Idealog – July 26, 2019

Idealog.co.nz | The Transformation Issue

sextech

065

buffer designed to help with painful sex, and RapeAxe,
which is a female condom fitted with barbs used to prevent
rape. These are the sort of innovations for me that are solving
issues that we really don’t think about when we think about
Sextech. That’s what we need more of.”

Inclusiveness for the invisible
Start-ups such as O.School and OhNut have a strong message
that Sextech is not exclusive to one market. In fact, it’s an
inclusive environment that is working tirelessly to make sure
everyone with sexual needs is accounted for.
“I think it’s really important to include everyone, and for
a long time, that hasn’t been the case,” Cole says. “But what
we’re seeing is a changing in line with cultural conversations
around identity and minority groups. For me personally, I
think there is a huge opportunity for what I call the invisible
population – people we don’t think are sexual – whether
that’s older people or people with disabilities. These people
are human, and they do still have sexual needs.”
Surprisingly, Cole says that one of the most
unaccounted demographics in the Sextech industry is
women. Action is often needed to counter sexist regulations,
such as Viagra being legal to advertise while women’s libido
enhancers are restricted from being advertised in the US.
“Look at the more rebellious feminist brands or an
emerging sex toy brand, there definitely is that inclusive
tone they’re striking,” Cole says. “Whereas the older brands
are still stuck in the old tropes of having a huge black dildo
for sale, rather than thinking about female and male and
different bodies or how they design for transsexuals. That’s
an emerging space which is really exciting.”
Unfortunately, no matter if ‘tech’ is tacked on the end,
regulation is still a huge hindrance to Sextech. Anything
related to an adult industry has regulations surrounding
advertising, host website options and even restrictions on
card payments. This is especially true for women-targeted
products, which are twice as likely to be regulated than male
targeted products.
“As much as it’s gathering momentum and we think it’s
growing, it’s still not entirely an easy conversation to have,”
Cole says. “So, we have these pioneers that are trying to pave
the way, through things like getting approval for subway
advertising about female health products or incorporating
vibrators and lubricants as well as tampons into simple
advertising conversations. We have a growing collective of
groups just trying to get social media advertising acceptable.
“It isn’t past that social stigma yet – we’ve still got a
lot of barriers.”

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Five Sextech

start-ups changing

the way we look

at sexuality

My strategic move was branding

something that would help move

sex out of the creepy, inaccessible

mind frame into something more

palatable. By putting ‘future’ at the

front or ‘tech’ at the end of it, its

suddenly becomes something that

removes it from the individual so it

doesn’t seem as scary to talk about.