When a person is asked what image comes to mind when hearing sex tech, their answer is likely to be sex toys or sex robots. That is sad. While those really are products of sex tech, it is more than that.
Bryony Cole, the world’s leading authority on sextech, clarified this in one of her statements. She said that sexuality really encompasses everything from orgasms and pleasure and relationships to education, health, crimes, assault reporting, medicine, and gender identity. Those are the focus of sex tech instead of just sex. So, people should erase the wrong perception of sex tech in their minds. No, it is not an industry that capitalizes on the needs of lustful perverts. 0Instead, it is an industry that answers to the needs of everyone. Sex tech makes products and offers services that help in the development of sexual wellness. Ultimately, sex tech focuses on intimacy more than sex itself.
Bryony Cole has a popular podcast that raises awareness about this. It is called The Future of Sex. The project promotes sex-positivity and healthy sexual lifestyles. They are doing it through a variety of innovative media, exploratory labs, and immersive events. Aside from reviewing the latest trends on sex tech, The Future of Sex recruits people to join the industry. They have a monthly hackathon that catalyzes the next generation of sextech entrepreneurs – accelerating ventures for new sex robots and sex product ideas. The fact that the global hackathon program is widely successful tells that there really is something great in sex tech.
Learn more about this straight from the sex tech‘s leading counsel for major publications, Bryony Cole herself.
What is Intimacy, and Why is It Stigmatised?
According to Bryony, the correct meaning of intimacy is a physical, emotional, intellectual, and 0shared connection. It is about our relationship with ourselves, our owned possessions, and with others. It is a delicate feeling that builds over time.
The problem is, society is associating intimacy with the wrong things. Since people link intimacy exclusively to the physical act of sex, it gets associated with perversion and pornography. Generally speaking, these things are incredibly harmful. Thus, it is difficult for people to talk about it.
Furthermore, intimacy and sexuality are complicated topics. Bryony explains that we do not feel comfortable talking about these things because we do not have enough education about them. She says that our bodies have so many secrets, and deep down, we want to know about them. However, cultural institutions, religion, and politics keep us away from unlocking these secrets. They deem the action explicit and inappropriate, thus causing a lot of shame. That is why we are embarrassed about talking about sex and sexuality, which should not be the case. It puts up a barrier that does not allow us to have conversations about sex and intimacy, even with our partners.
Overall, the stigmatization negatively affects our sexuality, sex lives, and by extension, our psychological well-being. Needless to say, this barrier should be broken down so people can be happy.
Sex Education
This type of education is available at school, but the knowledge that it provides is not enough. School lessons focus only on the fundamentals of sex. They only tackle the basics like the two different genitalia, the sex cells, what happens during sex, and sometimes how to practice safe sex. It does not delve too much into topics concerning sexuality, intimacy, and sexual wellness. For example, it does not teach students the importance of consent.
Then, sex ed in schools is outdated, and sextech is a stigmatized sector. Because of that, they do not talk about the applications of technology to sexuality and intimacy. Considering how prevalent sexting and dating apps are today, there should be more discussions about them.
Furthermore, as mentioned before, people not knowing things about sexuality prevents them from talking about sex and intimacy. Sextech provides solutions for that issue.
Bryony Cole’s Inspirational Story About How Sextech Improved Her Well Being
It may be odd to some that the world’s leading and earliest voice for sex tech is a woman. The thing is, even she was surprised to find out that a community of women is at the helm of the industry.
As a teen, Bryony experienced what most teens do. She felt her body develop, but not her mentality. She felt confused about her sexuality, and she did not know how to express herself. Bryony felt like she was doing something wrong, but she could not figure it out. So, like other girls of her age, she wanted to remain small and unseen. She was afraid something she would do would land her in sticky situations. Bryony was like that because she was not given the tools and resources to understand those things.
It was years later before she understood those feelings and why she felt them. Before she got into sextech, she worked other jobs. But it is in sex tech where her heart wants her to be.
Bryony found it amazing when she saw women talk about sex and sexuality openly. She found it empowering. Bryony wondered how they were able to do that. Why are they not ashamed?
Then, she realized what the keyword is “tech.” By adding the suffix, people suddenly get permission to talk about sex and sexuality. Bryony found that by talking about applications of technology to intimacy, it becomes easier to talk about it. She quickly saw the potential in that. Thinking about her past experiences, she figured she could use sextech to raise awareness.
And that is what she did. Bryony started her podcast The Future of Sex. Her goal is to promote sextech as the source of the missing tool people need to understand sexuality. She hopes the project can save people like the teenager she was from being embarrassed about their sexuality and self-expression.
Bryony aims to empower people by introducing them to sex tech. She believes the sector can do this as sextech is the most reliable tool we have for achieving sex-positivity.
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