A brief overview of what’s happened over the last month #InSearchOfPleasure.
Sex at CES 2019
Female sex toy withdrawn from show
CES 2019, the world’s largest consumer electronics trade show, was accused of sexism after the startup Lora DiCarlo‘s first female personal massager Osè by Lora Dicarlo had its award revoked by the event organisers.
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The company was selected as a CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree in the Robotics and Drone category for designing a hands-free robotic massager that uses advanced micro-robotics to simulate the sensations of the human mouth, tongue, and fingers. But the award was revoked and the company was banned from even showing at CES.
An inexplicable choice, as CES always welcomed innovation in the sex department.
AR strippers
At CES 2019 there was Naughty America, with an unusual meeting room to privately show off its technological innovations: an AR experience that allows you to see virtual strippers on a pole in your bedroom with your smartphone or AR glasses app.
Hyperconnected vibrators
There was OhmiBod, American company known for the sound sensitive vibrators happily used by cam girls to encourage larger tips (more tips = more sound = more vibrations = more pleasure, real or fake it doesn’t matter = more happy viewers, and start again), that has been showing at CES for the past nine years. This year’s innovation is the OhMiBod Remote App for Apple Watch that uses biofeedback to control the brand’s Bluetooth-enabled personal massagers. Coming this spring, there’s also a new Amazon Alexa skill that will allow hands-free control of OhMiBod’s pleasure products, including a soon-to-be-released couples’ ring.
Tech vibrator for penis
There was MysteryVibe, British sex tech startup already known for Crescendo – first unisex and universal 6-motors hands-free flexible vibrator – introducing its new toy Tenuto, a wearable male vibrator that stimulates penis, balls and perineum.
New Gillette commercial against toxic masculinity that collected thumbs-down
In mid-January Gillette released a commercial where there’s no razor, no shaving cream, no shaving at all. Instead, there’s a message against toxic masculinity that mistakes bullying and harassing men’s behaviours with “being a man”. It’s a positive message aimed at inspiring men to look beyond the macho stereotype, “be the best men can be” and become role models for the next generation because “the boys watching today will be the men of tomorrow”.
Instead of collecting a positive response, the commercial had to face a backlash. Despite reaching more than 25 millions views, the commercial received more thumbs downs (more than a million) than thumbs ups (less than 800 thousand).
Many called the advert “insulting” and “emasculating”. Some complained about the fact the commercial was directed by a woman: “A shaving ad written by pink-haired feminist scolds is about as effective as a tampon ad written by middle-aged men … Count this 30-year customer out” said a Conservative Canadian political commentator.
Maybe we don’t need a commercial. Maybe we need a whole library of written/audio/video contents helping us to eradicate the idea that men have to demonstrate of “being men” and accept the idea that they can be anything they want to be, in full respect of all the humans circulating on Earth, whether they have a penis or a vagina or something in between, whether they are strong or fragile something in between.
Las Vegas’ AVN: world’s largest pornography industry trade show
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Beginning on the 23rd of January, Las Vegas hosted the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, the largest gathering of adult film stars in the world, a four-days of shows, parties and exhibition of new pleasure products. The last day hosts the AVN Awards, aka “the Oscars of porn”, that this year welcomed the special guest Cardi B as the first woman to serve as the featured musical guest at the Awards night. For the first time, the whole show featured an all-female cast.
Sex Education: the new Netflix’s series investigating sexuality and fighting taboos
Finally, Netflix released Sex Education, the new teen comedy-drama that provides a nuanced look at sexuality and intimacy mixing awkward, funny and dramatic moments. I wrote this post about it.
Doctors are warning people not to use new Lush’s bath bomb as a sex toy
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Lush just released a Valentine’s Day-themed collection of products with suggestive shapes. There are emoji-shaped eggplant and peach bath bombs and also a “big banana”-shaped massage bar. Doctors are genuinely begging people not to insert this stuff in any hole of the body as they can break off and become stuck inside of you or gift you an infection. There are toys specifically designed to go inside you safely, like the emoji-shaped Emojibator vibrators.
