Chris M
Las Vegas’ giant techno-bun fight, CES, has confirmed that it will be a virtual event in 2021, after organizers confirmed they couldn’t guarantee the safety of delegates in such large numbers.
One of the biggest tech shows in the world, CES has been criticised in the past for its failure to embrace sex tech with products being stripped of awards for their sexual use-cases.
In a statement on its website, CES explains:
“An all-digital CES 2021 will allow the entire tech community to safely share ideas and introduce the products that will shape our future. You’ll be able to participate in all the awe-inspiring moments of CES wherever you are in the world.”
In 2019, Lora DiCarlo was honoured at the event awards, for its Ose Massager, before being stripped of the gong, and having the stand shut down.
After much protestation, the award was reinstated and this year an adult category was added to the show. However, 2021 won’t be a year to get hands-on with sex tech in Vegas.
Instead, keynotes, meetings and demonstrations will be offered online in a personalized stream built around your priorities for what to see and who to meet.
The news may not be all bad though. Even though you won’t be able to spend your downtime gambling (at least not in person, or with your health) the isolated CES could be a turning point for sex tech’s accessibility at the event, with prudish organisers less concerned with offending prudish festival goers who will only see the products they signed up to see.
Given that 2020 exhibitors had some fairly stringent rules to follow, including not displaying anything ‘anatomically correct’, no ‘human genitalia’ related swag and no sexy language to lure people to the booth, a virtual event could be just the liberating mainstream event that sex tech has been crying out for – or at least, the removal of one of the excuses used in previous years.
Read Next: Robotic massager award farce shows CES still has no idea what to do with sextech
