Researchers have found that people view men using sextech devices with more disgust than women, in what they say is the first empirical evidence of a “sexual double standard penalizing men for sextech use”.
The findings, by researchers at Canada’s University of New Brunswick, were published in a paper called Gross Double Standard! Men Using Sextech Elicit Stronger Disgust Ratings Than Do Women in The Journal of Sex Research.
The survey-based research found that when participants rated their disgust at people’s use of sextech devices and services, including vibrators, sex robots and erotic chatbots, they rated men’s use as more disgusting than women’s. Researchers also found that across genders, use of sextech devices was rated as more disgusting if the device was more human-like.
371 adults, ranging from 18 to 81 years old and featuring 190 women and 181 men, were surveyed for the study. Most identified as being heterosexual and white, so the study was limited in terms of its applicability across cultures and backgrounds.
Participants were shown six different sextech items or services, and asked to rate them from one to seven on a ‘disgust’ scale regarding their use by a person whose gender they were told.
Overall disgust levels across genders averaged out around the midpoint of the scale, meaning that sextech device use wasn’t generally considered disgusting overall. However, there was a statistically significant difference between disgust ratings for genders, with male sextech use judged more disgusting.
Madison E Williams, a PhD student who worked on the study, told PsyPost: “Our findings suggest that men who use sex toys, exchange sexual messages with AI companions, or have sex with robots are perceived as more disgusting than women who engage in equivalent acts.”
Williams said this highlighted a “troubling double standard that penalizes men for using sexual devices, even though research has found they can offer both women and men similar sexual benefits.”
This is likely to track with anyone who has a passing interest in the sextech industry.
Vagina-focused vibrators are often marketed as empowering “wellness” devices that help users celebrate sexual liberation and independence. Mainstream female celebrities have endorsed or even launched their own vibrators, but we’re yet to see A-list male Hollywood stars espousing the virtues of penis stroker devices publicly.
Despite this, there has been a shift in mainstream coverage of penis stimulation devices recently, with media outlets such as Men’s Health unashamedly publishing guides to masturbator devices. But still, it can sometimes be hard to shake the INCEL image from this sector of the sextech industry. Controversial spins on strokers such as the Orifice AI device hardly help the PR push.
Maybe this perception gap will close a little, now it’s been ‘officially’ recorded in scientific research.
In their abstract, the University of New Brunswick researchers wrote that their findings “advance work promoting integration of technology and acceptance and normalization of varied sexual behaviors as they become increasingly incorporated into people’s sex lives.”
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