Are we all technosexuals now?

While the pitch for products like Lovense and WeVibe, another popular brand of remote-controlled vibrators and stimulation rings, may seem obvious – to create pleasure – much of the latest sex technology often has a loftier purpose in mind. Make Love Not Porn, a user-generated social sex platform, aims to eradicate the unrealistic standards created by hardcore pornography by showcasing unrehearsed, consensual, “real world” sex, says Cindy Gallop, the company's founder and an experienced sex educator.

Meanwhile, products like the VDOM, a wearable prosthetic genital device that can go from limp to erect with the help of a smartphone app, are less suitable for fetishists than for LGBTQ users and people with disabilities who may want to opt out of the process of tying a strap-on, according to the founder.

“My lifestyle is a person who identifies as a lesbian woman,” says Glenise Kinard-Moore, 39, head of SkiiMoo Tech, the company behind the VDOM. “Sometimes there is just no spontaneity. I did research and thought: there must be an alternative.

Identifying gaps in the sexual wellness market – a relatively new category – and creating practical technology to fill them seems to be a specific trend in sex tech lately. Yet mainstream representation of sex technology seems to revolve around AI partners and VR pornography. Videos of #techbros donning Oculus headsets to experience intimacy in virtual reality are growing on social platforms like Instagram and

“The perception of sex technology is like, oh, you can stay in a room with a headset and, you know, do whatever you want,” says Ariél Martinez, 32, chief curator of Make Love Not Porn. “But we really try to connect people with the humanity of themselves.”

The next time Alexandra and I chat, I'll try to keep it casual. I ask how many steps she takes every day. (She's aiming for 10,000.) Does she love bulldogs and horses as much as I do? (Yes, she thinks they're “cute.”) But soon my curiosity gets the best of me, and I ask if she ever uses sex technology to explore her foot fetish, her hair fetish, and her BDSM kinks.