Currently, the global sextech industry is valued at US$30 billion and is projected to surpass US$100 billion by 2030.

The SexTech TO Mixer is designed to cater to individuals with diverse levels of experience, including established industry members, those looking to enter the field, and those with a general curiosity about sextech.

Attendees will have the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge, share their ideas, and foster collaborations with other professionals passionate about the growing market for sexual wellness technologies.

Related Read: What is Sex Tech?

Running from 7 pm to 10:30 pm, the SexTech TO Mixer features guest speakers disability consultant Andrew Gurza and Lady Pim.

Gurza brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the realm of disability-focused sextech. Lady Pim, a sex educator and Professional Dominant, will provide a fresh perspective on recent developments in the adult industry.

Together, they will kickstart the evening with a captivating discussion that delves into the forefront of the sextech industry, including its latest trends, opportunities, and challenges.

Afterwards, attendees will have the opportunity to socialize, expand their networks, and explore potential collaborations.

According to organizer Alexandra Friedman, the event aims to bring together sex-positive professionals, brands, founders, content creators, developers, designers, engineers, service providers, performers, therapists, coaches, sexologists, educators, researchers, students, investors, and other interested individuals.

Tickets for the sextech networking event in Toronto are available at Eventbrite, or cash-only at the door for CAD$20.

In related news, SexTech TO has also announced its inaugural sextech conference will take place in Toronto on Friday, June 28, 2024. No more details are yet available on the networking event’s website.

International Congress on Love and Sex With Robots

The next annual International Congress on Love and Sex With Robots is scheduled for August 28 to 30, 2023. The sextech conference will be held virtually,  even though there were initial considerations to hold it in Montreal, Québec, Canada for the 8th edition.

The deadline for submitting paper abstracts, rapid talks, and presentation topics is June 30, 2023.

Love and Sex with Robots (LSR) is an annual sex tech conference that delves into robotics, ethics, emerging technology, and human sexuality. The event offers presentations and panel discussions covering various aspects of technology’s role in human sexual behaviour, such as the development of sex robots, the ethical and social implications of their use, and the potential future of human-robot relationships.

Typically attended by researchers, industry professionals, and individuals with an interest in the intersection of sex and technology, Love and Sex with Robots has been hosted in different locations worldwide, including Canada and the UK. However, in-person versions of the conference have not returned since the pandemic made the event virtual.

Taboo’s Everything To Do With Sex Show

Canada’s largest adult retail trade show, The Everything to Do with Sex Show, has scheduled 2023 and 2024 dates around the country. The event features live performances, sex educator Q&As, and retail booths.

The Taboo Sex Show is typically attended by consumers and the general public.

2023

• Toronto Oct 13 to 15
• Calgary Nov 10 to 12
• Edmonton Nov 17 to 19

2024

• Vancouver Feb 2 to 4
• Saskatoon Feb TBS
• Regina Feb TBD
• Red Deer March TBD

SexTech TO Conference

SexTech TO, a sextech event and networking platform, announced it will hold a Toronto sextech conference on June 28, 2024. No other details are yet available on the website.

In the meantime, the group is also hosting a sextech networking event in Toronto on June 27 at the Rivoli. Featured speakers for the evening are disability consultant Andrew Gurza and professional Dominant Lady Pim. Afterwards, attendees can socialize, potential collaborations, and discuss the latest sextech trends.

Related Read: What is Sex Tech?

Atlantic Sex Show

The Atlantic Sex Show took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for the first time in February 2023. Over three days, the sex show hosted adult sex ed and sexual workshops as well as live entertainment including comedy, drag, and burlesque shows. It took place from February 10 to 12 at DoubleTree by Hilton Halifax Dartmouth.

Dates for the 2024 Atlantic Sex Show are not yet released, but the Canadian sex show is teasing an new show and more on its social media accounts.

Les 3 Sex Colloquium

The French-Canadian sex tech conference “Sexualités et technologies” is a French-speaking colloquium presented by the Montreal sexual health charity Les 3 Sex. by  There’s an English homepage for the sex tech conference, yet most content est écrit en Français.

For the fifth annual event held on March 24, 2023, they partnered with l’Ordre professionnel des sexologues du Québec.

For the second year in a row, they made the sex tech conference hybrid. Attendees had the choice of buying an in-person ticket for the Centre Phi in Montreal or buying a virtual one for streaming online.

Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS) Annual Conference

For its 65th year, the international sex tech conference organized by the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSS) took place in Vancouver from Nov. 3 to 6, 2022.

The aim of the SSS is “dedicated to advancing knowledge of sexuality and communicating scientifically based sexuality research and scholarship.” This year’s event will explore topics including sex work, pornography, and sex robots. It will take place in person at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre with some sessions also streaming online.

The full schedule is available online [pdf]. More details on streaming sessions are expected when the sex tech conference starts.

The 2023 annual conference date is scheduled for Nov. 16 to 19 next year in New Orleans. However, Montreal hosted the sexuality conference in 2018, so it will likely return to Canada again in the future.

Adult Film and Ethical Porn Festivals – International

Looking for erotic cinema festivals worldwide? You can find more adult film conventions and ethical porn festival listings at Sex For Every Body®.

Online and global sex tech events

Organizers of many international sex tech events also offer virtual access. You can find more global sex tech conferences at Sex For Every Body®.

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.

During my session “Shifting Power and Media Representation in SexTech,” I talked about changing trends in adult entertainment, sex technology, and sexual wellness,  which included a focus on ethical porn and accessibility.

The virtual conference is now over, but you can gain full access to all videos from 35+ speakers for US$97, which is approximately CA$145.

The sex tech conference was a worldwide virtual event organized by Rocio Pelayo, the founder and producer of the podcast Hablemos SexTech.

The Reimagine Sexuality Conference brought together thought leaders across the industry, including innovators, scientists, therapists, investors, marketing experts, lawyers, designers, influencers, and journalists.

You can see more of my sex tech appearances on my Media page.

The live-streamed discussion “Shaping Today’s SexTech: Science and Social Issues,” which was hosted by sociologist Dr. Chauntelle Tibbals, featured speakers Ola Miedzynska of sxtech.eu, Anna Lee of Lioness.io, Raven V. Fabar of EngErotics.com, and Loes Jaber of Nuditae.com.

Filmmaker and Sssh.com founder Angie Rowntree produced the panel as part of her ongoing Mindbrowse video series that examines important topics in adult entertainment.

I encourage you to watch the replay if you are seeking insider insights or advice on how to get started in the sextech industry. Since the panelists are from various time zones, it was a treat having them together and listening to their exchange.

As a final question, Dr. Chauntelle asked each speaker to give a short takeaway. I’ve shared the responses below.

Raven V. Faber, Founder and CEO of EngErotics.com (United States)
“My big takeaway is that it’s of the utmost importance, in my opinion, to build a company with a mission and intention and purpose and drive. It matters more now than ever to do that. My company is the manifestation of who I am and what matters to me deeply, and I would encourage early founders and founders-to-be to consider doing the same.”

Ola Miedzynska, Founder and CEO of sxtech.eu (Germany)
“That it is a really great thing to be in the girl club and that the girl club is a very strong community. I would advise every future founder of sex tech industry to find community, as a first, and to never be alone, to always share and to share as much as you can. Pitch the product that you don’t have to get as much feedback in the early stage, so you’re going to save a lot of time later—but stay with the girl club.”

Anna Lee, Co-founder and Head of Engineering, Lioness.io (United States)
“Mine is to join sex tech. We need more people in here. There’s a billion and three ways people experience sex, pleasure, and what sex means to them. So we need those people that represent all the billion and three ways that people do that. We just need more and more people in the space.”

Loes Jaber, Founder and CEO of Nuditae.com (Netherlands)
“Actually, I’m with Ola, it’s the girl club. It’s us working together and talking, inviting other people to the journey, and lifting each other up. Not competing with one another, but helping each other build a safer sex tech space for everyone.”

In total, the sexual wellness company gave financial support to 14 retailers in Canada and the United Stated to throw fundraisers and events during Pride months.

Six of the winners were Canadian stores. Although most of the celebrations are now over, the sex-positive and queer-friendly establishments offer their products and services year-round. Many also offer educational workshops.

The names of the winning sex shops in Canada are below, along with a description of their events to give you a sense of their “personalities”

• Venus Envy Ottawa (Ottawa, Ontario)

This sex shop in Ottawa was forced to close its brick-and-mortar store due to a fire. The We-Vibe funding will allow them to temporarily open a Pride Pop-Up Shop to resume in-person operations in August, Ottawa’s Pride month. The sex shop will also offer seminars called “Sex Toys for Queers,” “Strap-On Tools,” ‘Trans Sex 101″‘ and “Queering.”

• Good for Her (Toronto, Ontario)

The Toronto sex shop Good For Her teamed up with Andrew Gurza of Bump’n for a workshop on pleasure for people with disabilities on June 14, 2022. Gurza talked about accessibility and ableism in queer communities and presented the hands-free huggable sex pillow, the Bump’n Joystick.

• Come As You Are (Toronto, Ontario)

The co-op Come As You used its funding to expand its long-running chest binder recycling program to both trans-feminine and non-binary people. The queer-friendly store is the only sex shop in Canada I know of that offers a mail-in sex toy recycling program.

• The Feltt (Toronto, Ontario)

The Feltt created an immersive pleasure room in collaboration with queer party promoter FIT Primpin. It featured queer and BIPOC art as well as a booth on harm reduction and safe play.

• Sexxy Kitty (Lethbridge, Alberta)

Alberta sex shop Sexxy Kitty held a donated clothing event to create a safe space for people to find gender-affirming attire. They partnered with 2SLGBTQIA non-profit OUTreach Southern Alberta Society.

• Smitten (Brandon, Manitoba)

The sex shop co-hosted a free family BBQ with the Brandon Pride Committee, which included youth activities and performances from local queer and Indigenous entertainers.

You can read the full list of winners at XBIZ and read more about the Pride Fund on its website.