- Future of Sex
- Posts
- Meno-washing, Boysober, VR Sexual Assault, using AI to assist STI surge
Meno-washing, Boysober, VR Sexual Assault, using AI to assist STI surge
Bryony Cole
February 06, 2024
👋 HEY ALL!
This past week was a doozy 🚀
Apple released the Vision Pro virtual reality headset, and stories are surfacing on the disturbing (and not new) incidences of assault in VR spaces. What can we do?
Other trends include overall fatigue with dating apps, but especially for younger crowds, a nod to the booming menopause market (and how far we are taking marketing towards this category) and a spotlight on STI reporting via apps.
Making headlines this week:
🥽 Sexual Assaults are Happening in Virtual Worlds
📈 Meno-washing: Marketing the Exploding Menopause Market
💋 Dating App Fatigue and the "Boysober" Trend
🤳 Sexual Health Testing From Your Smartphone
+Plus:
💼 job openings
🎪 community events
💸 investments
— Bryony
🔥 THIS WEEK IN SEXTECH
🥽 Sexual Assaults in VR: What can we do?
We have truly hit the mainstream.
Laws have not yet caught up to virtual worlds, but more and more people are coming forward with stories of assault in VR. Tech companies have enabled features to protect users but reports include other gamers coercing players to turn these features off. What can we do?’
📈 Menopause market explodes
'Vag of Honour' and 'Madame Ovary': Have we reached peak menopause marketing? Daily Mail reports on the £491 billion global menopause market by {by 2025}.
💋 Dating App Fatigue and the "Boysober" Trend
Hayley Rose shared some great stats around dating apps here on LinkedIn last week and the trend toward IRL encounters with companies like Timeleft popping up in Europe and Unfit Run Club in Australia.
This week the New York Times reporting on the dating fatigue amongst generation Z that is claiming opting-out of dating entirely, and choosing celibacy or going 'boysober' as "this year’s hottest mental health craze.”
🤳 Sexual Health Testing From Your Smartphone
As STI/STDs reach a record high in the US, HeHealth are using AI to detect your condition with a single photo from your phone. The radical surge in STIs is not confined to America, across the pond England's sexual health services are at 'breaking point'.
Read the spotlight on HeHealth's sextech innovation in Fast Company here.
Sextech School Cohort 13 is Enrolling!
Are you looking to get your start in sextech?
Launched in 2020 by well…me 😅 Sextech School - a six-week virtual program including masterclass lectures, along with access to Sextech expert mentors and an expanding alumni community — is the first and only accelerator program designed to support entrepreneurs and job seekers in sextech.
If you’re looking to start a business, land a job or pivot your career, this 6 week program is the fast-track and we only open a few times a year. Get on it 👇️
🎪 EVENTS
February 8, Denmark Emerging Markets - Unfolding FemTech co-hosted by SexTech Nordics
February 12, Virtual Indie Porn Biz 101 hosted by AORTA films
February 22, Virtual Go Fund Yourself (a crowdfunding workshop) by AORTA films
Ongoing 'Own Your O' Masterclass ($157 off) by @HelloNancy @hello x Sara Tang
💼 HOT JOBS
🇩🇪 Junior App Developer, Xounds [Apply here]
🇬🇧 Advisory Committee Member, The Pleasure Project [Details here]
🇪🇸 Community Manager, Erika Lust [Apply here]
💸 INVESTMENTS
💰 minthub raise seed from Shine Ventures
Shine Ventures of Shine Talent Group Investment Firm headed by Jess Hunichen and Emily Ward have invested in MintHub, a business specialises in building products for Intimate, Sexual Health & Well-being co-founded by Dominnique Karetsos and Dr Maria Fernanda Peraza Godoy.
👀 KinkBnB is raising $4M
Relaunched last summer as a decentralized app on Ethereum, the playspace rental company aim to scale up their business with a brick-and-mortar location. For details, accredited investors email [email protected].
Reply