. Not--No," and how Ratthi, NE's emotional compass, probes this answer when he didn't doubt the previous no's.) Murderbot may often struggle with emotional vulnerability and defensiveness, but where the narrative prompts Murderbot to risk vulnerability at times, Murderbot is never treated--by any character, or by its own narrative--as though its lack of sexual attraction or interest is something which needs to be corrected.
Lastly, and most fascinatingly, look at how many of the relevant quotes are from Network Effect compared to any of the other five books. Even considering the fact that NE is twice the size of Exit Strategy, the next biggest book, that doesn't account for the fact that fully half the quotes gathered here are from the chronologically latest book in the series, when Murderbot is farthest from its depressed ASR self and more capable than ever of knowing what it wants and what it doesn't want and expressing as much without bullshit. So not only is Murderbot consistently sex-repulsed and asexual since the first book, it has only gotten louder and surer of it as it has become surer of itself.
Conclusion
By now even the most skeptical, jaded reader must admit that not only is Murderbot thoroughly disinterested in sex, it is effectively a representation of sex-repulsed asexuality. Its asexuality, though diegetically linked to its non-humanness, is rooted in a familiarity with the human condition and an alienation therefrom that resonates with many members of the aspec community. Most importantly, that difference between this asexual character and the normative ones it's surrounded by is allowed to be: there are no bullshit reasons that Murderbot must eventually learn to like sex, or turn out to have been wrong about its sexual non-preferences, or in any way be obliged to change its mind about not wanting sex. Murderbot is asexual, it doesn't want sex, and the characters and narrative accept that as easily as they accept that it likes to watch daytime soaps.