Shelly Ronen is a doctoral candidate in sociology at New York University. Her dissertation focuses on designers who make technologies of physical intimacy: sex toys, dolls, and robots.
Shelly Ronen
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Writing on Public Books
Double Dirty Work: Sex Research and Symbolic Contamination
“Your skin is very dark,” a hostess in a Ho Chi Minh City bar complains to sociologist Kimberly Hoang. The woman has taken Hoang under her wing to help her become desirable to the bar’s Vietnamese clientele. “You need to buy foundation that will make you look lighter,” she adds. “You are lucky because you […]
Plastic Fantasies
The doll lies, tranquil, her nude body pale and her vulva hairless and unnatural. Her hand prominently clutches a lamp, but her head is just out of sight. A tendril of blond hair draws the eye, hinting at the unseen face. We peer through eyeholes onto the scene, a two-room installation depicting, perhaps, a “frenzied […]
