As someone who writes about sexual wellness and adult entertainment, I’m often asked what is sex tech.

My short answer is usually to say that sex tech is an industry term used to describe technologies designed for erotic or sexual purposes and the businesses that create them. In its current use, “sextech” was coined by MakeLoveNotPorn CEO Cindy Gallop and popularized by the media in 2016.

But, of course, there is more to the story to unpack, especially since people have been buying and selling sex-related technologies long before the twenty-first century.

In this post, which I plan to update with new information as it becomes available, I will explore what is sex tech and how the term has been used to carve out space for sex-positive businesses and underrepresented groups.

What is sextech?

Coined by Cindy Gallop in 2016, the term “sex tech” has helped put positive conversations on women’s sexuality, sexual health, and entrepreneurship in the spotlight. 

Gallop defines what is sextech in an article for Hot Topics: What is sextech and why is everyone ignoring it?”:

“Sextech is technology, and technology-driven ventures, designed to enhance, innovate and disrupt in every area of human sexuality and human sexual experience.”

Gallop has also been open about her approach to disrupting the old ways of doing business.

As a SexTechConnect event speaker in February 2023, she said she created the sextech category after she couldn’t get funding for her adult entertainment and social media network MakeLoveNotPorn.

Then she began peaking at tech conferences letting the world know that the next big thing in tech was going to be sextech.

Gallop added that the terms “sextech” and “femtech” overlap and are often interchangeable. This comment sheds light on how the origins of the term sextech stem from the desire to highlight the value and untapped potential in markets of women’s sexual health and pleasure.

Related Read: Canadian Sex Tech Conferences and Adult Expos

Women of Sex Tech

The industry term “sex tech” gained further media traction with the founding of Women of Sex Tech (WOST) in 2017, for which Gallop serves as an advisor along with Bryony Cole of Sextech School.

Founded by Lidia Bonilla and Polly Rodriguez, WOST provides a platform for networking, sharing resources, and amplifying the voices of women and femme-identifying individuals.

In 2017, members also banded together to organize against censorship of advertising on social media platforms like Facebook and on public transit in New York City.

New York City protests drew attention to the bias and double standards in the tech industry regarding the acceptance and visibility of sexual health and pleasure-related products and innovations.

Sextech trends and limitations

Although Gallop is responsible for creating and defining sex tech as it is spoken about today, the word had been on people’s minds well before. For example, Google Trends shows interest in the term “sextech” peaked in 2004, and has not risen back even close to such highs despite supposedly increased media coverage.

The term sextech itself is ambitious, admits Gallop. It is meant to be aspirational and to help normalize sex for squeamish investors, but it also has its limits.

“Sextech” doesn’t necessarily imply intimacy, love, or other benefits people may seek related to sex that is not sex itself. Also, when projecting financial growth for the global sexual wellness industry, sextech is often considered a subcategory of a much larger market.

In the bigger picture, I consider sextech a third or fourth-wave capitalist feminist term created to put attention on underrepresented groups in sexual health, pleasure, and adult entertainment sectors.

What is sex tech to you? 

Members of the aptly named Orgasm Advisory Board will be paid $1,000 for a year of service, a monthly package of sex toys worth up to $250, and an affiliate code for 20% off to share with friends.

Lovehoney says it encourages adults 18+ and older living in US and Canada to apply, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, or experience level. To clarify, you are welcome whether you have never masturbated or have a full-blown sex room at home.

The Canadian recruitment tour kicks off on May 13 and 14 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre and on May 19 and 20 in Montreal.

Related Read: Canada Sex Map 2023: Sex Toy Spending By Province

Applications opened May 1, and you can apply online at the LoveHoney website.

You can also apply in person at one of the 16 recruitment fairs taking place across the United States and Canada this May.

“We created the Orgasm Advisory Board to increase our connection with consumers and continue to evolve Lovehoney to be the best online resource for sexual wellness,” said Sarah Tomchesson, Lovehoney’s Resident Sexual Wellness Advisor.

“Despite the progress we’ve made, self-pleasure is still stigmatized and taboo in so many places. Because of this, we wanted to take our recruitment initiative to the streets, meet people where they are, and educate them about the benefits of masturbation.”

Lovehoney said it chose both its US and Canadian tour stop locations based on its 2023 Sex Map. 

The B.C. government will become the first jurisdiction in Canada to pay for prescription birth control for all residents.

The funding plans were unveiled in the provincial budget released in late February, and are set to come into effect on April 1, 2023.

CBC’s Chad Pawson reported:

“Funding of $119 million over the next three years will allow full coverage for prescription contraception. It includes oral hormone pills, contraceptive injections, hormonal and copper intrauterine devices, subdermal implants, and Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill.

“While only representing a small portion of billions of dollars in spending for health initiatives, including nearly $1 billion for mental health and addictions treatments, Finance Minister Katrine Conroy said it was a priority for her government to help residents have control over their reproductive rights…

“The province said that for a person who pays $25 a month for hormonal pills, the new free plan could save them as much as $10,000 over their lifetime.”

A Night of Lust: Calgary

Adult filmmaker Erika Lust brings “A Night of Lust”to Calgary’s Globe Cinema on March 8, to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD).

The event is in collaboration with A League of Their Own, a film series that showcases female directors. For IWD, the series will get steamier by embracing the power of sexual fantasy and erotic storytelling.

“A Night of Lust” will screen six erotic short films directed by Lust for her XConfession video series, which brings to life sexual fantasies submitted anonymously.

Lust told SexForEveryBody.com the selected XConfessions films for the evening “aim to inspire the audience concerning their relationship with pleasure and sex: from sex parties to hot neighbors and steamy queer sex, this screening will tap into the diversity of human desires and fantasies.”

For more on Canadian sex tech trends, see the 2023 LoveHoney Canada Sex Map for sex toy spending behaviour by province.

Top photo by Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition on Unsplash

In 2021, global e-commerce retailer LoveHoney also released a sex map of Canada with sex tech spending details on 1,933 nationwide.

This year’s sex map of Canada was created using data from Lovehoney’s 2022 sales figures and the brand’s global survey data from Summer 2022.

The cheeky yet-very-real interactive map uncovers the top sexual fantasies, desires, and sex toys of Canadians by province.

Canada’s kinkiest cities

While Québec was previously dubbed as the residence of the nation’s least kinky individuals in 2021, it now takes the top spot as Canada’s kinkiest province, according to LoveHoney’s 2023 Canada Sex Map.

This year, Oxford, Ontario, wins the title of “Kinkiest City in Canada.” Previously, the quaint residential town of Lions Bay, British Columbia won the honour, due to its relatively high spending on bondage and butt plugs.

There’s more kink-related data displayed on the infographic, which also names the most submissive city and the best city in Canada for roleplay.

Alberta was named the most connected and tech-savvy province, buying more wearable products for couples than other provinces.

My home province of Ontario also earned the moniker “Sexist Canadian Province” for spending more money at LoveHoney than any other in 2022.

Sex tech spending facts

Below are more sexy tidbits on the consumer habits of Canadians in 2022:

• You could fill more than 42 hot tubs full of personal lubricant with the amount sold in Canada last year.
• The length of all sex toys sold in the country would reach four times the height of Toronto’s CN Tower.
• Enough handcuffs and restraints were bought in Canada to arrest the population of Baie-Saint-Paul, Québec
• People in Oxford, Ontario, are considered the kinkiest because of they bought the most electro/medical fetish toys.
• Nova Scotians spent the most money on blindfolds, masks, and gags.
• The folks in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, purchased the most sex machines in Canada.
• While people in Newfoundland and Labrador like sex toys with the most girth (4.6-inch avg circumference), folks in Northwest Territories prefer the biggest dildos, measuring on average, 5.4-inches-long,

You can see the full Canada Sex Map 2023 at LoveHoney, which includes predictions on sex trends in 2023.