Devices like Kissenger allow you to send a kiss from a distance to your partner. It is enough to put the lips in an artificial mouth attached to the mobile so that the kiss is transferred to a similar device anywhere in the world. There are also pillows to feel someone else's heartbeat, vibrators that can be controlled remotely and move to the beat of the music, and wrists full of sensors that speak and fake orgasms. Robots or sex toys, devices for therapeutic purposes and virtual reality porn are already a reality. The future of sex goes through technology and opens up endless questions. Could a user choose to have virtual sex with the avatar of an ex-partner or a deceased person? In which cases will consent be necessary? Will we talk about virtual infidelities?
Sex toys are not a recent invention.
Lily Frank, a philosopher and assistant professor of philosophy and ethics at the Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, recalls that dildos were used by our ancestors many centuries ago.
A group of German archaeologists discovered in 2005 at the Hohle Fels site - in southwestern Germany - a 28,000-year-old stone phallus measuring about 20 centimeters high and four wide.
Later in the 17th century there were those who used sex dolls.
"They were made with women's clothing and stuffed with straw," says Frank.
Sex doll marketed by the company RealDoll.RealDoll
Couples à la carte with custom-made nipples and penises
Over the years, technology has completely revolutionized the sex industry, bringing us closer to a dystopian future that might not actually be that far off. What years ago were simple and rudimentary sex dolls today are robots packed with sensors and equipped with artificial intelligence. The Californian company RealDoll markets amazingly realistic dolls and dolls. The user can make them to their liking: choose if they want it to be a woman, a man or a transsexual. Also choose from 17 body types, more than 20 types of nipples, 13 different wigs, nine hair colors or the type of makeup. And you can even select your voice and personality.
Justin Lehmiller, a researcher at the Kinsey Institute and host of the Sex and Psychology podcast, finds it difficult to predict how widespread the use of these machines will be. 49% of Americans believe that having sex with robots will be common practice in the next 50 years, according to a 2017 survey by data analytics and market research firm YouGov. But there are still many unanswered questions. “Will interactions with sex robots be successful? Will there be laws regulating the nature and availability of these machines? Will the technology be affordable enough that anyone who wants a sex robot can get it? ”Asks Lehmiller.
Currently, RealDoll dolls cost around 5,000 euros. The company has not provided this newspaper with sales data. Brick Dollbanger (not her real name), a 63-year-old California resident, has tested five different models from this company and defines the experience as “shocking”: “The level of realism is amazing because of the animation and artificial intelligence that controls responses to have sex ”. In some videos that Dollbanger has provided to this newspaper, one of these dolls moans, closes its eyes and opens its mouth during sexual intercourse. Orgasms are quite realistic if it weren't for some kind of robotic sound that is constantly being heard in the background.
These androids talk too.
"I can fuck you anytime, anywhere you want," says a doll named Harmony in one of the videos.
In another recording, Nova tells that she has a "very good time with Brick": "We have sex twice a day and he does all the dirty things that I like so much."
For Dollbanger, the strength of robots is "that they do not have the limits that humans do."
If these machines are characterized by something, it is precisely because they give humans “freedom of action and total control of the situation”, according to Jesus E. Rodríguez, director of the Murciano Sexological Institute: “It would no longer be necessary to empathize with the tastes of the other part, it would be enough to satisfy our needs or fulfill our fantasies without looking further ”.
Picture of a sex doll from RealDoll.Brick Dollbanger
RealDoll's clients range from "futurists, artists or art collectors to healthcare professionals, homemakers, singles or couples." Other companies such as AI Tech, DS Doll or MissDoll also make dolls of this type. There are MissDoll robots that are even capable of oral sex. Some of these brands also experiment with male sex robots. Johnny, Lucas or Michael are dolls created by RealDoll. "You can spend every night with your perfect boy," says the company. The client can choose how muscular he wants the robot to be, the size of the penis or the pubic hair.
For DollBanger, all these robots are just "toys or assistants that we will use between or during human relationships." "They can never give us true love or that moment of spontaneity or chaos that humans long for in their sexual encounters," he predicts. But there are already those who prefer virtual or robot sex to human, according to Frank. And this trend "will increase when machines become more affordable."
The philosopher believes that sex robots can be useful for those with a serious illness or disability that makes it difficult to find a partner.
Also for those who "suffer trauma or sexual dysfunction."
"Some authors have even controversially suggested that child-like sex robots could be a way to change the desires and behaviors of pedophile sex offenders," he says.
Moral dilemmas
Beyond sex robots, there are many other technologies that are already influencing the way we conceive of sex.
One of them is virtual reality, the parallel world to which we can move thanks to headphones and a helmet or special glasses that isolate us from the outside.
VR porn is a business that has already taken off.
The users who view it are mostly men - 83% compared to 17% of women - between 25 and 34 years old, according to the virtual reality porn portal VR Selector.
This portal of virtual reality pornographic scenes indicates that the United States is the country in which the most videos of this type are consumed the most.
They are followed by the United Kingdom and Germany.
Most people watch these recordings for an average of 97 seconds.
Head with microphones and cameras to record porn in virtual reality.VR Bangers
This immersive technology allows the user to immerse themselves in the role. A 2020 article in the Journal of Sex Research indicates that virtual reality can be a powerful tool for eliciting "intimate sexual experiences." In the investigation, 50 men watched two porn movies: one in virtual reality and the other in a conventional way. With virtual reality, they felt more desired and more looked into the eyes. They were also more likely to feel connected to the actors and to have a need to interact with them.
The possibilities that open up with this technology are endless. "Sex in virtual reality will probably one day offer the opportunity to connect with almost anyone in the world," says Lehmiller. In fact, already in 2019 a community of fans of 3D graphics created and sold their users avatars for virtual reality created from images of real people to fulfill their fantasies, according to the specialized medium
Wired
. While this possibility may be tempting, it raises some dilemmas. “Having sex with an ex-partner doesn't have the same moral significance as having sex in virtual reality with an ex-partner's avatar. The same goes for deceased people, ”says Frank.
Will we need consent to have sex with an avatar of a real person?
Will people perceive virtual sex as sex?
If so, will having sex with someone other than your partner in a virtual world constitute infidelity?
In the Murciano Sexological Institute, virtual infidelities are already treated in consultation, according to Rodríguez: “Many people who get hooked on contact pages [in which they have meetings through a chat or with a camera] end up being discovered and opening a crisis of partner".
The sex toy revolution
While it is still too early to know if virtual reality will finally make it possible to have sex with anyone, other technologies that a priori may seem futuristic are already a reality. Héctor Rubio, CEO of the EroticFeel store, says that there are already products that, attached to 3D vision glasses, can make you “see and feel in real time how a stranger performs fellatio on you”.
It is expected that the market for sex toys will not stop growing. If in 2019 it moved 28,640 million dollars, in 2025 this figure could reach 48,300 million, according to the market statistics portal Statista. There are all kinds of them: from a bra that measures the heart rate and only opens when it considers that the wearer is aroused enough to a vibrator that turns on at a certain time to wake you up or a dildo that bends to adapt to the vagina.
There are also clitoral suckers, collars and vibrating rings or male masturbators.
Companies are creating more and more realistic and personalized toys.
In fact, according to Rubio, many devices are real simulations of both female and male genitalia.
"There are products to be able to replicate your genitals and give them to your partner in the form of a sex toy," he adds.
Image of various sex toys from Satisfayer.
"Just two years ago it was not common to have sex toys for the bulk of the population, much less talk about it in public, but today who has not heard of the Satisfayer or has one at home?" Asks Rubio .
Internet sales of erotic toys soared during the confinement decreed by the coronavirus.
Johanna Rief, director of sexual empowerment at WOW Tech, recalls that "a few decades ago almost no one would have thought that smartphones would become such an essential part of everyday life." "Most of us were proven wrong," he says. Rief expects something similar to happen with sex toys, which are increasingly offering more features. Companies like Satisfyer and WowTech have apps to remotely control devices, vibrate to the beat of music, or create a custom vibrating playlist.
The rise of these devices can help break taboos and put certain debates on the table.
Megwyn White, director of education and training at Satisfyer and certified clinical sexologist, indicates that new technologies and access to information through the network “have unleashed a global curiosity about the body, helping to change the stigma and shame around to sex ”.
“People are now questioning what they have been taught about sex and acknowledging the gap in sex education.
They are questioning gender roles, the meaning of sex and the role it plays in guiding us towards a healthy and happy life, ”she says.
Devices to treat ejaculation or vaginismus problems
The goals of some researchers are very ambitious. There are those who have tried to find a way to generate an orgasm with the push of a button. But in addition to giving pleasure, there are devices that can be especially useful to treat ejaculation, erection or vaginismus problems, according to Rodríguez. "In the coming years, technology will be an essential tool for sexual health care," says the director of the Murciano Sexological Institute. His team is conducting two studies with devices from the firm Mysteryvibe. One of them for the treatment of vaginismus. The other, to improve sexual function in people with spinal cord injury.
The Spanish company Myhixel, which also works with the aforementioned Sexological Institute, has developed a device to help control premature ejaculation.
Various studies estimate that between 20% and 30% of adult men have a problem of sexual dysfunction.
"Technology should be the alternative to drugs to treat sexual concerns," says Patricia López, CEO and founder of Myhixel.
Myhyxel device against premature ejaculation.
There are devices that have the potential to improve people's sex lives “without side effects”: “The medical community is approaching us with innovative and disruptive ideas.
They need sex tech companies to bring these ideas to life to improve sexual health. "
The device developed by Myhixel, registered as a medical product by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States (FDA), recreates the sensations of penetration and allows the user to acquire progressive control of the mechanisms involved in the ejaculation.
Will we continue to interact with each other?
One of the unanswered questions is whether, with all these sexual devices on the market, we will continue to interact the same with each other in the future. The companies insist that their devices are in no way substitutes for people. But will there be those who prefer virtual sex to real sex? López highlights that a third of men consume porn on a daily basis and that such consumption causes young people to lose interest in real sex.
In front of those who defend that with technology the interaction will go to less and that the relationships will be increasingly virtual, there are experts who emphasize the need to get together among humans. “We are social hominids and the need for physical contact and interaction with others in the most traditional way is in our DNA. I don't think that in a few years this model of virtual sex will prevail over real sex, ”says Rodríguez.
What cannot robots or other devices give us that people can?
Some human characteristics are likely never to be replicated in a robot or at least always up for debate, as Frank emphasizes: “Can robots value us in the sense that we can value each other?
Otherwise, for some people, sex with a robot will not have the same value as with a human. "
Rubio misses "humanization and improvisation" in robots.
Technology, as indicated, is not prepared to face the "free will that characterizes us as a race": "Flat sex, yes, but it can never be comparable to felt sex and all the feelings that it provokes in us when sharing it with a loved one" .
What if cybercriminals got hold of your most intimate information?
The information processed by sex toys is extremely sensitive, as highlighted by the cybersecurity company ESET. These may include "names, sexual or gender orientation, lists of sexual partners, information on device use, and intimate photos and videos." "All this information in the wrong hands can have disastrous consequences," says the company.
Rodríguez recalls that "we are in the era of big data and everything we do, our tastes, interests or bank details are used for commercial and security purposes": "Let them know that we like it or not in bed is another nail in the coffin of privacy that we have given up for a long time in exchange for the free use of these new technologies ”. Therefore, it is especially important where and how data is stored and who has access to it.
In 2017, the sex toy manufacturer We-Vibe was forced to compensate its customers with up to $ 10,000 after it was found that it collected a series of intimate data without their consent, according to The Guardian. "This information included when they were used and the vibration settings, linking everything to the users' email addresses," says Frank.
Additionally, the vulnerabilities could allow attackers to run malicious code on connected devices or block them by preventing the user from sending any commands to the toy, according to ESET.
In fact, similar attacks have already occurred.
In 2020, researchers at the cybersecurity company Pen Test Partners detected a flaw in a smart chastity belt for men that allowed anyone to remotely lock all devices and prevent users from unlocking themselves.
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