Hitech show bars revolutionary sex toy
Maker of sex toy banned from CES showcase calls out gender double standard in tech
“CES is an alpha male buffoon.”
“Where’s Tim Cook? Now we know why Apple never participate at CES cos these buffoons will not allow Apple to showcase blowjob/anal gadget designed for their CEO?”
CTI (Clit Technology Innovator) Lora Haddock says products designed for men like sex dolls and VR porn are allowed at the event. But not for pussy.
Hitech Pussy Toy Banned – Robotic hands-free blended orgasms vibrator
The Osé sex toys has been barred from exhibition space at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
One of the world’s biggest tech shows has plugged in their inner prude.
Inventor Lora Haddock said the CES originally invited her company — Lora DiCarlo — to display its hands-free new robotic Ose vibrator.
The invite was extended because the company won a tech innovation award.
But threatened tech bros soon changed their minds. Haddock says the boy’s club has a penchant for putting the kibosh on female-driven innovations.
Sex toy company Lora DiCarlo’s robotic massager, called the Osé, was developed at Oregon State University’s robotics lab and bills itself as a “product designed for hands-free blended orgasms” that uses “advanced micro-robotics” to mimic human touch.
But as the staff at Lora DiCarlo started prepping for the event, Haddock got an email from the Consumer Technology Association, which organizes CES, rescinding the offer.
It cited a clause in the award submissions guidelines that reads: “Entries deemed by CTA in their sole discretion to be immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA’s image will be disqualified.”
‘Arbitrary and capricious’
“Our big thing was: How is female sexual health and wellness and female pleasure immoral or obscene?” Haddock told As It Happens host Carol Off.
“The thing that we found arbitrary and capricious and very biased was the fact that there are, in fact, other products like this at CES that have been displaying for years.”
She’s referring to adult product companies like RealDoll, which debuted its first sex robot Harmony at CES in 2017 and is introducing a new model named Solana at this year’s event.
Or Naughty America, which showcased its virtual reality porn at CES in 2016 and is back this year with its augmented reality porn app that allows users to use their smartphone cameras to display erotic pole dancers.
The annual tech show has also come under fire for its use of “booth babes” — scantily-clad models who draw attention to products on the exhibition floor.
“It seems to us that products that are explicitly allowed for men in an explicit sexual nature are allowed more of a pass than products that are geared toward female pleasure and female sexuality,” Haddock said.
“We firmly believe that women, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and LGBTQI folks should be vocally claiming our space in pleasure and tech,” she said.
She also charged there was a double-standard at work when it comes to sexual health products.
“Men’s sexuality is allowed to be explicit, with a literal sex robot in the shape of an unrealistically proportioned woman and VR porn in point of pride along the aisle,” she said.
‘We don’t have a category for sex toys’
When Haddock pressed the CTA about this, she received a followup email from CTA president and CEO Gary Shapiro and executive vice-president Karen Chupka, this time with no mention of obscenity.
“Unfortunately, [Osé] does not fit into any of our existing product categories and should not have been accepted for the Innovation Awards Program,” it reads.
That doesn’t track with Haddock either.
“The fact is we went through a vetting process by the CTA then we followed that up with being judged by a panel of expert judges in robotics who decided we were at the top of the pile and they gave us an award,” she said.
A CTA spokesperson wouldn’t answer questions about the discrepancy between the two emails or CTA’s inclusion of other adult companies.
“The product referenced does not fit into any of our existing product categories and should not have been accepted for the Innovation Awards Program. CES does not have a category for sex toys,” the company said in an emailed statement.