Technology invades all the rooms in our house, so why don’t we talk about its impact in the bedroom? Dr. Dweck and Rachel talk taboo with Bryony Cole, a leading expert in sex tech. Her global sex tech hackathon events and Future of Sex podcast are considered the pinnacle of industry insights and innovation. Bryony is a sought-after consultant who partners with organizations across the world forecasting trends in the sextech industry for governments, tech titans and entertainment companies and walks our hosts through her trailblazing journey from the very beginning.
The hosts and their guest dive right into stigma and how communication, education and social media are the driving force behind increasing popularity in the industry. Bryony speaks to sex and the pandemic and how the absence of touch has changed our relationships both in the short term and long term as we are able to return to proximity with others. Dr. Alyssa and Rachel spark an interesting discussion about Bryony’s legacy of inspiring others and bringing other, mainly female, entrepreneurs alongside finding success in a budding industry.
The episode wraps with Bryony sharing insight from her years of experience and insight into what’s to come in the future of sex tech with an obligatory unmissable story of a robot encounter.
Watch the Interview with Bryony Cole
TOPICS COVERED:
- How Bryony left a career at Microsoft and became a phenomenon in an industry considered taboo.
- Taking up space: girls being heard, bucking the norm, and making change happen.
- Sex and the pandemic
- What’s next in the dating world?
- Normalizing sex & sex tech through social media
- School for entrepreneurs in sex tech
- Future trends in the industry
QUOTES:
07:57: “I so believe in future generations of young girls having to have a voice and be taking up space.”
10:29: “So I think there’s these little changes often led by women that open up the conversation which are you know, so overdue.”
12:34: “It is so polarizing whenever we think about technology… I hear either people’s hopes or it releases all these fears and we’re headed for this dystopia where technology is evil and going replace us and I think it does both… It’s never going to be the utopia that we wish, but it does a good job of connecting people.”
16:19: “Video dating is now the new norm.”
17:40: “Violence in digital spaces can be and can feel as violating as in person.”
23:18: “I realize so many people have great ideas because of the shitty experiences that they’ve had. Whether that was painful sex or you know, unfortunately, like assault, harassment, and the issue was they didn’t know how to get started.”
24:34: “There was so many interesting, exciting ideas that I felt like I just needed a bit of encouragement, a bit of industry knowledge and also the resources to know where to look and the capital because it is so hard in this industry>’
25:22: “When you’re brave enough to do something that is a risk and it comes with a lot of strange faces from family or friends or even partners going, what the hell are you doing? You need that support network that are going to keep cheering you on and say keep going.”
26:10: “the quality of bringing a lot of women together in a space where we’ve felt very small for a while, building something and also crashing through some pretty big walls together is really exciting.”
29:13: “In the wake of all these trailblazing women of sex tech that have created these companies are all these other really interesting communities that have been ignored too, that now are sort of rising up.”
31:07: “honestly today when we think about all this technology that we’re using, it’s often not that sophisticated or complex, right? It’s really simple stuff that is actually making the most impact.”
About Bryony Cole:
Bryony Cole has amassed a global following as the go-to expert on sex tech. With over one million downloads of her Future of Sex podcast, and extensive global media coverage she is the trusted authority for industry insights in The New York Times, The Today Show, Wired and many other global media. Bryony has written for Playboy. and appeared on TV shows such as Netflix’s FollowThis Series, Vice Slutever, The Money Channel, and The Morning Show on Channel 7.
As a highly-regarded speaker, her stage presence roster includes some of the world’s largest culture, technology and ideas events such as SXSW and Vivid. Her global sex tech hackathon events and Future of Sex reports are considered the pinnacle of industry insights and innovation. She is a sought-after consultant who partners with organizations across the world forecasting trends in the sex tech industry for governments, tech titans and entertainment companies. Most recently, Marie Claire awarded her podcast Future of Sex as ‘one of the best sex and relationship podcasts of 2020’.
CONTACT BRYONY COLE: