Professional dominant strives to prevent nonconsensual explicit image sharing

At first glance, the BBC’s report on Madeline Thomas, founder of Image Angel, appears to be another case of kink-shaming. However, in a pleasantly progressive turn, the article is respectful, as Thomas is openly proud of her online dominatrix persona.

In fact, her fury at her own explicit images having been spread without her consent inspired the creation of her forensic image protection company.

“These were beautiful pictures,” she told the BBC, “I’m not ashamed of the pictures, I’m ashamed of the way that they were used against me by someone whom I don’t know.”

Thomas’s work as a professional dominatrix gave her the determination to help others whose private photos and videos were used against them. 

Only if I say so

Thomas’ first hurdle was her lack of technical knowledge, as she freely admits. Still, that didn’t deter her. She said, “I know that it’s bizarre, it’s crazy to think that someone who was a dominatrix is now a founder of a tech company, but it took someone who has been through it to know the loopholes and the changes that needed to happen.”

Fortunately, her resolve paid off. A year after Image Angel’s launch, the company had garnered numerous industry awards, including a best practice recommendation from the UK’s Independent Pornography Review.

RECOMMENDED READ: The Real Deal: Laws Against Sexual Deepfakes Spread Across the US

A wide variety of platforms—from social media to dating apps—can use Image Angel’s technology, which automatically embeds an invisible, digitally unique watermark into any image viewed.  

Can’t run, can’t hide

Thomas explained that she didn’t exactly have to start from scratch: “This technology already exists in Hollywood, it already exists in sports broadcasting, so this is not brand new technology, it’s just a new application and a new system.”

The watermark is extremely durable, so it can’t be removed and persists even when photographed with a smartphone camera.

The result is that, should anyone learn their images were nonconsensually circulated, the Image Angel encoding will allow the site to track not just who was responsible but also help find and delete any copies.  

“And we’ve tested it,” Thomas further explained to the BBC, “we’re partnering with a company that has 30 years experience in developing technology so we know that this is solid and what we now need to do is test it at scale.”

Punishing the wicked, not the innocent

Thomas’ company joins many other organizations—both commercial and legislative—that seek to inhibit the nonconsensual distribution of private, often explicit images and videos, which are frequently shared with the intent to cause emotional harm.

Kate Worthington of the Southwest Grid for Learning’s (SWGFL) Revenge Porn Helpline shared her enthusiasm for Thomas’ approach, telling the same BBC interviewer,  “It is really important to have this multi-layered approach towards tackling tech facilitated gender-based abuse, because no one tool is going to be able to tackle this alone, no one helpline, it needs to be this multi-layered response.”

SWGFL itself uses StopNCII.org, “Stop Non-Consensual Image Intimate Image Abuse,” which makes a hash—a sort of algorithmic fingerprint from user images that can subsequently aid in halting the distribution of non-user-approved images.

Go get ‘em!

Given the countless daily violations of personal trust, and as legislators work to grasp both the scope and seriousness of the issue, the world needs people like Madelaine Thomas more than ever—those who have experienced firsthand the emotional pain of having their private moments made public.

But also like Madelaine Thomas, someone with the strength and determination to fight back for herself as well as everyone else who has been- or may potentially be—harmed as well.  

As she explained to the BBC, “It’s me as a dominant woman, a woman who is empowered and strong, giving my body as a treat to someone because I wish to, because I want to, because it’s my body and I can do what I want with it.”

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Obey! Anti-Revenge Porn Company Founder Strikes Important Blow appeared first on Future of Sex.

An apparently dire present doesn’t mean tomorrow can’t be wonderful

With new age verification laws and attacks targeting the adult industry and LGBTQIA+ people, our rights to sexual autonomy, consensual love, and unbiased education are under threat. These measures often reflect a conservative agenda rather than efforts to truly protect people.

But if history has taught us anything, it’s that the future is ours to make. If that’s the case, we’re willing to fight for it. Because if we don’t, then far sooner than we might expect, we really will live in a world ruled by sexual ignorance, irrational fears, and where healthy desires could land you in jail—or worse.

Lines being drawn

This isn’t an exaggeration. The World Population Review states that sixty-two countries restrict access to adult materials, and thirty-two make the production or use of sex-related content fully illegal.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch reports, “67 countries have national laws criminalizing same-sex relations between consenting adults. In addition, at least nine countries have national laws criminalizing forms of gender expression that target transgender and gender nonconforming people.”

RECOMMENDED READ: Age Verification Laws Driving Adult Content Creators Underground

If groups like the Heritage Foundation succeed, the United States could drastically increase censorship, criminalizing sexual expression, education, and those who enable it. Their vision threatens basic rights and freedoms.

Even learning about essentials like birth control is under attack. Planned Parenthood states only ten states require inclusive, affirming discussion of LGBTQIA+ identities. Six southern states either ban discussion of LGBTQIA+ topics in sex education, or require framing such identities negatively.

Like your sex lives depend on it

In the face of these attacks, the fight is about securing our fundamental right to sexual freedom—what Emma Goldman called ‘the right to love and be loved.’

To begin with, it’s important to stay informed: both about these and similar threats to our sexual rights, but also the vitally important sexual facts conservative laws are aiming to suppress.

Planned Parenthood is one such invaluable resource, as are the American Sexual Health Association(ASHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Unfortunately, due to the current US administration’s intervention, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is no longer reliable and should be avoided.

The mentioned Human Rights Watch, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) are excellent resources for tracking anti-sex laws.

Stand for love

Never forget that the most potent way to battle against sexual ignorance is to open our minds to exciting new possibilities. Though an admittedly odd choice in this context, H.P. Lovecraft said it best, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

By this, I mean that if anything, sexual conservatism seems fueled by unreasonable fears: masturbation is bad, pornography is self-destructive; LGBTQ+ people are (at best) confused or (at worst) were “groomed” by an abuser; sex education leads to promiscuity, the list sadly goes on and on.

The scientifically proven reality is that none of the above is remotely true, that masturbation and sexual fantasies are physically and emotionally healthy, sexual pleasure helps ensure people experience safer and happier lives, LGBTQIA+ people deserve nothing but respect, acceptance, and support. 

Above all, we can turn optimism into action. Instead of waiting for change, actively challenge bigotry and misinformation. Join local or online advocacy groups, vote for policies that protect sexual freedom, and have open conversations that promote consent, understanding, and inclusivity. Every small step you take contributes to building a future filled with hope, respect, and consensual enjoyment.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Fight for the Future: How to Usher in the Next Sexual Revolution We Desire—and Deserve appeared first on Future of Sex.

The only labels will be the ones we give ourselves

Over the years we’ve looked at where our sexual interest in the artificial—robots, dolls software, and the like—might lead in the very near future.

But any thought experiments about what might be coming to human sexuality has to delve into the human as well as the manufactured.

Because it is what we could become that could be truly remarkable, both in regards to erotic enjoyment but also in what it means to be human.

Beyond the binary

It looks like many are finally beginning to understand, and better yet, accept that our concepts of male and female are woefully inadequate—especially when it comes to sexuality.

Just look at the common triumvirate of heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual. All of these are based pretty universally on the idea of a person being male or female. But, no doubt since that first hominid looked lustily at that first wheel, humanity has been more than one or the other.

With the advent of new surgical techniques, a better understanding of hormones, implantable devices, plus the growing acceptance of transgender individuals in many countries (with a few steps back in the United States), the concept of gender and arousal is being beautifully expanded.

RECOMMENDED READ: What Sci-Fi Got Right and Wrong About the Sexuality of Tomorrow—As It Is Today

It’s telling that the Merriam-Webster and Oxford English Dictionary has long included both the term cisgender (“being a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth”) and genderqueer (“a person whose gender identity cannot be categorized as solely male or female”) in their recent updates.

While there is definitely room for improvement in general attitudes toward gender and sex, that the technological power of our information age is being used to share and educate about the options, and acceptance, of sex beyond male or female is thrilling.

Without a doubt, the future will see an erotic landscape full of new emotional and physical forms of gender and sexuality; a world of near-infinite possibilities for self-identification and, best of all, pleasure.

Any, all, or none of the above

With the acceptance of new forms of sexuality is also the arrival of the acceptance of having no sexual desire.

Gaining momentum is the concept of being asexual (“a person who does not experience sexual attraction”—using asexuality.org this time as Merriam-Webster seems out-of-touch on the subject).

“Unlike celibacy,” asexuality.org continues, “which is a choice, asexuality is a sexual orientation. Asexual people have the same emotional needs as everybody else and are just as capable of forming intimate relationships.”

In an interview with Ravishly, a woman named Sarah says about her asexuality:

I am not broken. I am not looking to be fixed. I am entitled to feel my emotions in my own varying levels, just as much as any other person. I understand I come across ‘prudish’ in behavior, but I am not holding anything back. I will happily answer questions but please do not go into a conversation determined to prove me wrong. I am an honest person who can only offer that which I have to give. I would never discredit another person’s sexual desire or disregard their emotions; I have always been baffled by other’s determination to do just that to me.

A free and open future

Much has been said, and written, about the how technology has changed humanity in some pretty staggering ways over the last few years. Digital publishing, virtual and augmented reality, “The Internet Of Things” and device interconnectivity, 3D printing… the list goes on and on.

The most profound change, however, is right in the often-used title for the years we are experiencing at this present moment: The Information Age.

While we have a long way to go, the power of the Internet to dissolve distance and bring people together is already transforming every aspect of our lives—especially in regards love and sexuality.

Beginning now, if we play our societal cards right, it could be the beginning of the end for loneliness, shame, guilt, and fear when it comes to what arouses and emotionally fulfills.

Or, to put it simply, we’ll hopefully have the power to look beyond ourselves and discover others for help—and for love.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Be Who You Are: Tomorrow’s Spectrum of Gender Possibilities appeared first on Future of Sex.

Limitless creativity versus the same old, unimaginative slop

“The disturbing irony of our culture’s current mindset is that as society fights against women’s victimization, it also collectively promotes and celebrates the porn industry—an industry that inherently, directly, and unapologetically victimizes women for entertainment and profit,” claims Fight The New Drug, a non-religious, nonprofit anti-pornography advocacy group.

Other groups and organizations agree, such as Citizens for Decency, Enough Is Enough, and the UK-based Naked Truth, with CEO and founder Ian Henderson, declaring “Porn is hijacking people’s lives, robbing futures, families and freedom. We educate on the damages of porn and journey people towards a life without it—a life of authentic connection and healthy relationships.”

Though what if adult content could be produced that not only doesn’t involve human performers but also provides an emotionally healthy sexual outlet?

The answer is it’s already here, compliments of another currently controversial subject, image-generating artificial intelligence—with an explicit twist.

Tell me what you want

While major players in the AI industry remain committed to keeping their Large Language Models sexually chaste, the proliferation of similar technologies has led to the rise of more erotically liberated options. Candy AI, Deep Swap AI, Lovescape, the list goes on and on—and is getting longer nearly every day.

Naturally, anti-porn crusaders aren’t happy, though aside from Collective Shout’s demonetization campaign against erotic game developers, it seems most of their focus has been on supporting anti-deepfake laws.

In all fairness, the creation and distribution of anyone’s likeness without their permission is inexcusable —let alone whether exploitive or intentionally harmful—just as AI also shouldn’t ever be trained using creator-unapproved media.

RECOMMENDED READ: Lemons? Make Sexy Lemonade: Ersties Hires Chief Pleasure Officer As Pornhub Flounders

Not dismissing these and other legitimate concerns, the issue appears to be whether trying to put the sexually explicit digital genie back in its bottle is either futile or possibly even emotionally and/or sexually harmful.

As 404Media put it, “Much like anti-abortion laws don’t end abortion, and the so-called war on drugs didn’t ‘win’ over drugs, anti-porn laws don’t end the adult industry. They only serve to shift power from people—sex workers, adult content creators, consumers of Porn and anyone who wants to access sexual speech online without overly-burdensome barriers—to politicians like Senator Mike Lee, who is currently pushing to criminalize Porn at the federal level.”

Your wish is my command

Without ignoring the necessity for some legal regulation, it’s important to frame the discussionaround the crucial importance of consent and less about anti-porn hysteria. In that context, non-human-involved adult content has a lot going for it.

To begin with, people have enjoyed making and viewing sexy pictures for as long as we could carve our fantasies onto cave walls—or drag a stick along the ground Sure, our sticks are now ultra-sophisticated algorithms, and our canvas is the world-spanning internet, but the principle’s the same.

So why, thousands of years later, should the same sort of sexualized media be the downfall of humanity?  If anything, erotic fantasies are often emotionally beneficial 

Enter Psychology Today, “Just as fantasizing about being a world-class jewel thief doesn’t mean you’re going to become a thief, having sexual fantasies doesn’t mean you’re going to act on them. Fantasizing is our brain’s way of projecting a future scenario or trying ideas on for size. It’s also a way of reliving a wonderful moment or deriving comfort or pleasure from an alternative reality.”

Just give it a little rub

The developing, non-exploitative, as it is not based on a real person’s likeness without permission, along with a few other important safeguards like preventing the generation of underage characters or depictions of non-consensual violence or emotional/sexual abuse, might curb, if not potentially eliminate, the female exploitation.

On top of all that, it would put creative control in the hands of the people who need it the most While once we had to accept what the industry put out, with AI technology we’ll be able to self express our erotic imaginations like never before—and, with the exception of those crucial guidelines —without limit.

It’s time to finally accept the warm, human reality that arousal can be as essential and life-affirming as a good belly laugh 

But just as we shouldn’t find humans at someone else’s expense, so too AI-generated adult materials mustn’t ever be based on someone without their permission—instead of focusing on healthy, life-affirming, pleasure-affirming fantasies.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post To AI or Not to AI: Wonderfully Great or Extremely Bad for the Adult Entertainment Industry—And Us? appeared first on Future of Sex.

Anti-adult entertainment legislation causing industry to rethink its content—and itself

With age verification laws sweeping the world and Aylo Group Ltd., owner of the huge explicit entertainment platform, Pornhub, getting slapped with a record 5 million dollar fine for failing to remove existing, as well as preventing the re-upload of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and non-consensual material (NCM) from its sites, it’s no wonder other adult content providers are reevaluating not only what they are creating and/or distributing but also how to make their content more erotically appealing to their customers.

The women-run-and-operated site, Ersties [NSFW], is a perfect example, recently having hired its very first “Chief Pleasure Officer,” who, aided by a carefully collected Pleasure Test Crew—aka “The W*nk Squad”—will be personally reviewing the platform’s content to ensure everything’s as immersive and authentically engaging as possible.

Reported by UniladTech, the CPO’s duties, according to the Ersties spokesperson, Cat, will involve “checking that the shot doesn’t cut and change right at the moment the user wants it to stay, to evaluating camera angles, and the natural rhythm of scenes to ensure the content remains sexy, authentic, visually appealing, and emotionally resonant.”

Lights, Camera—Consensuality?

Viewer satisfaction might be one crucial aspect, but the Chief Pleasure Officer also reflects the company’s mission. That is, as Cat further explained, “making ethical, authentic, women-led adult entertainment, with a pleasure experience that’s like no other. We want our users to feel good watching our content from the moment they click on the website to the moment they ‘finish’.”

RECOMMENDED READ: Age Verification Laws Driving Adult Content Creators Underground

Whether it’s trying to criminalize the production, distribution, or consumption of anything remotely sex-related—as with the proposed Michigan law aiming to erase LGBTQIA+ people from existence—or utilizing age verification laws to effectively drive companies such as Pornhub out of business, it seems like the adult entertainment industry has never been so relentlessly, ruthlessly targeted.

But also, like Pornhub, due to its inability or unwillingness to prevent the proliferation of CSAM and NCM videos, it’s easy to see why. It sometimes even feels as if the industry wants to be in the crosshairs, especially considering Ersties’ apparently simple approach could be what the industry needs to pull itself out of its self-imposed gutter.

Filth Doesn’t Have to Be Filthy

Admittedly, religious zealots like the authors of the already mentioned Michigan bill will likely never be swayed. However, promoters of the idea that adult materials foster unhealthy sexual attitudes, like the objectification of women, or are non-consensually created, might have their views swayed by Ersties-inspired companies.

“Sex shouldn’t be intimidating, it’s meant to be fun,” the company’s site eloquently states, “so even the most sensual, sexy moments should feel relatable and beautiful to watch. We want to show the kind of sex you could be having, just with better lighting! Real people, real bodies, real moans, real consent, real orgasms.”

Since they are such a well-deserved target, compare that with Pornhub and the myriad other sites the Aylo Group owns: nothing about taking responsibility, zero about authenticity, and especially nada about consent.

Listen and Act

It’s naive to think the adult entertainment industry’s driven by anything except making as much as and as fast as possible—no matter who gets hurt in the process.

That was then, but now that reckless expediency is coming back to haunt them. If creators, distributors, and platforms want to keep raking it in—to the tune of 275 billion USD by 2032, as per Maximize Market Research—they should start by listening to what those anti-porn advocates are saying, then, armed with this essential knowledge, act intelligently.

Borrowing a page or two from Ersties’ sexually-progressive playbook might be one approach: not merely claiming you’re going to be more responsible but actually making systemic changes to ensure it—as WHPDD (“What Hasn’t Pornhub Done”).

Likewise, instead of relying on cheap algorithms to regulate what does and doesn’t end up on your platform, hire your own Squad. More expensive? Sure, but so is a 5-million-dollar FTC fine.

The truth is that a majority of adult entertainment companies are too big to fail or be outlawed. But that doesn’t mean theycan’t be knocked back, hobbled, or kept from evolving into a sexually and emotionally healthy, ethically responsible, beautifully imaginative industry, which might happen if those involved keep failing to pay attention—and don’t realize that sex, joy, and pleasure aren’t just profitable but important.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Lemons? Make Sexy Lemonade: Ersties Hires Chief Pleasure Officer As Pornhub Flounders appeared first on Future of Sex.

How next-gen artificial companions could borrow a page or two from the Magic Kingdom’s Audio-Animatronics

If you’re a regular reader, you’re likely well aware of how many—sometimes wildly unique—approaches there have been to bringing a sense of touch to virtual reality experiences or, what we’re here for, giving synthetic companions ultra-lifelike, human-feeling skins.

Enter a pair of University of California, Santa Barbara researchers who’ve taken yet another angle: a display that allows viewers to feel as well as see what they’re looking at.

Though in its early stages, the work of PhD candidate Max Linnander and professor Yon Visell of the university’s RE Touch Lab could be what sexbot developers have been looking for—with a little help from, of all people, Disney’s Audio-Animatronics Imagineers.

Feeling the Future

Published in Science Robotics, the Linnander and Visell system employs a network of millimeter-wide optotactile pixels that, when struck from behind by a low-intensity laser, illuminate and—courtesy of each pixel’s built-in air pocket—produce a small but haptically detectable bump.

RECOMMENDED READ: Touching Tomorrow: High Tech Sensory Toy Heralds a New Era for Synthetic Companions

“I put my finger on the pixel and felt a clear tactile pulse whenever the light flashed,” Yon Visell told Futurity. “That was a special moment—the moment we knew the core idea could work.”

Yon Visell further explained that the technology was scalable, demonstrated by the team already producing an impressive 1,500-pixel screen; far more than any other haptic displays before or since.

Touching Tomorrow

Here’s where Disney might come in. You see, while for many years their theme park Audio-Animatronics relied on relatively simple mechanisms in order to perform equally limited facial movements, their famous Imagineers recently began thinking outside that clunky old box.

Recently patented—and already part of many of their attractions—rather than struggling to give their figures realistic expressions, they made them almost featureless, essentially blank surfaces given life by networks of computer-controlled, motion-tracking projectors.

All fine and/or dandy for static theme park attractions, though not so much for hopefully-movable—or perhaps someday fully ambulatory—artificial companions.

Agreed, we might be getting a bit out there technology-wise, but we might someday be able to marry the RE Touch Lab’s work with a novel take on projection mapping by swapping an external image source for an interior one.

For example, imagine our artificial robot’s skin as either a full-body haptic display screen, one capable of looking and feeling however you or anyone wants, or just a tactile surface with colors, patterns, and so forth illuminated from within.

Embracing the Possibilities

Obviously, the former would be preferable. But even if the technology is decades away, having a user-configurable, fully haptic head has a lot going for it. No less so, how, like Disney’s new Audio-Animatronics, it could do everything a human face can do without any of the distressingly odd, uncanny valley awkwardness of a mechanical replica.

Additionally, you would be able to change everything about it—color, textures, expressions, the list goes on and on—without needing to replace one head with another: merely tap a special smartphone app and, lo and behold, your companion can resemble whoever you desire.

And compliments of an advanced version of RE Touch Lab tech, it would also feel however you want. Probably the most challenging, as you would need to create a microscopic array of specialized optotactiles—kind of like how our tongues have different taste buds—in order to replicate as a pulsating array of different sensations, it’s still a possibility. Albeit one we may not see for a decade or more—a lot more.

As we like to say when discussing these and other exciting new haptic technologies, the RE Touch Lab’s work—or (ahem) borrowing from Disney’s Imagineers—may not get us where we want to go. In all likelihood, what will be is going to be a little of this, a little of that, mixed in with a hefty dose of good, old-fashioned creativity.

Which, when you think about it, has already helped us fulfill so many of our sexually futuristic fantasies—and, in the process, showed us there’s nothing we can’t do if we put our minds and especially our imaginations to it.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Look Who’s Feeling: New Haptic Tech Plus Sexbots May Equal Endless Erotic Possibilities appeared first on Future of Sex.