Ban on sex toy sparks sexism row at CES

The Las Vegas tech show has been accused of double standards after it removed an award for a sex toy 
Lora DiCarlo's founder, Lora Haddock, which created the Ose robotic massager

A sexism row has swept the world’s biggest consumer tech fair after it emerged that an innovation award for a women’s sex toy was revoked because it was deemed “immoral and obscene”.

The Osé “robotic massager” has now been banned from being exhibited at the CES gadget fair in Las Vegas.

The device was designed by start-up firm Lora DiCarlo, which employs mostly female engineers and has accused organisers of “double standards” and stifling innovation.

An independent judging panel had scored the gadget highly across all criteria in the run-up to this week’s show, before the Consumer Technology Association stepped in.

Lora Haddock, the founder of Lora DiCarlo, said the association told her it had made “an error” in processing the application, and the device was ineligible for the robotics and drones category. After appealing against the decision, she was told any product “deemed by CTA in their sole discretion to be immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA’s image will be disqualified”.

The Osé device, developed with Oregon State University researchers, uses micro-robotic technology and is said to mimic sensations “for an experience that feels just like a real partner”.

Ms Haddock said organisers of the tech fair were guilty of double standards because a sex doll for men was launched at the show last year, along with robot lap-dancers, while virtual reality pornography exhibits are often on show. So-called “booth babes” — scantily clad women designed to lure men to company stands — regularly featured before being banned several years ago.

Ms Haddock said: “Osé is the subject of eight pending patents and counting for robotics, biomimicry and engineering feats. From the exclusion of female founders and executives to the lack of female-focused products allowed to exhibit on the floor, there are demonstrable issues with diversity.”

The CTA said: “The product referenced does not fit into any of our existing product categories and should not have been accepted for the Innovation Awards Program. CES does not have a category for sex toys. CTA had communicated this position to Lora DiCarlo nearly two months ago and we have apologised to them for our mistake.”

  • Mark Blunden flew as a guest of Virgin Atlantic, which flies daily from Gatwick to Las Vegas. More details at virginatlantic.com

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