CES has lengthy been a launchpad for innovation and cutting-edge expertise. Nonetheless, at this yr’s occasion, there was a conspicuous void: the near-absence of intercourse tech. Regardless of being an business that caters to a common human expertise, intercourse tech has at all times had an uneasy affiliation with CES.
This yr, its conspicuous absence begs the query: Why are we nonetheless so prudishly proof against integrating expertise and intimacy?
In 2019, intercourse tech had its headline second at CES when pleasure tech firm Lora DiCarlo received an innovation award—just for it to be rescinded, after which reinstated after widespread backlash. (It later went out of enterprise). This controversy highlighted the uneasy relationship between the mainstream tech business and its extra intimate cousin.
Quick ahead to 2024, and it appears CES has successfully managed to chase the intercourse tech business off its present flooring.
I went in search of sex-tech corporations to doubtlessly do a roundup, and there have been few sufficient to acknowledge just one pattern: Not in intercourse tech, however within the absence thereof. One firm stood out: Norwegian firm Ohdoki, the creators of The Useful and the CES-launched Oh!, have been a refreshing presence within the in any other case prudish tech panorama. Their sales space was bustling with exercise, providing a stark distinction to the largely sex-tech-absent occasion.
It’s unclear whether or not it’s CES itself that’s making an attempt to scale back the quantity of sexiness on its present flooring – the present itself has advanced quite a bit over time, and this correspondent thinks it’s a aid to see the so-called ‘booth babes’ being all however absent: An enormous change from my first CES again in 2007 or so, the place scantily-clad fashions have been all over the place. However whereas I have a good time the banishment of sexism – objectifying people at cubicles has no place in 2024 – intercourse itself should have a spot within the vernacular of expertise.
It’s puzzling to me why we, as a group, maintain erasing sexuality from tech – when it’s such an common a part of the human expertise – to such an extent.
