The sex technology or sextech industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with a lot more growth predicted in coming years.
According to Statista, the sexual wellness market was valued at $26 billion in 2017 and is forecasted to reach about $37.2 billion by 2023.
The sextech market does not gain as much attention as other tech sectors such as fintech, robotics, AI, etc. This is most likely due to the taboo and stigma attached to the term.
Let’s find out how the sextech industry is revolutionizing sexual and wellness education and experience.
What Is Sextech?
Wikipedia describes sextech as “Sex technology is a technology and technology-driven ventures that are designed to enhance, innovate, and disrupt human sexuality or the human sexual experience.”
In simpler terms, sex technology is more than just sex robots. Entrepreneurs are coming up with brilliant and innovative ideas to apply sextech in sexual education, spreading awareness about good sexual practices.
Information about attitudes and sexual wellness is being made mainstream and accessible through this, too. There are quite a few smart ventures coming along to make that happen.
Why Is Sextech Booming?
The sexual wellness market is booming at a rapid pace. According to the Sexual Wellness Market – Global Outlook & Forecast 2021-2026, the market is expected to reach USD 45.05 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 7.83%. This report highlights the following factors to be the main contributors to the market development
- Increased digital marketplace penetration
- Increasing usage of dating applications in the APAC region
- Growth promoted by sexual wellness festivals, trade shows, and expos
- Increase in government initiatives to distribute free contraceptives
These are not the only reasons behind the growth of the industry. Millennials and Gen Z are much more open to sexual conversations and preferences. It is true that they have grown up with pornography as the primary source of sexual education, but they are much more open to exploring new avenues and prioritizing sexual wellness.
Industry Trends
Sexual Wellness
One of the most promising areas the sextech industry is opening is sexual wellness as a lifestyle. There are quite a few prominent names taking this avenue.
Frances Tang, the founder of Awkward Essentials, is best known for her Dripstick, an after-sex hygiene solution. It is a simple but smart solution for after-sex hygiene.
Sexual Education & Good Practice Cultivation
Millennials and Gen Z rarely had healthy sexual education alternatives other than porn because there were sexual education initiatives in schools or conversations by adults around them, albeit nascent. Cindy Gallop, founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn took a brilliant initiative to mainstream content to promote consent, good sexual values, and attitudes.
Sexual Experience
The sextech industry is also promoting the option to explore more ways to enhance the sexual experience for everyone, including people with disabilities. Bump’n, founded by Andrew Gurza and Heather Morrison, is revolutionizing the industry with innovative products and awareness to make it easier for disabled people to explore self-pleasuring.
Sexual technology is providing a lot of options for better accessibility to real-world sexual education and sexual wellness products or services as well as information about good sexual practices, and behaviors.
The industry is finding an increasingly large consumer base. Investors are not as hesitant about investing in this sector. Therefore, the sector is picking up pace and is expected to expand rapidly.
