Sextech creators, entrepreneurs, and researchers are pushing the industry forward – but it might surprise you to learn that the sources of their inspiration are as diverse as the creators themselves.
Given the exponential increase in the sophistication and availability of consumer technology over the past century it is only natural that some of that inspiration would lead to the development of innovative sexual technology – filling the gaps in this relatively new industry.
The melding of traditional sex toys with new developments in automation and communications technology has been around for decades, but its face is always shape-shifting. Cindy Gallop, founder of MakeLoveNotPorn, has lamented the fact that sex tech is often seen as just “sex toys and sex robots“. However, the sex tech industry is significantly more diverse, inclusive, and women-driven than it is often given credit for, with much of the more recent developments being led by queer communities reclaiming sex and eroticism from a historically male-centric model.
From people who create sex tech that offers pleasure, to loved ones with motor impairments, through creators recreating devices from speculative and science fiction, to entrepreneurs seeking to cater to people’s deepest erotic desires, the inspiration for sex tech products we use is as diverse as the people who develop it.
Commercially driven
Lara Karaian is a sexuality studies scholar and Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Carleton University. She believes that commercial considerations play a large part in engendering the desire to create new sex tech – though she also stresses it is often in tandem with other considerations.
“I feel like a lot of the will is commercial driven. People recognise that sexual drives are a key part of our daily and interpersonal lives and to meet those needs, commercially is, is a very large drive.
“I do think that the cyber brothel and, you know, sex workers, for example, have demonstrated that there there are ways of using the technology [like that] which coincide with their pro-sex work, pro-feminist perspectives.”
She cites the Cybrothel in Berlin as an example of where commercial considerations and a desire to cater to a community intersect. Supporting that, the team behind the Cybrothel, where people can interact with sex dolls in VR-enhanced environments, describe themselves as “a Berlin-based group of sex positive artists interested in creating a safe space for people to explore and connect with their desire and fantasy through the intersection of technology and our cast of pleasure doll characters.”
Recognising people’s hunger for new outlets for sexual expression also means recognising there is a commercial opportunity. Georgi Dimitrov is CEO of AI girlfriend app DreamGF. He explains that he saw an opportunity to use tech to create more “personal interactions” while he was managing other people’s OnlyFans accounts.
“I learned a lot about what people like, and the problems with interactions with the girls, etc. And I saw that there was a need for people not only to receive content, but also share with someone,” Dmitrov says
As a result of that early success – DreamGF reached one million users in six months – Dimitrov and the team launched eHentai AI and DreamBF to cater to other audience demographics.
However, commercial-driven sex tech often runs up against social mores and regulation. Dimitrov notes that the team originally monetized via Patreon, as doing so allows them to avoid “obviously all the regulations from Visa and MasterCard, their terms and conditions… all the difficult stuff.”
Karaian notes that, as a result of sex work and even sex tech being stigmatised, there is an exceptionalism at play: “This is the sex exceptionalism part. Commercialism drives most industries. Why wouldn’t it drive the sex industry?”
Scientifically driven
However, while public interest often demonstrates the commercial viability of sex tech, the inspiration to create it has to come from elsewhere. The team behind the sextech company Kiiroo repeatedly cite Ted Nelson, a tech pioneering and the inventor of the term ‘teledildonics’ (sexual encounters between two or more people taking place virtually via a device like a smart sex toy) in 1975, further demonstrating the chain of inspiration for many of the company’s initial products.
Another major source of inspiration, and another example of the blending of inspiration that comes from teams developing sex tech (as opposed to individuals) is in furthering scientific study. The EU Horizon-funded Lovewear project, for example, provides ‘soft robotic’ stimulation and is explicitly stated to be designed to improve the wearer’s quality of life.
The team behind Lovewear also note that people with disabilities face “physical, political, and societal barriers, and so often the tools to overcome those difficulties are left to the private sector.”
Accessibility driven
In some cases the inspiration to develop advances in sex tech come from the lived experiences of the individuals affected – or their friends and loved ones. Teams like those at Bump’n or Cripping Up Sex are involved in developing and promoting tools, toys and workshops for sex tech through an accessibility lens.
In these cases the commercial aspect is pared back slightly, with the impetus to develop coming instead from an empathic and experience-driven place. Unfortunately, that does come at a risk, with the recent halting of production at Bump’n.
Nevertheless, founder of Cripping Up Sex (and occasional SEXTECHGUIDE contributor), Evan Sweeney, has elucidated on that point, stating: “[With sex toys] we can reclaim our bodies. It shows that we are deserving of pleasure and our bodies aren’t made just for medical procedures.”
Situationally driven
A large part of the initial inspiration is also situation-specific. For example, the team behind sex toy and teledildonics company Kiiroo noted that public interest in long-distance sex tech increased dramatically during the pandemic, saying: “We were doing really well before covid hit, but not surprisingly, when Covid hit and the world went into lockdown, Kiiroo and many other companies alike saw a huge increase in demand for our interactive technology.
“The world experienced what it was like to be isolated and separated from their lovers, partners and friends, so this was the point where sextech really became normalized in many households around the world.”
Speculatively driven
In some cases the desire to promote health and sexual wellness is married to another major source of inspiration – that of speculative fiction.
Sex tech has been a perennial feature in science fiction, appearing in literature, manga, movies, and television shows in a variety of forms. VR porn in particular has regularly appeared in works of fiction as mainstream as the James Bond movie Die Another Day.
Direct sexual stimulation through tech in fiction has also provided inspiration for the developers of sextech with a health bent. The ‘Exsexsive Machine’ and ‘Orgasmotron’ – featured in movies like Barbarella and Sleeper – have been de-fictionalized as researchers seek out a greater understanding of the human brain.
As early as 2001 researchers in the US were patenting spinal implants that could, ostensibly at the touch of a button, trigger orgasm in women. It was even called the Orgasmotron in reference to the device of the same name in the Woody Allen movie, Sleeper.
And – while AI chatbots have existed for a long time – recent developments in the generative AI space have allowed the development of ‘AI girlfriend‘ apps like DreamGF. While OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman once landed the company in trouble over it, he has previously cited the movie ‘Her’ as being “prophetic” when it comes to AI personalities. The film, in which a man develops a relationship with an AI voiced by Scarlett Johannson, has also undoubtedly inspired some of the more sexually explicit AI girlfriend apps as well.
To the point where Scarlett Johannson has filed a complaint for ChatGPT’s voice sounding like hers without her permission.
However, again showing how entwined all the sources of inspiration around sex tech can be, DreamGF’s VP of Business Development Jeff Dillon also points towards a health and wellbeing implication for the tech, stating: “It could be used for relationship therapies… a lot of people are afraid to share things that are going on in real life… but talking to an AI person… I feel much more comfortable sharing my feelings because I’m just talking to a robot.”
And yet we’ve barely scratched the surface of what is possible
Ultimately, the inspiration behind the development of sextech is unlikely to come from a single source. The people and teams investing in pushing the space forward are influenced by a variety of different things, often in combination.
Given the exponential increase in the power of technology like AI and VR, the industry is rapidly catching up in terms of sophistication with some of the speculative fiction that inspired it.
At the same time, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what is possible when technology empowers sexuality and sexual expression; there will be countless more pioneers, with their own set of inspirations in the generations that follow.
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