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Indiegogo’s After Dark Collection Shines (Some) Light on Adult Products

September 30, 2016

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Crowdfunding site's initiative to promote sex tech falls short.

Crowdfunding has been a true game changer for sex technology and innovation. When the popular money raising concept was introduced, the egalitarians in many of us rejoiced at the idea of having a direct stake in the development of products we want in our hands—and elsewhere.

Unfortunately, sex products have traveled a bumpy road in the crowdfunding world. Kickstarter has shied away from allowing campaigns for sex tech—despite the rising popularity and social acceptance of sex toys and aids. Enter Indiegogo, a platform that’s allowed fundraising for both mainstream and sex tech products with great success. Remember Eva? The little wearable vibrator that could (and can!) raised over $800,000. There is a significant market here.

To take greater advantage of the growing interest in sex product invention, the website has now launched Indiegogo After Dark—a collection of all of its sex tech campaigns. Prospective crowdfunders can now easily find their future sexual fulfillment.

Hidden pleasures

Well, not entirely easily. Yes, the After Dark collection is a great grouping to draw attention to hitherto hidden products. However, Indiegogo might still be a little shy. At this point, Indiegogo does not list After Dark on its main Collections page. Without the direct link to the After Dark collection, it’s not easy to find. Even browsing the Explore section is challenging because it doesn’t feature a sex tech category or obvious internal links to such related products.

Vincent Lee, founder and CEO of Vitafun—which currently has a campaign to fund its His & Her Smart Interactive Sex Toys on Indiegogo—explains why the visibility of crowdfunding adult products is so necessary:

“It allows more interaction with potential users in social media, so that they feel that you are real. General users rarely share information about toys to their friends. Letting the fans help you spread the idea is not realistic; you have to try to get to more potential users.”

One-stop crowdfunding is a great idea if you’re keen to support sex tech and innovation, but the site needs to take things one step further. To truly demonstrate a commitment to the sex products that have raised over $2 million on the platform (and these are just the ones currently listed), and to live up to its reputation as the adult-friendly crowdfunding space, Indiegogo needs to list After Dark with the other collections.

Image source: Indiegogo

Jon Pressick

Jon Pressick is a Toronto-based writer, editor, blogger, and radio personality specializing in topics related to sex and sexuality for more than 15 years.

Jon primarily publishes on his blog, Sex in Words, where he shares and contributes analysis of sex-related news stories, feature interviews, and erotic fiction.

He is also a regular contributor at Kinkly.com where he provides a weekly sex news roundup. He has been published in New York Magazine, Xtra, and Quill & Quire.

In 2010, Jon won the TNT Favourite Adult Journalist Award. He is also one of Broken Pencil Magazines "50 People and Places We Love." His many accomplishments as a sex journalist and erotic fiction writer also landed him on the jury for the Feminist Porn Awards.

Jon is the author of three books: Best Sex Writing of the Year 2013: The State of Today's Sexual Culture; Best Sex Writing of the Year, Volume 1: On Consent, BDSM, Porn, Race, Sex Work and More; and Secrets of the Sex Masters.

Jon's books have been featured in mainstream media outlets such as Huffingtonpost.com and Playboy Radio.

The Best Sex Writing series published by Cleis Press covers topics including sex education, sex and disability, sexual exploration, legalities of sex, cultural sexual differences, sex in society, pornography, and asexuality.

Jon was previously the co-host and producer of the weekly radio show Sex City.

During this time he interviewed some of the sex community’s biggest names, including Cindy Gallop, Candida Royalle, Sunny Megatron, Susie Bright, Tristan Taormino, Kate McCombs, Reid Mihalko, Carol Queen, and Dr. Charlie Glickman.

Jon earned his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English Language and Literature at McMaster University and has a Certificate in Book Publishing from Ryerson University.

Jon is a regular speaker at sexuality conferences and offers prostate pleasure and erotica workshops. Recently, he embarked on gathering a collection of erotica and sex education books for Oasis Aqualounge's Erotic Library where he also acts as the official curator.

Currently, Jon is Digital Production Manager at Nelson Canada. Nelson is Canada's leading educational publisher providing innovative products and solutions for learners of all ages.