Vivid Ideas: The $30 Billion Sextech Industry Is More Than Just Robots

Content warning: This features contains discussion of sexual assault and rape. If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.

When we hear the word ‘sextech’, we might think of something outlandish and far removed from us like sex robots in Japan. In actuality, its definition is so much broader, and so much more intertwined with our daily lives.

Bryony Cole, who speaks in Sydney at New Horizons: The Future Of Sex as part of Vivid Ideas in May, is described as the world’s leading authority on sextech, advising governments, tech titans and entertainment companies about future trends in the industry. Her podcast Future Of Sex, exploring the way our online and offline selves both perceive and shape what 'sex' is and our attitudes to it, has been downloaded over 250,000 times. 

Cole tells us that sextech is simply “any technology designed to enhance sexuality”. 

That means that it refers not just to the technology used in relation to sex and relationships – like vibrators or apps like Tinder – but also to those related to sexuality, “like gender identity, crime and violence reporting, human trafficking, sex education, sexual health and any sort of medical-related aspects of sexuality”. 

And those technologies in particular span from emerging technology like augmented and virtual reality, and AI; apps, websites and digital platforms; products like teledildonics, aka remote-controlled sex toys; and the simple technology used in medicine to treat painful sex. 

That spectrum explains why the industry is worth $30 billion, growing at 30% per year, according to The Guardian. It encapsulates so much of our everyday use of technology to enhance our relationships, including those dating apps that almost every young, single person seems to be using in 2019. 

“Tinder would be considered sextech,” Cole confirms, adding again that any technology used in relation to sexuality, relationships and dating falls under the umbrella. “I think we can safely say pretty much everyone uses some form of sextech in some part of their intimate lives today. Even things like FaceTime and Skype are kind of the original long-distance relationship sextech.”

“I think we can safely say pretty much everyone uses some form of sextech in some part of their intimate lives today."

But how do we avoid the pitfalls of dating apps, where it feels like everybody is replaceable, one of potentially thousands of potential partners? 

Cole doesn’t think that the way we use the technology is the fault of the apps themselves. Instead she points to the importance of education around intimacy. 

“It’s probably [happening] because we're really lazy, and we've evolved to this sort of idea that humans can be on a menu and we can select them and then once things get too hard we can deselect them or go, 'Oh, ok, let's relook at the menu because that one was too hard, and I don't want to fight.' 

“I think a lot of this has to do with, at the moment, the lack of awareness and erotic intelligence really, or education around intimacy – that's what's lacking here. The sex definitely isn't lacking, and the abundance of people aren't lacking, but the education around intimacy is. What we're really talking about when we talk about sex and sexuality is things like empathy and communication and all the things that make us human and also make sex and relationships really great.

“I think everyone's experienced that moment where they're like, 'Wow, I'm flicking through people's faces while I'm on the toilet, and they are as disposable as what's going down the toilet.' 

“And that's a shocking moment for people that have come from [the] pre-dating app era. But today, for kids, that's very normal behaviour, and so that's sort of where I like to drill down and think, 'Well, how can we reintroduce the education around relationships and intimacy to that population who have only known Instagram likes and follows and swipes?”

But as well as encompassing digital platforms for dating and relationships, and sex robots, the sextech industry can help vulnerable people. 

“Sextech is for everybody,” Cole affirms. “The most interesting examples are probably either everyday use or the things we don't typically think about when we think about sextech. And that's populations that probably aren't using robots but technology [that] can help them – like the disabled population or the ageing population or minority groups that need access to sex education. Although the robots are fun to talk about, let's be honest.”

New Horizons: The Future Of Sex

An example of the way sextech help disadvantaged people comes in the way it’s being used to help women report sexual assault on university campuses. The crux of it, for Cole, is figuring out “how do we improve the way we report sex crimes or sexual harassment and how we do we encourage women to speak up”. 

“There's interesting applications that are being used at the moment or are in development around using Bitcoin and using secure platforms where there's no identity released when you report an assault.”

An application that already exists is Callisto, originally used for the reporting of on-campus sexual assaults to identify repeat offenders, which Cole says was designed with survivors in mind.

“[It] will only match you once there's a certain number of assaults reported and you can choose whether to reveal your identity or not. [It will] match you to other people that have reported a similar incident with a similar person. And that [tech is] now moving into the workplace.” 

For Cole, the future of sextech has little to do with technology per se, but instead relates to the way we as a culture think about sex – and the ways that technology can help us to push towards a “more open and shame-free future”. 

She sees that things are slowly changing in terms of cultural attitudes to sex. 

“We're moving towards this more open, shame-free, less judgmental future. Now whether technology can take us there? I believe it can [and] I believe it can also help us with our base-level problems like sex education and understanding our health and our bodies and sexual wellness.” 

Bryony Cole