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technology and sexuality

December 16th, 2009 • posts i've written

Late yesterday afternoon I stumbled on a Techcrunch post for location-based technology start-up, FapMap. In case you didn’t know, fap is internet slang for the onomatopoeic representation of masturbation.

What is the FapMapper? It’s a utility created by the fun-loving folks at Pink Visual that allows you to put your sex acts, porn consumption habits and erotic fantasies on the map – literally. Have you and your girlfriend or boyfriend recently had sex in a location that was particularly interesting or exotic? Mark that spot on FapMapper and establish your bragging rights! Did you sneak in a quick jerk somewhere inappropriate? Well, Map that Fap, brother!

Humorous? Sure. But no one’s going to use it, right? Well, go check your city. New York already has dozens of pins with random sexual exploits and adult entertainment retail reviews ready for you to peruse.

Of course, technology and sexuality have always been close bedfellows.

Perhaps nothing proves this point more than the fact that the largest consumer electronics convention (CES) just happens to occur simultaneously with the largest adult entertainment convention (AVN), in the same city (Las Vegas) every year in early January. This year, Spike TV is heading to AVN with adult film star darling Sasha Grey for in-depth coverage.

Porn went mainstream a long time ago. There’s almost nothing in our society as universal as pornography, at least according to researchers at the University of Montreal.

The sex toy industry alone is valued annually at USD $15 billion with a growth rate of 30%. And which free-wheeling, sexually and technologically advanced culture produces up to 70% of the product? Well, that’d be China.

Advertising is premeditated on our desires: our desires to live, to feast, and to reproduce. Beyond beautiful bodies and perfect faces in their advertising, however, most brands are weary to tread too closely to our sexual desires. And as they’ve clung to that often resurgent American puritanical spirit, our sexual appetite has evolved with our adoption of high-speed internet and on-demand sexual indulgence.

Not to say, however, that porn and lust are 20th century inventions. Some of the very earliest forms of artistic work among the historical record are tokens of fertility and sexual expression. But given the option of stone statue or streaming internet video, well, let’s be grateful for electricity, internet connectivity, and modern convenience.

There’s at least one publicly traded American enterprise firmly standing for sexuality – American Apparel. American Apparel reported net sales for the third quarter of 2009 of $150.3 million. Not bad for a company that didn’t have a retail store until 2003.

On the web, Nerve.com has been publishing content at the intersection of technology, culture, and sexuality since its founding in 1997. Nerve has also been facilitating sex with their personals service (which now extends to over 100 publishers). As a New Yorker, one of the best conversations to have is to ask your friends for their embarrassing/interesting Nerve dating experiences (you’d be surprised at how many people have them). Nerve has experienced steady growth here in the US, but according to Quantcast they’re seeing a higher growth among global visitors. All in all, not too shabby for a near thirteen year old online publication considering the fate of a majority of their peers. Vice Magazine and VBS.tv are both excellent additional case studies on the matter.

As more and more brands find themselves entering the technology space to stay current with culture, it seems impossible for them to ignore the routine expression of our sexual selves through the same technology – and it seems less fruitful for them to do so.