An educator and mother, Cortese asked me to be a guest on her recently launched podcast That’s for Company. Of course, I was thrilled to be back in touch and very much intrigued by her podcast series. As of writing, 12 episodes are available that feature interviews with experts on the topics of intimacy, relationship, and health.

“I wanted to create a space where it felt like you were going to your friends for coffee, and there you knew you could share your stories, honestly, listen with intention, and within that connection we would learn and we would grow together,” she explains.

In the episode “Sex for Every Body with Jenna Owsianik,” we talked about how technology can be used as a tool for sexual empowerment and self-learning, as well as its influence on relationships. In addition, I discussed my publication SexforEveryBody.com and its goal to make educational resources easier to access and more inclusive, particularly to people living with disabilities and those healing from sexual trauma.

The podcast episode is available to listen to at That’s for Company and Apple Podcasts.

As an Anglophone who spoke both French and English in episodes, I’m proud to say the online streaming version I viewed didn’t give me French subtitles when I spoke in French. It had been a long-time since I’d traveled to a French-speaking place or practiced speaking the language in more formal settings. I must thank the production and filming crew who were very kind and a delight to work with, including presenter Marilou Ethier and screenwriter Anika Lirette.

The first episode, “Se rencontrer dans le monde virtuel,” aired in early May 2021, and in English means “Meet in a virtual world.” Parlez-vous francais?

Come by and hang out with Marilou Ethier and I as we chat around the pool about dating apps and finding love and sex in the virtual realm. The Sexe+Techno episode is available to stream online at the TV5 Unis episode page.

Sex tech topics covered

• Dating apps and online dating
• Virtual dating, including dating in 3D worlds and in virtual reality environments
• The ethics of new technologies evolving faster than ethical frameworks for using them
• Science-based matchmaking services, including artificial intelligence and gene compatibility, smell compatibility
• Pornography created for virtual reality or augmented reality sexual experiences
• Consent between avatars

Sex tech experts featured

• Jenna Owsianik – Editor of FutureofSex.net and SexforEveryBody.com
• Simon Dubé – Erobotics expert from Concordia University, studying human-machine erotic interaction. (Not mentioned in the documentary is he also specializes in the fascinating topic of Space Sexology, which is how space programs can learn from sex research.)
• Corinne Beaudoin, of free-roaming virtual reality experience location Zero Latency Montreal 
• Anna Lee – CEO & Executive Producer at 2049 Entertainment, Inc.. Lee says “it’s only the beginning” when it comes to augmented reality and virtual reality porn.  Lee is a longtime innovator in the realm of intimate technologies, as the former president of Utherverse Digital Inc, the creator of the adult virtual world Red Light Center, and a won XBIZ’s 2021 Women in Adult: Woman of the Year award.
• Stéphane Bouchard – Canada Research Chair in Clinical Cyberpsychology
• ‪Anne-Marie Dion-Côté‬ –  Assitant Professor at Université de Moncton, Molecular and Evolutoinary Biology

Image sources: TV5Unis