NEW YORK — Pointing to the “Siri-like” sex in the new mainstream film, “Her,” the New York Times has reported on how high-tech sex toys and apps are changing the face of sexual relationships.
Featuring products from Minna Life (Limon vibrator), haptic and telidildonic devices like AEBN’s RealTouch [temporarily discontinued], and the wireless LovePalz from a Taiwan company, Durex’s “Fundawear “vibrating underpants, as well as cam sites and mainstream apps, the report focused on how “futuristic” sex toys and apps are increasingly gaining prominence in the real world.
Even HBO’s new series, “Sex/Now,” the reprised ‘90’s “Real Sex,” will tackle subjects on the digital footprint of evolving sex-and-relationship practices. The pilot episode, set to air on Jan. 2 will have segments on web cams and RealTouch.
The show’s director, Chris Moukarbel, told the Times that computer screens have now replaced the live booth girls in the old Times Square peep shows. “We’re experiencing an unparalleled technological revolution, and we’re learning that social desire feeds technological change,” Moukarbel said.
Other curious sex/tech developments included “Love Plus” simulated dating for Nintendo’s DS console tht lets players caress another’s hair using a touch pad, “Spreadsheets,” an iPhone app that claims it can measure bedroom performance by logging the bumping and grinding captured through a smartphone’s internal accelerometer and microphone, and the Android “Boyfriend Maker,” a program for young girls that lets them pamper their boyfriends through the use of boybots.
The Times report also keyed in on “The Future of Relationships,” a study published this month by the Museum of Sex and trend forecasting think tank Sparks & Honey, that believes the leaps in augmented intelligence and video game interactivity will let people “get attached to and develop real relationships with their hardware and software.”
Things that can be expected are “long distance foreplay,” “relationship forensics” that analyze a partner’s hookup history, more “teledildonics,” and data mining that will metricize sexual performance and love.
“We’re on the brink of a new way of defining those spaces of intimacy,” Terry Young, the founder of Sparks & Honey, said. “If you fast-forward five to 10 years, it’s fascinating to think about what teenagers might constitute as intimate relationships and how relationships will be radically different.”
