VR "Sex Edutainment" is Here

For decades, porn has been blamed for creating unrealistic sexual expectations, and for some addicts, it's impacted the ability to have healthy sexual relationships in the real world. Now one adult entertainment company is using virtual reality – and one of the hottest porn stars out there – to teach guys how to have better sex, both for their own benefit and the benefit of their partner.

Virtual Sexology, a 180-degree video experience, stars 2015 AVN Cutest Newcomer August Ames, and can be viewed with anything from the mobile Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR to the high-end HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. It's been designed with the help of a real sex therapist, using methodology that is practiced around the world. Standing in the bedroom with the user, Ames guides you through a series of short, hands-on demonstrations – including breathing techniques to help focus on more pleasurable sexual intercourse and Kegel exercises to extend an erection or help prevent premature ejaculation.

It's based on the work of Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson – the real human sexuality experts featured in the on-going Showtime series Masters of Sex – who changed the field of human sexuality by introducing concepts like the ability for a female to have multiple orgasms through their bestselling book, Human Sexual Response. And to make the experience even more realistic, Virtual Sexology added a synchronized, real-world sexual experience, courtesy of a Kiiroo Onyx sex toy that mimics Ames' movements as she performs onscreen.

Before jumping into the "sex edutainment" game, Todd Glider, CEO of the BaDoink VR, the company that produced Sexology, says that they filmed over 80 "traditional" 180-degree sex scenes that run between 15 and 25 minutes each.

The idea to combine VR with sex education originated during a meeting at their headquarters in Barcelona last October.

"We were discussing what our company could address with this new mobile VR market," Glider says. "A lot of people have myriad sexual hang-ups, and because of immersive nature of VR, we could leverage that. We're not sex therapists, but we know about shooting adult entertainment. So we enlisted a proper sex therapist to create this program."

Glider found Hernando Chaves, a human sexuality professor and marriage and family therapist with a doctor of human sexuality degree from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, to develop Sexology.

Chaves believes the use of VR as a sex therapy medium will be very beneficial, especially since a lot of people have not tried sex therapy in the real world. After all, VR is all about doing things in the privacy of your own home.

"One thing people do is use porn to express themselves sexually," Chaves says. "Sex education can be valuable to improve the quality of relationships."

In Virtual Sexology, Chaves incorporated popular, long-used techniques from Masters and Johnson to work with issues such as early ejaculation and performance anxiety.

Chaves also includes breathing techniques and mindfulness work to keep the user calm and relaxed during sex, since a heightened sense of arousal can cause fear or self-doubt in some people. These are also connected with exerting and enhancing ejaculatory control, so one can last longer during a sexual experience, and separate ejaculation from orgasm. And of course, all of this sex ed is coming from a naked porn star.

"It's a sexualized depiction of these things so people can be pleasured and turned on, but learn about things at the same time," Chaves said.

Kassia Wosick, assistant professor of sociology at New Mexico State whose work has explored many facets of human sexuality, likes the idea of Virtual Sexology. She says it reminds her of the work that adult actress and director Nina Hartley has done, becoming a sex educator and producing "couples-oriented porn" for educational purposes. She released a series of how-to videos for couples covering everything from bondage to great sex while pregnant.

"On the one hand, the industry has long been criticized for inadvertently – or perhaps intentionally – educating its viewers on sexual behaviors, practices and experiences, albeit in ways that the general population may see as problematic," Wosick said. "People like Nina have seen a real opportunity in capitalizing on the fact that we, as Americans, need more sex education on an individual and collective basis. Asking questions, needing information, and seeking guidance for sexually-related matters has been quite taboo."

There's another component to Virtual Sexology. Using "teledildonics" technology, male users who purchase a $200 Kiiroo Onyx sex toy can feel like Ames is in the room with them. (It is essentially an internet-connected variation of the Fleshlight.) Dinorah Hernandez, who directed the new experience, says the Onyx syncs to Ames's movement as she performs. So if she starts stroking the penis from top to bottom, it creates a wave motion that replicates that in the toy.

Chaves believes teledildonics can help with the stop-start method, where the penis is stimulated to the point of orgasm but stopped beforehand to extend the plateau stage that Masters and Johnson identified in their research. Couples who are dealing with premature ejaculation can work together even if they're not together in the room.

(Read the full, original article here)