Getting to know you, getting to know all about you—through technology

Amid what appears to be an ever-growing backdrop of anti-sextech decriers, clinical psychologist Marianne Brandon, Ph.D. writes for Psychology Today while artificial intelligence Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)  headsets may provide visually exciting new sexual possibilities, it’s their ability to “—read your facial expressions, voice, and body language, allowing digital lovers or sex partners to respond in ways that are perceived as deepening the connection.”

In other words, AR/VR might, as she very directly states, help “Herald the next chapter of human intimacy.”

You see me

As with most new technologies, whether sexual or otherwise, it doesn’t take a great deal of effort to find those who frequently and vehemently disagree with Dr. Brandon’s optimism. 

Case in point, the Australian Men’s Health Clinic bluntly claims, “The heightened sensations stemming from watching VR porn can make the experience of vanilla sex less pleasurable. This can result in erectile dysfunction. It can negatively affect your intimate relationship as you may not get excited or get hard during sex with your partner.” 

RECOMMENDED READ: New Meta Quest 3s: Mixed Reality Headset the Adult Entertainment Industry’s Waiting For?

Not unsurprisingly, the Begin Again Institute is another VR denouncer, claiming, “By removing the screen between you and your imaginary sexual experience, and creating frequency and novelty in pornography viewing, virtual reality pornography will likely lead to more sexual addiction.”

However, it’s worth noting both fail to cite any sources and, most tellingly, the former sells a range of ED treatments while the latter sells anti-addiction counseling services. Plus the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR doesn’t include sex or porn addiction as a valid concern.

I see you

Dr. Brandon, on the other hand, views AI-fitted AR/VR hardware as largely positive when it comes to making it easier for people to emotionally and sexually connect with others:

VR and AR are quickly moving beyond gaming and entertainment, becoming playgrounds for sexual exploration and connection. On VR platforms, people can meet up in private, immersive rooms designed for flirting, erotic roleplay, or even sex. AR dating apps are starting to let users see potential matches’ sexual preferences or shared kinks as digital cues floating above them in a social situation like a bar or concert, making it easier to break the ice or find a compatible partner. 

Not to deflate Dr. Brandon’s optimism, but she is describing a level of technological sophistication we’ve yet to achieve. Although there are signs, such as the phenomenal speed at which AI has evolved from a quirky novelty to one that is difficult to distinguish from real human interactivity.  

Likewise, Apple’s Vision Pro’s exorbitant price tag may have kept it from being as popular as it could have been. We’re beginning to see far more affordable alternatives, so it’s a safe bet that her vision of AR dating may be with us in a few short years.

We see each other

Haptic tech—the ability to feel or perhaps even someday taste, smell, and so forth while immersed in an augmented or virtual environment—is another future breakthrough she anticipates—and is similarly one of those not-if-but-when steps forward.

The core of Dr. Brandon’s article isn’t hardware or the software running on it but how augmented and virtual reality are actually about improving personal and sexual communication, “These technologies promise to help us cultivate empathy by letting us literally see through another’s eyes, enable creative sexual expression and new relationship structures, and make long-distance love feel truly close.”

With such an apparent plethora of arguably dubious anti-AR/VR sex “experts,” it’s easy to forget beneath their flashy-and-dazzlely sextech curtain, both technologies are pretty gosh darned simple.

After all, they are essentially just a pair of miniature television displays—semi-transparent in the case of AR and opaque in the case of VR—positioned over the wearer’s eyes.  

So, though Brandon might be jumping the gun when it comes to what AR/VR can do right now, we would say she’s right to be passionately hopeful about sextech innovations on the immediate horizon that promise to give us a world filled with amazing new methods in which to share our desires and, best of all, truly listen to other people’s sexual needs—and wants.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post How VR/AR Could Dial Sexual Intimacy To Eleven and Beyond appeared first on Future of Sex.

Research reveals the joys, struggles, and ethical dilemmas of the growing sextech industry

“Webcam use can serve as a positive alternative to offline intimacy,” states The dialectics of sextech: A content analysis of the perception and emotion statements of erotic webcam viewers, a new study of the experiences of webcam consumers. However respondents also expressed conflicting feelings about webcam use and the positive and negative impacts on webcam performers.

The authors, Xtine Milrod, PhD, an independent researcher in Los Angeles, and Martin Monto, PhD, Professor of Sociology at the University of Portland, previously published the results of a closed-end survey of 10,570 Chaturbate webcam viewers. This latest study analyzes 1,225 open-ended comments gleaned from that survey. 

The abstract summarized the results of this qualitative research:

Positive aspects included enhanced sexual knowledge, emotional relationships with performers, and beneficial sexual experiences for viewers with physical or social limitations. Negative themes emphasized viewers’ addiction, guilt, and financial exploitation. Viewers appreciated the safety and income opportunities webcams can provide for performers, but expressed concerns about exploitative practices in global markets and potential mental health impacts.

Unsurprising demographics

Bot responses were eliminated from the original survey research, resulting in a group of respondents who were mostly White (69.9%), though there was a broad range of racial and ethnic groups represented in the remaining percentage. Almost 92% of respondents self-identified as men.

RECOMMENDED READ: Unlocking Desires: Insights From a Groundbreaking Study on Chaturbate Viewers

Most respondents considered themselves heterosexual, while 14% said they were bisexual and almost 12% identified as gay or lesbian. The age range was from 17 to over 65.

Researcher insights

I interviewed Dr. Milrod about the study and their thoughts on the results:

Q. Why did you want to examine the emotions and perceptions of webcam users?

The present study is part of a larger research project encompassing over 10,000 participants who answered a 93-item questionnaire about their activities as viewers of the webcam site Chaturbate, published in 2023. Our current analysis explores the responses of 1,225 participants who chose to provide open-ended comments by responding to the prompt “Is there anything you’d like to add?” We wanted to know the issues they found important enough to communicate in their own words, and also if there were any patterns that emerged in their open ended responses.

Q. What surprised you the most about your research and study results?

Viewers’ self-diagnosed pornography addiction occupied a major share of all negative comments. This was an unexpected, novel finding and perhaps one that warrants the most concern. Neither our previous nor any other previously published studies of webcam use have documented a similarly damaging trajectory. Many viewers appeared to resign themselves to involuntary webcam use and an absolute inability to control their consumption.

Q. Could these study results inform therapeutic work with some clients who view webcam performances? If so, what would be the most important thing for a clinician to understand?

The clinician needs to understand that webcam use often reflects a dialectical tension between connection and commodification, empowerment and exploitation. Erotic webcam use can serve as an important alternative to offline intimacy and a space where perceptions of authenticity and transactional dynamics intertwine.

Q.. How did your respondents view the effects of webcam use by performers? What is your most significant finding? 

Viewers cared a great deal about performers’ mental health, almost more than their own. In addition, financial exploitation of performers was a major concern in viewer comments that repeatedly cited Colombia as a hub of abuse taking place in cam studios. Surprisingly, there were no viewer comments about the inequities inherent in the opaque platform ranking algorithms that propel some performers toward high revenues, while others languish in uncertainty and anxiety over low or insufficient earnings. Racial disparities permeate average camscore rankings in which East Asian and White performers consistently outrank their Black, Latin, and South Asian counterparts. Rather than focusing on this neoliberal business model lacking in equity, viewers were instead suspicious of trafficking of minors and blamed platforms for inaction.

Webcam interactions can facilitate emotional connections

Psychreg recently covered the study, noting, “Unlike conventional pornography, webcam interactions are live and interactive, creating a sense of connection that some viewers described as deeply meaningful.” 

The care and concern of many viewers for performers is evidence of this. Still, these emotions take place in a sexualized context of commodification, and in some cases, result in exploitation of the performer and/or the viewer. 

Milrod noted another potentially problematic aspect, telling Psychreg, “While there are distinct mental health benefits for viewing webcams, particularly for people who have restricted access or are unable to find sex partners, we are also aware that these are often parasocial relationships, meaning the emotional investment is mainly on the part of the viewer.”

A sizeable segment of sex tech

Milrod and Monto say interactive webcam platforms and performances “represent a rapidly increasing form of sexual entertainment and a sizeable segment of all ‘sextech.’”

As this study and their previous research found, there are many reasons someone might enjoy viewing webcam performances. In addition to arousal, accessibility, convenience, and reliability, some respondents listed difficulties with erections, and fear of ridicule from a physically proximate partner, lack of sexual experience, and/or partners who have lost interest in sexual intimacy. For some, the Covid pandemic was the catalyst for webcam viewing. 

The results of this study—with its thoughtful analysis and complex description of the factors that affect the perceptions and emotions of webcam viewers—should spark interest from other scientists who recognize the need for additional insights into this particular brand of digital sexuality. Perhaps Milrod and Monto’s research will also pave the way for industry reforms in safety and protection from financial exploitation, allowing both viewers and performers to flourish.

As we navigate the evolving intersections of technology, intimacy, and commerce, one thing is certain: desire will always find a way. But the question remains, will we shape its future with care, or let its potential slip through our digital fingers?

Image Source: A.R. Marsh using Starry.ai and Ideogram.ai.

The post Between Connection and Commodification: The Complex Truths of Webcam Intimacy appeared first on Future of Sex.

Some women have begun questioning the future of intimate heterosexual relationships

Is it too soon to tell if the recent interest in a South Korean feminist movement known as 4B will also result in a corresponding upswing in sex tech sales and AI boyfriends in other countries? 

The New York Times says, “Searches for ‘4B Movement’ in the United States spiked the day after the election, according to Google Trends. Dozens of videos on the topic have popped up on TikTok in the last 48 hours, with users sharing why they are for or against the movement’s gaining steam in the United States.” 

Among the dozens of TikTok users with 4B references in their user names or descriptions, one already has nineteen thousand followers and another, twelve thousand.

The 4B’s are South Korean words for dating, sex, marriage, and childbirth. In English it would be “DSMC,” sounding more like a pop group than an up and coming sociopolitical movement. 

Why US feminists are looking to South Korea’s 4B 

Joking aside, it could become a serious zeitgeist with roots in resistance and retaliation. Among heterosexual women in the US, attempts to de-center relationships with men have gained traction since the repeal of Roe v. Wade. 

As Jada Mevs, a woman quoted in the New York Times article, said, “What really drew me to participating in this movement was taking my body and my best interest into my hands.”

It’s all very Lysistrata of Aristophanes, but, if the situation continues, where might it lead ?

The personal is political

The Lysistrata was produced in Athens in 411 B.C, about a group of women who protest the Peloponnesian War by withholding sex. 

Thousands of years later, the 4B movement was formed by women protesting rampant sexism and discrimination in South Korea. 

Meanwhile, in the United States, women are growing concerned about what many feel is an all out war on women, with the starkest example the overturn of abortion rights and threats to birth control access. 

Additionally, the US gender gap may turn into a chasm. Misogynistic chants of “your body, my choice” sweeping the country after the recent election certainly don’t help. 

What’s to be done? Could technology somehow solve this thorny predicament? 

There may be a few possibilities, but they tend to appear like a departure from ideals held by our historic and current sex and pleasure positive revolutions. What could this mean for the future of sex?

The measure of a man?

The answer could be sex toys and AI boys. For people with female sexual reproductive organs, deciding to bypass sexual relations with cisgender men might invite a logical consideration of the merits of substitution. 

What’s wrong with recruiting an AI chatbot boyfriend (or two or more) for companionable conversations and sweet nothings—not to mention hot selfies on demand—and an array of enticing sex toys to simulate the physical part of the relationship? 

This strategy makes sense given the new hazards of diminished sexual and reproductive health care in the US. Childbirth has always been a dangerous business but modern medicine has made it less so. 

In other words, the emotional, sexual, physical and lifestyle choices that confront women in misogynistic cultures are calculations that do indeed take into account the measure of the men around them. 

Expanding sexual options

Masturbation, with or without sex tech, is an excellent sexual enjoyment though some people who would like to continue having intimate contact with a partner might opt to stick with “outercourse.” 

However given the current statistics regarding rape and sexual assault in the US, this could be a risky strategy if not already in an established relationship founded on trust. (And even that might not help.)

As for those sex toys we mentioned above, both partners can enjoy such things together. 

Expanding partner options

From the Kinsey Scale to the Klein Grid and beyond, research has shown the actual behavior of human beings is far more flexible than most people acknowledge.

Dr. Alfred Kinsey introduced his scale of sexual behavior and orientation in Sexual Behavior of the Human Male, published in 1948. His research demonstrated that many people had sexual experiences and desires that were not exclusively heterosexual (ranked zero) or exclusively homosexual (ranked six). 

The Klein Grid, created by Dr. Fritz Klein, was far more complex. Subsequent theories of sexual orientation and behavior are even more nuanced, acknowledging fluidity.

So it is not a stretch to suggest that in these post-Roe days, many heterosexual women may consider intimacy with partners who are not cisgender men or that heterosexual men who do not have female partners may choose to join the ranks of men who have sex with men but who do not identify as gay.

Permanent birth control

Another option for women concerned about unintended pregnancy or lack of access to birth control is to only date men who have gotten a vasectomy, assuming the surgery can be verified.

It’s worth noting that vasectomies are one hundred percent effective at preventing pregnancy and they are very low risk. According to the Mayo Clinic, they can be performed under local anesthetic as an outpatient procedure. Sometimes vasectomies can be reversed

For permanent birth control women may opt for hysterectomies or tubal ligations (“getting your tubes tied”), assuming they have the means and medical insurance to do so. 

Another option is a salpingectomy, which completely removes the fallopian tubes. This surgery can lower the risk of ovarian cancer. All these operations are more complex and potentially riskier than vasectomies.

Consent counts in a positive sexual future

As a new kind of sexual revolution emerges one essential ingredient must persist—consent to sexual activity, or not.

Education and discourse on consent, and the active use of consent communication in human relations, must be emphasized not only to push back against restrictive policies and attitudes, but to continue to work towards a better world: one where rights to bodily autonomy, physical pleasure, health care, and emotional fulfillment are respected, not criminalized.

Ultimately movements like 4B are about personal agency and choice, and consent is crucial to agency. The question is, can we pursue agency while retaining our juice and joy, even while faced with personal and political upheaval?

Image Sources: A.R. Marsh using Ideogram.ai.

The post 4B or Not 4B?—That Is the Question appeared first on Future of Sex.

Pleasure pills, orgasmatrons, replicants, and more could be right around the corner

Spaceships, aliens, robots—we all love a good science fiction film. But aside from a few lucky guesses on the filmmakers’ parts, we rarely think of them as being truly prophetic.

Especially when it comes to their depictions of futuristic sex.

However, with new developments in pharmacology, virtual reality, robotics, telepresence, and artificial intelligence, more than a few classic, and sort of classic,science-fiction films are getting very close to erotic reality.

Here is a subjective look at five science-fiction films where their depictions of futuristic sex are fast-becoming less cinematic fantasy and more everyday sexual reality.

Sex pills from Barbarella (1968)

Barbarella: “Make love? But no one’s done that for hundreds of centuries!”

Featuring Jane Fonda’s zero-gravity striptease and life-threatening pleasure machine, Roger Vadim’s romp has become the benchmark of erotic science-fiction films. Based on the French comic by Jean-Claude Forest, Barbarella is pretty tame by modern standards, but when it was released in 1968 it raised more than a few eyebrows.

As part of the erotic phantasmagoria was the concept of sex pills. The explanation being given that Earth had evolved far beyond simple… well, physical love.

Yet we are possibly no more than a few years away from an actual, practical orgasm drug. Pharmaceutical researchers have already stumbled across medications like Anafranil, an anti-depressant that has the rather odd side effect of giving users orgasms when they yawn.
More than likely, many drug companies are working on turning that reaction into an actual pleasure-inducing little pill.

What will happen to human society when sexual pleasure no longer has to be physically derived is anyone’s guess. But if Barbarella is any indication, there will always be human beings more than willing to do it “the old-fashioned way.”

2. Virtual Sex from Demolition Man (1993)

John Spartan: “Look, Huxley, why don’t we just do it the old-fashioned way?”
Lenina Huxley: “Eeewww, disgusting! You mean … fluid transfer?”

Falsely imprisoned in a cryogenic prison, John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) is defrosted into a ridiculously passive future to deal with another previous century throwback, one dangerously bonkers Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) in Demolition Man.

In this film directed by John Flynn, Spartan doesn’t just have to catch Phoenix, but he has to deal with a world where good old messy sex has been replaced by a form of virtual reality.

Virtual reality, when the film was made back in 1993, was pretty much just speculation. But we now have products like Apple’s Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 2 and many others.

Many developers are already rushing to create erotic virtual reality systems, where users will be able to don a pair of optical goggles and immerse themselves solo or with others—in a practically infinite world of erotic pleasure.

Let’s just hope that when virtual reality sex becomes mainstream, we won’t have to deal with the three seashells that perplexed John Spartan (see the movie to get the joke).

3. The Orgasmatron from Sleeper (1973)

Miles Monroe: “Perform sex? Uh, uh, I don’t think I’m up to a performance, but I’ll rehearse with you if you like.”
Luna Schlosser: “Okay. I just thought you might want to; they have a machine here.”
Miles Monroe: “Machine? I’m not getting into that thing. I, I’m strictly a hand operator; you know, I, I… I don’t like anything with moving parts that are not my own.

Woody Allen’s 1973 movie Sleeper is only a laugh fest, but it’s also a pretty solid piece of science-fiction cinema.

Thawed out from cryogenic suspension, New York health food store owner Miles Monroe is thrust into a future where robot servants are commonplace, a healthy diet has been discovered to be steak and hot fudge sundaes, a despotic president rules everyone, and sex is enjoyed via an apparently mechanical “orgasmatron” booth.

While little detail is shown about the operations of the booth beyond that couples enter and leave… satisfied.

Woody’s adverse initial reaction to the device is pre 21st century—though his obvious pleasure after a solo interaction is more than evident. Preference to “hand operation” aside, we are actually on the verge of  our own version of the orgasmatron.

Arguably, the basic idea has been around since 1734 when the French invented the hand-operated Tremoussoir (and a steam-powered version appeared in 1869). These days we call them vibrators.

But even this basic technology is undergoing tremendous transformations. Modern sex toys are often Bluetooth enabled, programmable, interactive, and almost infinitely flexible. No matter your sexual itch, more than a few of them can scratch it.

Very soon, though, we’ll see haptic sex toys mated with virtual reality to create truly immersive and physical sexual experiences with holograms. In fact, we are already seeing a form of this.

This technology will mean that in your VR sexual paradise, when you reach out to touch someone you will really, actually be able to feel the contact. Then, in a few more years, we might see actual electric stimulation of the brain to induce orgasm.

Soon we will erotically, and literally, agree with Miles Monroe: “My brain? It’s my second favorite organ!”

4. Surrogate sex from Surrogates (2009)

Female Counsel: “Agent Greer, we’re not doctors.”
Tom Greer: “Honey, I don’t know what you are. I mean, for all I know, you could be some big, fat dude sitting in his stim chair.”

While justifiably not ranked among the great science-fiction films, Jonathan Mostow’s 2009 movie Surrogates (based on Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele’s graphic novel) does feature a unique depiction of future sex tech.

In this world of the near future, most of humanity spend their days in isolation, preferring to deal with the outside world and each other via the titular “surrogates:” sophisticated robotic puppets that can look like anyone and do things that no regular human being can do.

And, yes, even sexual things.

Alas, the film is pure preach and never really gets into the real sexual potential of the technology, preferring to use the usual burnt out cop (Bruce Willis) up against a convoluted conspiracy. Yawn!

RECOMMENDED READ: In the Year 2125: When Your Sexual Possibilities Will Be Practically Limitless

While we may be a few years away from lifelike robotic surrogates, we already have some intriguing early prototypes running around. Videophones, Facetime, and other examples of the tech are pretty much commonplace, allowing friends, family, and business associates to be projected onto phones, homes, or conference rooms.

All that was lacking has been mobility: the ability for users to actually interact with the person on the other side of their video call.

But now, through companies like Anybots, iRobot, MantaRobot, and many others, people thousands of miles away can physically work via robots with pretty much anyone, anywhere. Commonly referred to as telepresence, it’s already being used by doctors, teachers, and many others.

As with all technology, it no doubt will only be a few more years before sex will mix with telepresence. We can only hope that when that happens we’ll deal with it better than this very average film.

5. Replicants from Blade Runner (1982)

Tyrell: “More human than human is our motto.”

Concluding our tour of science-fiction films that are quickly becoming sexual fact is a true classic of the genre. Smoky, dour, noir, bleak, and totally mesmerizing, Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner explores the impact of replicants, artificial humans so indistinguishable from the flesh-and-blood variety they can only be detected by trained specialists.

And, when they invariably go rogue, they get hunted down by blade runners.

Based on the classic science-fiction novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, Blade Runner asks one key question: what is human? When Deckard (Harrison Ford) is tasked to track down and “retire” a group of replicants, he faces serious moral quandaries about them as well as himself, especially when he falls in love with one.

While we are quite far away from actually creating a totally convincing artificial human, we have begun to make some incredible baby-steps, including in a moment of irony that almost seems like the beginning of another science-fiction film, Hanson Robotics created a simulacrum of Philip K. Dick himself which went missing a few years ago.

So microwave some popcorn, make yourself comfy on the couch, and fire up some of these cinematic explorations of the world of tomorrow. But keep in mind that as you do, their fanciful looks at the future of sex are closer than you think.

Image sources: IMDB

The post Erotic Science Fiction Cinematic Technologies That May Soon Be Sextech Reality appeared first on Future of Sex.

Immersive adult entertainment could prove to be an effective therapeutic technique

After showing a selection of explicit videos to female-identified volunteers, researchers from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver’s Department of Psychology said their subjects reported an increase in sexual anxiety when viewing 1st person, virtual reality content versus 3rd person VR content or two-dimensional erotica

These results led the team to suggest VR could contribute to a clinical treatment for sex-related anxiety and aversion, by using Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VERT).

Like being there

Unlike 2D imagery, where the viewer frequently feels separated from what’s depicted on screen, virtual reality creates an intense, fully engaging experience by removing everything visually related to the outside world.

While the University of British Columbia study showed that their group of thirty-eight women, comprising a non-clinical sample,  “did not experience any adverse events in the short-term in response to viewing VR erotica,” however there were increases in “state-level anxiety” for all participants, particularly when exposed to first person VR erotica. 

Based on this and findings of previous studies, the team suggested  additional Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) research:

While all the erotic videos (2D and VR) elicited increases in state-level anxiety in our sample, it is likely that these stimuli would elicit greater anxiety in individuals who experience fear in anticipation of or during sex. While our findings suggest that 2D and VR erotica could be used in VRET programs aiming to treat fear-based sexual dysfunction, this requires further exploration in future studies.

Without being there

As ever-more realistic VR grows in popularity and affordability, so is research and clinical interest in employing VRET to address everything from debilitating phobias to crippling Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD).

At the heart of VRET is virtual reality’s ability to make whoever’s treated feel as if, for instance, they are standing on the edge of a cliff without really being there. This provides an opportunity for people to face their fears in a physically secur, clinically managed  environment, which they can leave whenever they want.

RECOMMENDED READ: The Best Disability-Friendly Sextech

Likewise, sexuality-related VRET might involve measured doses of potentially triggering stimuli, such as standing ever closer to a digitalized likeness of whoever initiated a person’s trauma, beginning with a rough approximation before adding progressively realistic details as the subject’s anxiety dissipates over the course of treatment.

Practice makes healing—and fun!

Branching off from VRET, imagine how supportive virtual reality could be when dealing with sexual self-esteem issues.  

Safe within a customized virtual playspace, you’d be able to try and try again until you’re finally comfortable enough to try outside of VR.

Or perhaps you’re just interested in something but concerned about what might happen should things go really, really wrong?  By trying it first in VR, you could take even your most outrageous fantasies on a test drive without frightening the horses.  

Either that or maybe some erotic dreams can’t—or never should—become a reality.  In this case, VR could simply provide a fulfilling sexual fantasy experience.

Nothing’s impossible—in VR

Personal trauma also isn’t the only sexuality or gender related concern VRET could be used for.  

For examople, are you actually you?  I mean, is the body you may have been born into your true self?  If not, a variation of VRET may give you a method for manifesting your real self—as well as practicing what navigating the world post-surgery could be like.

Donning a pair of VR goggles, you could transform yourself into anyone or anything if that’s your kink.

What if your problem isn’t with who you are but rather how you view and, from there, treat other people?

What happens to bigotry when you know, down to the smallest detail, what many LGBTQIA+ people’s lives are like—or the unhoused, other ethnicities, cultures, ages, the neurodivergent, or the countless other differences that today often seems like what holds us apart us but tomorrow may, compliments of VRET, may finally unite us?

Aside from the therapeutic uses of VRET, virtual reality, with its capacity to open infinite worlds and provide limitless sexual and emotional experiences could do wonders towards humanity healing itself—or at least make us look at where we are now and how we can become better people.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post One (Virtual) Step At A Time: Using VR to Alleviate Sexual Stress appeared first on Future of Sex.

Say hello to your state-of-the-art personal relationship assistant

By now, most of us are probably familiar—perhaps intimately so—with how we can form sexual, not to mention fulfilling emotional connections, with many of today’s ultra-sophisticated machine learning systems.

But while those same artificial intelligences have a long way to go in helping us find human companionship, we can assume that AI technology will soon be an invaluable tool for finding, navigating, nurturing, protecting, and even revealing a great deal about ourselves and our desires.

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me an AI match 

Let’s face it: when it comes to separating the wheat from the chaff, contemporary, often AI-employing dating apps and platforms are, to put it politely, not exactly the best.  

Often fail to ward off legions of relentless spammers, scammers, and catfishers or else they “match” users with obviously unsuitable candidates or they introduce you to someone who maybe, possibly, might be interesting but who happens to live a thousand miles away.

Not surprisingly, an increasing number of younger people have begun ditching dating apps for real, in-person encounters. 

RECOMMENDED READ: Loneliness to Love: Socio-Sexual Robots May Revolutionize Intimacy, Care, and Connection

Treena Orchard, writing for Maclean’s, describesher own frustrating experiences, leaving her with the conclusion that:

“These and other bizarre dating adventures made me wonder whether the apps just sucked or if I was doing something wrong. Why did this person disappear? I’d ask myself. What is the matter with me? But it isn’t just me. These days, nearly three and a half million Canadians use dating apps, and many agree that swiping has become dystopian. We now rely on algorithms to serve us potential partners in the same way we do takeout options and travel deals.”

Your ideal wingperson 

Bad though the present AI-dating world may be, considering the speed at which the technology is seemingly progressing, we should soon see see the rise of truly intuitive synthetic relationship assistants.

To begin with, they wouldn’t waste your time with pointless and frustrating maybes, possibilities, or might-bes. 

How?  Scary though it may sound, you could let them learn everything they need about you, like giving them permission to analyze everything from your taste in food, music, books, and movies to what adult entertainment turns you on the most.  

Then, equipped with this invaluable knowledge, they’d go forth in search of the person or people you’d actually enjoy meeting.

So far, so good, but what about after you and your prospective emotional and/or sexual partner(s) hit it off?  

Returning to the all-important idea of informational consent, your AI-dating assistant could delve deeper, paying attention to troublesome details like run-ins with the law, complaints lodged against them, disturbing social media posts, or anything else you’ve indicated would be an automatic red flag.

Keeping us healthy and safe

The bottom line is that your futuristic, top-of-the-line dating AI would always have your best interests in mind, such as helping maintain your physical and mental welfare.

Something not far from the realm of impossibility, including across what otherwise would be insurmountable cultural barriers. as researchers from South Korea’s Institute for Basic Science concluded in regards to depression, “Our data indicate the possibility of chatbots providing helpful information about depressive moods, especially for users who have difficulty communicating emotions to other humans.”

Keyed to an array of words and phrases or on the lookout for tell-tale behaviors of yours or any possible relationship matches, your AI might be there to—virtually—tap on your shoulder when things aren’t heading in a positive direction.

Help us understand ourselves—and our desires

Working in conjunction with a human sexual therapist, your AI-dating assistant could even help you process and recover from intimacy or sexuality-based traumas.  And when you feel you’re ready to move forward, it’d be there; a combination of relationship coach, cheerleader, and if necessary, a virtual shoulder to cry on.

With all the near-hysteria surrounding the prospective misuse of artificial intelligence technologies, it’s easy to forget the immeasurable good it could also do.  

Not least of which is being a friend when you need one the most, particularly when dealing with how emotionally difficult finding a human partner or playmate can be.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

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