Open-Minded IFA Shows CES How to Exhibit Sex Toys in a Classy, Educational Way (CNET)

Read the full article by Katie Collins at CNET.com

Commentary: For years, Europe's biggest tech show has been displaying a more enlightened approach to sex toys.

Vegas tech bonanza CES could be described using a multitude of words -- "sexy" isn't one of them. But in 2020, that'll likely change, as the Consumer Technology Association, the group that runs the event, has said sex toys will be allowed at the show for the first time.

Following a controversy at CES earlier this year over the treatment of startup Lora DiCarlo, whose sex tech device had its innovation award revoked and then later returned, the CTA revised its rules about sex tech companies attending the show. The products will fall under the health and wellness category or be featured at the show's startup wing, and they'll have to demonstrate a level of innovation, the CTA said.

Sex tech might be new for CES, but on the other side of the Atlantic at German tech show IFA, sex toys have been displayed since 2017. As the CTA prepares to welcome sex tech startups for the first time, it could do worse than mimic IFA's enlightened approach.

For the past three years running, British sex toy company MysteryVibe has chosen the Berlin-based event as its venue to launch its latest products, and 2019 is no exception. Founder and CEO Soumyadip Rakshit praised the attitude of the organizers as he showed me a display of flexible silicone toys at the MysteryVibe stand, including the new Poco, a small, flexible, app-paired vibrator with two motors, 16 intensity levels and eight preset patterns.

"Every year we want to use IFA again, because there's such an open-minded platform where everybody comes and genuinely wants to understand what this is about, rather than think it's frivolous," he said. "We can present it in a very logical, well-informed way to consumers, and without having to hide it."