Technology
During COVID-19, cybersex, erotic technology and virtual intimacy are on the rise.
The coronavirus pandemic affects sexuality and relationships. Containment and social distance measures that protect us are unintentionally exacerbating intimacy-related difficulties and limiting people's access to partners.
For some, COVID-19 is synonymous with loneliness and stress. Many people end up choosing between privacy and security. Singles looking for partners are resigning to celibacy, while couples are experiencing forced isolation tensions.
But creativity is in love with adversity.
Faced with a global pandemic, we are finding new , innovative and safe ways to (re)connect intimately and sexually through technology.
As researchers studying erobotics, a field that intersects sexuality and technology, we are interested in how human-machine erotic interactions can contribute to well-being — even in times of global health crisis.
Sex in Coronavirus Time
COVID-19 locking and social distancing measures have an impact on human life. Paradoxically, these protective measures also produce unintended stressors. For example, illness-related anxiety, increased grief over the loss of a loved one, loneliness, domestic violence, and financial stress.
When it comes to sex and relationships, the pandemic creates a situation where people either live in close proximity (possibly with partners , children or other family members) or have limited opportunities to find partners for prolonged periods of time. These circumstances can have a direct impact on our privacy.
A recent online survey found that the majority of participants in a sample of 1,559 adults reported a decline in the quality of their sex life (43.5 per cent) during the COVID-19 pandemic, while only a minority reported improvements (13.6 per cent). Interestingly, however, despite people reporting a decrease in the frequency of sexual behavior compared to the previous year, one in five individuals (20.3 per cent) added at least one new activity to their sex life, such as a new sexual position, the incorporation of pornography or cybersex. Compared to people who did not make any changes, those who spiced things up have been more likely to report improvements in their sex life since the onset of the pandemic.
In addition, preliminary evidence from another study suggests that the belief that a partner is caring and understanding can partly protect against some of the impact of COVID-19 stressors on the relationship.
COVID-19 and sex technology
Sex tech is more than sex dolls or sexual enhancement items. It is a billion dollar business that produces a wide variety of goods for interactive, immersive and integrated sexual experiences. This includes but is not limited to: cyber, digital and mixed reality, "teledildonics," dating apps and channels, online sexual games and autonomous sexual agents (or erobots) such as sex dolls, romantic lovers or sexual chatbots.
Female technology is probably one of the few sectors that is immune to pandemics. The selling of sex dolls has skyrocketed, businesses have reported a spike in sex and love doll sales and high-tech startups are booming. Although figures from the private sector should be viewed with care, COVID-19 influences how we discuss intimacy between ourselves and others.
Sex tech is a better way to fulfill our physical and mental needs in moments of lockout and social distancing. It provides creative and interactive ways to interact eroticly with people and machines that can respond to our desires for sexual gratification as well as to fulfill our needs for love and companionship.
Sex tech could help ease the misery caused by isolation or forced celibacy, and let us keep in contact with our loved ones as we wait for the storm to pass.
In short, the pandemic might be an opportunity for humanity to become a little more "digisexual" or physically technologically driven.
Sex tips on the pandemic
Suggestions for safer sex were proposed during COVID-19. These include: hand-washing; limiting sexual activity to household partners; the use of physical barriers such as masks, condoms and dental dams; creative positions that reduce the risk of transmission and masturbation.
As the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene of New York City says, "You are your safest sex partner."
The same department also proposes to take a break from in-person dates and instead try virtual dating, sexting and kinky "Zoom parties."
Necessity is the mother of invention, and this is especially true of technology. It's telling to include a suggestion like the Zoom video conferencing platform. The integration of social and interactive technologies into work and relationships accelerates exponentially with confinement.
