Oli Lipski
Launched in January on the US App Store, Do You‘s, consent-focused space to explore sexual desire is now available for iOS users worldwide, and there are plans to bring it to Android later in 2020. Similar to Shades and Juicebox, Do You uses an interactive text-based interface, but the main difference here is the customization feature.
As well as a choosing from a range of stories, free users can pick their own gender – female, male, or non-binary – and the gender of a fictional chat partner on the “Play” page.
Co-founder and Product Designer, Elayne Safir, told SEXTECHGUIDE that the responses you choose dictate what happens next as the stories progress.
“Each interactive fantasy is written with multiple variations,”Safir explained.
On the “Explore” page you find daily sex-based articles, sex-positive Instagram posts and “Ask a Sex Therapist” Q&As. You can also send in your own sex-related questions to the app’s resident sex therapist.
For Premium users, however, for $5.99/month or $47.99/year, there are additional features, including monthly ‘special editions’, ‘dirty’ playing mode, an option to control the speed and skip ahead in the story, a switch to flick between light and dark mode, and the ability to name the characters.
Consensual Sexting
The app, notably, was thought up during the peak of the #MeToo movement about two years ago and was “intentionally designed to show how the language of consent can be sexy,” says Safir. “Do You wants to show that saying yes – or no – is sexy. Consent, privacy and preference are inherently built into the experience.”
Head of Content and co-founder, Meli Chamorro, says that talking about their own and friends’ “positive and negative experiences with sexting” lead them to start thinking about how the “medium of mobile technology affects romantic communications – and how it can open up new possibilities to create interactive fantasies and inspire people looking for a consensual, fun way to chat.”
Gender Inclusive Content
With male and non-binary user options coming soon to the app, you can currently play with a female, male or non-binary character.
The founders shared with SEXTECHGUIDE how important it was to be working with non-binary writers for the non-binary stories. “It’s important that our content feels authentic, so hiring diverse writers is a big priority.”
Although people can currently only play as female players, Chamorro says that, as a lesbian woman, she knows the difficulty in discovering​ and embracing and getting comfortable with her sexuality.
“I understand the drawbacks of not having access to erotic or sex-positive content that feels authentic to the gay female perspective.” The key, she says, is to make sure that people interested in exploring any sexual preference or gender identity can find a story that resonates with them.
Given that the non-binary spectrum is vast, Do You plans to continue to build on its library of stories “to include as many expressions of non-binary as possible”.
Curated for a Global Audience
When asked whether the content would be culturally curated for specific countries, Chamorro told us that Do You’s writers come from all over the world, and “aren’t meant to represent only one demographic.”
This global mindset might explain why the app is trending worldwide, including India, Australia, Germany, Turkey, South Africa, and the Middle East, with its UK audience growing particularly quickly.
“It’s already our third largest market after the United States and Canada,” according to Safir.
With a number of other apps aimed at helping singles and couples explore their sexuality, Do You is by no means alone in the space, but the explicit focus on consent throughout is an approach that’s always going to be welcomed around here.
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