Page 12 - AVN July 2017

EDITOR’S DESK
EDITOR’S DESK | By Sharan Street
THE EROTIC FUTURE
Adult entertainment is changing—and so are the
ways in which humans will choose to have sex
AVN HAS TAKEN DETAILED LOOKS at virtual reality in
sex tech. The aptly named site FutureOfSex.net
adult entertainment more than a few times (check
put together a report last year that details several
out our June 2016 issue at AVN.com/magazine for
arenas in which changes are coming. The experts
the most complete rundown), but this month we’re
interviewed in this issue cover the same five
putting the emphasis more broadly on the future of
areas outlined in the report: remote sex, virtual
sex itself: the technical advances that will change
sex, robots, immersive entertainment, and
the way people enjoy their own bodies, interact with
augmentation. And on top of that they also explore
lovers, and find pleasure in watching others.
the mainstreaming of sex toys, and the ways in
Inside, industry reporter Stewart Tongue listens
which future generations will be more gender-fluid,
to experts in virtual reality content and technology,
and how that will affect the development of pleasure
pleasure product design and interactive content.
toys and adult content.
But rather than talking about the technological
But it’s also worth exploring some of the specific
advances to come, these professionals focus on
predictions made in the FutureOfSex.net report.
how money can be made right now. Among those
Here are nine provocative points—all of which will
interviewed is Paul Samuels, director of marketing
have impacts on the future of the adult industry:
for UFeel.tv, who says that “margins on the
interactive devices are generally pretty slim, so the
majority of the money is going to be made on the
content.” Jean-Claude Artonne, CEO of Terpon, is
leading the way on faster acquisition of VR headsets
and webcam devices by consumers. “Terpon is
joining together with companies like Kiiroo to build
technical standards for device communication in the
industry,” Artonne explains. “As always, standards
do take time but companies with vision understand
that cooperating to develop these foundational
elements of the nascent market is critical.”
Sherri L. Shaulis, AVN’s senior editor for pleasure
products news, asks a dozen professionals—among
them sex educators, a brand ambassador, a retailer
and a sales rep—about high-tech pleasure toys,
haptic technologies, sex machines, and what
innovations they envision for the future. They share
their thoughts on the effects haptic tech and sex
machines have had on human sexuality, and offer
some ideas of what might lie in the future: Ashley
Manta’s prediction of voice-controlled toys, Ken
Melvoin-Berg’s desire to see more exploration with
internal electric e-stim toys or sonic toys, and Sunny
Rodgers’ vision of “a product that would respond to
my reactions—no need for buttons, or patterns, or
• Adult performers and some B-list celebrities
will sell robotic replicas of themselves
designed for sex by 2033.
• One in 10 young adults will have had sex
with a humanoid robot by 2045.
• By 2028 over a quarter of young people will
have had a long-distance sexual experience.
• 3D-printed body parts of your lover, enabled
with touch feedback, will add intense realism
to long-distance sex by 2025.
• First dates in motion-capture virtual worlds
will become popular by 2022.
• By 2024 people will be able to be anybody,
with anybody, enacting impossible fantasies
in photo-realistic virtual worlds.
• Brain-to-brain interfaces will allow partners
to stimulate each other to reach orgasm
directly by 2027.
• Science-fiction sex fantasies will spring to
life as people can enhance their biology and
merge with machines to become superhuman
sex idols.
speeds.”
Reporter Kim Airs takes a closer look at sex
machines, starting with the best-known of the
• By 2020 people will regularly pair virtual
reality and haptic sex toys to fully immersive
themselves into adult entertainment.
bunch: the Sybian, created more than 25 years ago.
She also finds that the sex machine category is
growing fast, as evidenced by the involvement of
more companies, including some of the most long-
established in the industry. Topco, for example, has
offered the Caesar machine since 2008. According
to Topco COO Autumn O’Bryan, the Caesar 2.0
Love Machine was the first device of its kind to
go to market and set a precedent for the industry.
O’Bryan said, “Being able to access a powerful,
durable, and industrial-level sex machine from a
major international brand like Topco transformed
a concept into a full-blown product category and
gave retailers a valuable opportunity to expand their
inventory.”
As a final note, it’s worth pointing out another
resource to look at in understanding the future of
Find the complete report online at
Futureofsex.net/Future_of_Sex_Report.pdf
Despite all this high-flying talk, though, it’s
clear that for the most part one of the most
primal acts that humans engage in will remain
relatively unchanged. In an article titled “How Sex
Will Be Different in 10 Years,” Bustle.com writer
Suzannah Weiss wraps things up with a quote from
Alexandra Fine, CEO of Dame Products: “For the
most part, virgins will be nervous, couples will go
through ruts, and sex will still be the main way we
reproduce.”
But that doesn’t mean we can’t keep making sex
toys better and better every passing day. And AVN
will be here to watch the future unfold.
12 | AVN.com | 7.17