- The Lioness Vibrator, a sex toy you can control through an app, is a finalist for the Consumer Electronic Show’s ‘Last Gadget Standing’ award.
- The device allows users to track their orgasm patterns, monitor sessions, and see how outside factors like stress, sleep, and stimulants may impact sexual pleasure.
- The nomination comes as a surprise because of the Consumer Technology Association’s (CTA) controversial decision last year to strip a vibrator of a similar title in 2019.
- ‘Last Gadget standing’ awards are a coveted honor and have previously gone to consumer hits like the Roomba and Palm Pilot.
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The Lioness Vibrator Generation 2, a sex toy you can control through a phone app, is a finalist for the Consumer Electronic Show’s (CES) ‘Last Gadget Standing’ award.
The device allows users to track their orgasm patterns, monitor sessions, and see how outside factors like stress, sleep, and stimulants may impact sexual pleasure.
Hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in Las Vegas, CES is a major yearly tech conference focusing on consumer products. ‘Last Gadget Standing’ awards are coveted honors that have previously gone to hits like the Roomba and Palm Pilot.
The vibrator’s nomination is surprising because of the CTA’s controversial decision last year to strip a vibrator, the Osé personal massager, of a similar CES award.
Lioness was actually barred from attending CES in 2017 because of the sexual nature of its products.
"We've been so excited and grateful about the news, especially since when we had launched the original Lioness back in 2017, CES denied us a booth when they found out our work pertained to womxn-centric pleasure. So much has changed in the last few years," Liz Klinger, cofounder of Lioness, told Insider in an email.
Foto: (Left to Right) Lioness cofounders Anna Lee and Liz Klinger with the Lioness Vibrator Generation 2.sourceLioness
The Lioness Generation 2 was developed after analyzing data from over 30,000 orgasms
Lioness was founded in 2017 by Klinger and Anna Lee, an ex-Amazon engineer who was recently selected for Forbes's 30 under 30 list.
Described by Oprah Magazine as "a sort of Fitbit for down below," the Lioness Generation 2 uses an app to detect sexual pleasure patterns and see what makes users orgasm, including a chart that measures the length of sessions, percentage of vibration, and more.
The Lioness Generation 2 was designed with the help of a team of sex researchers, doctors, and engineers who analyzed user data from over 30,000 orgasms. The Lioness incorporates machine-learning technology and changes to better suit a user's sexual needs.
"Lioness brings patented technology previously only ever seen in research labs into a sleek, easy-to-use vibrator with an intuitive mobile app," Klinger said. "Although Lioness may look like a basic sex toy, it's the first and only vibrator to improve orgasms through data."
The app protects user-data by encrypting it to make it inaccessible to outsiders, according to the company's website.
The Lioness Generation 2 will make its debut at CES next week.
https://t.co/Rx3x32DevI Congratulations @LionessHealth for making it to final round ouf #Lastgadget at #ces2020, A first, for sure.
— Last Gadget Standing (@GadgetLast) January 1, 2020
The Osé personal massager won a CES award in 2019 but was stripped of its title
While the nomination is "a first" according to the 'Last Gadget Standing' award Twitter page, it isn't the first time a sex toy has been nominated for a CES award.
The Osé personal massager, a product designed by self-described "woman-run startup" Lora DiCarlo, won the 2019 CES Innovation Award in the robotics-and-drones category - but the victory was short-lived.
The same week Lora DiCarlo was scheduled to present its product at CES, CTA organizers promptly stripped the product of its title and barred the company from doing a product demo.
The CTA told Business Insider in a statement that the Osé personal massager was disqualified because "CES does not have a category for sex toys."
However, according to an open letter to the CTA from Lora Haddock, founder and CEO of Lora DiCarlo, the CTA changed its story, saying that the organization had actually barred the Osé on "moral grounds."
Haddock wrote that the decision was sexist and cited technology catered toward "explicit male sexuality and pleasure" being allowed to exhibit and even win awards in previous years, including like VR porn, sex dolls, and robotic strippers.
Following the open letter and public outcry, the CTA restored Osé's winning status and issued an apology to Lora DiCarlo.
The winner of the "Last Gadget Standing" award will be announced next week on Jan. 9 at CES in Las Vegas. Attendees of the conference can vote to chose the winning product.
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