Rick Deckard calls Racheal Rosen in order for her to help him retire the remaining 3 Androids. She becomes distressed when she realizes that Pris Stratton is the same model Android as her. Racheal becomes drunk on bourbon, and plans to sleep with him and change the way he thinks about Androids. In her two years of “life” she has slept with about 8 bounty hunters and manipulated them into quitting their job. She successfully seduces Rick after making a deal with him. If he sleeps with her, then she will retire Pris while Rick retires the Batys. Rick becomes conflicted and sad. He knows that he must retire the remaining androids but feels grief.
Rachel bragged about her ability to manipulate men. She states, “no bounty hunter ever has gone on … after being with me” suggesting, that her main function is to sleep with men in order to stop them from killing Android refugees (Dick 198).
How does sexual activity change the way people feel about each other? Androids are machines, although the Nexus-6 Androids are close to human. Why can’t Rick, or any other person sleep with an Android and remain disconnected emotionally?
Sexual activity can create some sort of connection between people. Although some people are able to sleep with someone and cut ties without feeling any attachment, for most people there will always be something there. In the case of Rick and Rachael, or any bounty hunter and android, engaging in sexual activity closes the gap almost completely between human and android. The Nexus-6 already looks exactly like a human, and behaves almost exactly as such, so if they behave sexually as humans do they become inextinguishable to the bounty hunters which they engage with. This connection makes bounty hunters feel some sort of empathy towards the androids they once hunted, and they cannot go on without confusing retirement with murder.
Overall I believe sexual activity with another has the ability to create a connection no matter what the circumstances are. People may not be in a relationship or love each other to have sex but I believe after they act in this way, there will always be a relation between the two. Ricks connection with the Nexus-6 android is hard not to create a connection. While they may be android’s, but there physical, biological and emotional traits are almost completely human-like.
Consensual physical sexual activity has been held to a varying level of sacredness throughout history. Sex was used to sanctify marriage, it was withheld from priests for it had the power to lead to temptation, and decided alliances thus shaping borders and creating empires. Because of this historical significance sex has had on shaping the world, it has been ingrained in the subconscious nature of humans to have a connection once it has occurred. To remain totally emotionally detached after sex would mean one would have to counteract the unconscious nature that he or she cannot control; such is why Rick nor anyone else cannot remain emotionally detached after sleeping with Rachael or any other android.
For most humans, sexual activity brings about some level of emotional connection. In the case of the bounty hunters, the emotional connection they share with Rachael keeps them from being able to do their job. It may not even be because they love her it’s just because she is real to them now. Most of them probably thought like Rick did at the beginning of the novel: believing that it was okay to retire andys because they weren’t actually taking a life. But now that they have been intimate with Rachael, it is impossible for them to still see andys that way. That emotional/ sexual connection humanizes all andys and lets the bounty hunters feel empathy. And maybe that empathy is heightened for them because they realize how much harm they have been doing by killing andys and their conscience won’t let them do it anymore.