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Netflix
Think of it as Vibrators 2.0: Orgasm Tech is the newest way to optimize your sex life.
That’s according to a collection of device makers who are manufacturing everything from wands to insertable gizmos that you use via apps. These silicone-covered gadgets have various purposes from strengthening your pelvic floor to letting you compare if your body spasms more after one kind of foreplay versus another (or, say, if your climax is more powerful after you have a glass of wine than after you go for a jog). Perhaps it’s time for this, since we’ve arguably reached peak vibrator—they have, after all, been sold for 120 years now, dating back to a 1903 advertisement referring to vibrating belts as sexual stimulators. Sales of sexual devices is expected to more than double in the ten years leading up to 2030, so it makes sense that all of us horny consumers have learned how to have more orgasms. Now, how about having better ones?
While my personal experience of orgasm tech devices is limited, it has been positive. But I can’t help wondering if this is all risking the experience of being in our bodies and feeling our feelings—call that the original biofeedback. Here’s an analogy: I was extolling my Oura ring to a friend, crowing about how it told me if I slept well or not. “But, don’t you know if you slept well?” she asked simply.
Lioness sends a readout to your phone with a chart that measures the peaks and valleys of your sexual session; you can watch it in real time
And yes, I should know that, shouldn’t I? While mapping the exact high and low points of my sleep experience and other nuances is interesting and potentially useful via the high-tech sensors of the Oura ring, and it’s also important that I feel my actual body in order to assess my quality of sleep. So, I am enthusiastic about these new sex tech devices. I just want to make sure that we’re do so mindfully, thoughtfully and lustily…and staying present, for best results. Now, an overview of the four tech devices:
This “smart vibrator” is an eight-inch long rabbit-style vibrator that has a temperature sensor and force sensors along the insertable end, and an accelerometer and gyroscope in the handle to track changes in vibration versus muscle movement. It sends a readout to your phone with a chart that measures the peaks and valleys of your sexual session; you can watch the readout in real time as it’s happening (one user told the New York Times that watching the tracking feature in real time could be distracting, something that “takes away from the experience.”) The device also lets you record the data, for review later—perhaps like watching a winning football game to review what move to make when? Lioness sells for $229 and comes in grey or purple.
This insertable pelvic floor strengthener is marketed by its parent company alongside breast pumps, at first glance an unusual co-branding exercise for a sex toy. But though this device, which sells for $119, is marketed for urinary incontinence in post-partum recovery (and is therefore FSA/HSA eligible), pelvic floor strength is related to female orgasms. (The National Institute of Health reports that studies show the weakness of pelvic muscles could contribute to the inability of a woman to achieve orgasm and women who had anorgasmia (aka delayed, infrequent or missing orgasms) showed a significantly lower pubococcygeus muscle strength compared with women who had orgasms.) How it works: You insert a tampon-like silicon device containing sensors into your vagina, then try to squeeze it when prompted by the app’s video game-like prompts. Post-game, you get feedback on five data points: contraction quality, endurance, strength, control and speed.
This pelvic trainer is shaped differently from Perfit, more like an egg with a little exterior wand to hold it in position. I used the device as a Kegel exercise trainer, and had fun playing its version of a video game, in which my interval squeezes moved a character through a race course, sprinting forward, jumping hurdles and finally getting a prize. TBH, the device’s prompts not only strengthened my muscles over time, by using it I learned about a number of tenses and contractions I didn’t until then knew I could do—and they have subsequently led to more powerful climaxes. It sells for $199 and is available at retailers including Goop, natch.
Not-yet-to-market, this device is forthcoming from a company led by CEO Penda N'diaye whose online bio reads “I am storyteller, pleasure enthusiast and community leader closing the orgasm gap for women.” The U-shaped silicone toy reportedly will come in flesh-toned colors and will also include a phone app with A.I.-powered audio erotica, how-to videos, insights from OB-GYNs and guided meditations.
