Kinky Borgs and sexy robots: the fetish, fashion and discipline of Seven of Nine

This chapter argues that the Borg character Seven of Nine – in the Star Trek Voyager Series – is a metaphor fetishising the Frankenstein body and is symbolic of our love affair with (and fear of) robots and cyborgs. I suggest that this fetishism is also evidence of our fear and suspicion of converging communication and entertainment technologies, loss of gender identity and ubiquitous computing. I will explore sexological attributes of the mechanistic and penetrating Borg and reveal erotic allure in the mixture of machine and flesh. ‘Seven of Nine’ as fashioned and portrayed on screen will be discussed with reference to specific sexual subcultures and their erotic fetish attire and demeanour. In contrast to already long established discussion surrounding the ironic cyborg (Haraway 1991); the gendering and sexualising of technology (Doane 1990; Balsamo 1996) and cyber-feminism (Woolmark 1999); I will re-address notions of the sexy robot with women of discipline [in uniform] (Wills 2000) and the posthuman – that I argue are manifest in the Borg - and bring into discussion our need for understanding our exploration of physical sensation, dominance and submission, sensuality and arousal through the visual titillation of such on-screen science fiction spectacles. References will be made to the television series Star Trek Voyager (1995-2001) and the film Star Trek - First Contact (1996) amongst others; as well as short films such as the cyber-erotic music video All is Full of Love (Björk, 2003. Dir. Chris Cunningham).