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CES Caught Being Sexist… Again

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A person holds the Osé, a personal massger.

The Osé. Photo: Lora DiCarlo

Last year, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) managed to bring on 6 keynote speakers. Not one of them was a woman. It was the second year in a row that CES had not a single female keynote speaker. CES pledged to do better for their 2019 show. They brought on more women, they made the rules regarding booth babes slightly more strict.

But then, despite their minimal efforts, CES managed to screw up again this year. After many years promoting sex products made for men, including female sex robots and VR porn, CES rescinded an award for a female sex toy and banned the company from attending CES. Their reason? Immorality.

Their message was clear: male sexuality is okay, female sexuality is not. Porn made for men and by men? Okay. Sex robots made to please male fantasies and bodies? Okay. Booth babes in skimpy outfits? Also okay. But an object made for female sexuality? Suddenly sexuality is immoral.

CES once again showed its sexism. Their double standards only hurt women. CES reinforced something women have known about the event for decades: we are not welcome there.

The Toy

Ose toy on a green cloth backgroundLora DiCarlo’s Osé Robotic Massager won an “honoree” award in the robotics and drones category of CES’s Innovation Awards. They were going to present their product in public for the first time at CES, proudly displayed next to a plaque for their achievement. However, the group overseeing CES, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) implied that it was “immoral, obscene, indecent, profane, or not keeping with the CTA’s image” by rescinding its designation and forbidding the company from attending CES. After years of sex toys, porn, and booth babes for men, including this year, women’s sex toys were banned.

“We firmly believe that women, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and LGBTQI folks should be vocally claiming our space in pleasure and tech.”

– Lora Haddock, Founder and CEO of Lora DiCarlo

Lorna DiCarlo was founded by a woman and largely employs women. It’s a company for women by women. The toy in question, the Osé, is the company’s first sex toy. It’s designed to mimic a skilled human partner, not a buzzing mechanism or unbalanced motor in sight. Instead, is uses micro robotics. That advanced micro robotics system is what lead to the toy winning one of the CES’s Innovation Awards. But the fact that it was a sex toy made for women is what lead to it losing that designation.

Hypocrisy, Sexism, and Double Standards

Models in fitness attire. Extremely tight workout pants and crop tops with pushup bras. They're modeling stereo equipment.

Yes, even in 2018, partially dressed models are present at CES. Photo: Edward C. Baig/USA TODAY

CES is rife with sex. Companies hire attractive female models to parade around their products. Originally, this was done in skimpy outfits. New recommendations at CES after complaints of sexism have put these women in more moderate clothing, but CES hasn’t been strict about their guidance. These aren’t rules, they’re suggestions. As such, booth babes are everywhere. Companies are still hiring women to model their products rather than the engineers who build it. They’re still using sex to sell their products.

Uncanny valley: a sex robot that looks incredibly human, but not quite there. Just her bust (that is, her head and chest) are visible.

Harmony from RealDoll, a sex robot shown off at CES. Photo: Engadget

Furthermore, there’s actual sex products at CES. You can find VR headsets with a long list of VR porn, sex robots, and other sex toys designed for men. That last part is the important part. Toys for men have been perfectly fine. A toy designed by women for women, however, was too far for CES and the CTA governing body.

Sexism has traditionally forbid women from owning their sexuality. From scientists denying the existence of the female orgasm, to the submissive role women are supposed to take in dating behavior, women have been pushed away from asserting their own desires. It’s that sexism that forbids toys like the Osé, but allows sex robots like Harmony.

Sexist Awards

Only 1 out of 100 CES Best of Innovation Award winners are female founded. Lora DiCarlo’s Osé would have been the 1% this year. It’s true, women in tech have a much harder time getting funding, finding work, retaining their positions, and moving up the corporate ladder. Ellen Pao, former venture capitalist with Kleiner Perkins, points out in her book Reset that her company disproportionately favored young male entrepreneurs. This makes tech an extremely toxic place for women. We can’t get the funding to start companies in tech, and, once anyone does, we can’t easily get jobs or move up into higher management roles. All while facing lower pay and rampant sexual harassment.

Clearly, this makes women a minority when it comes to representation in CES’s awards.

Comment from Engadget article. Transcript: "we want them to move and walking too Just imagine asking her to move to the positions you want to her. Sensors are great but not enough to me -Start of emphas-Final step will be to replace all [could] a wife do in better. For instance : checking your mails, ordering items or restaurants, helping and assisting us in our work. Women will be obsolete LOL.-end of emphasis-"

This is the kind of sexism CES’s double standards fuel, from an article about a sex robot shown off at CES.

However, 1 in 100 still seems like an extremely low number. Women received 2% of venture capital funding in 2017, after a dramatic drop. You’d expect the number of awarded CES businesses with female founders to be higher than 1%.

This can come down to the way male judges are more harsh on female scientists, or how men are less likely to allow a woman to speak her part without interruption. CES could do better to educate judges of bias or simply bring more women on as judges. Instead, they reinforce the bias that women already face in the tech industry. This means that the few female founders who can bring a product forward are further pushed away from the expo floor.

The fact that Lora DiCarlo’s product was able to win an award despite this is nothing short of extraordinary. The fact that CES pulled the award and banned the company shows just how sexist the organization is, and how they do everything in their power to keep it that way.

Toxic CES

CES has never been good. It has always permitted booth babes, it has kept female entrepreneurs out of the spotlight, and it has blocked women from speaking at their keynote addresses for the past two out of three years. CES is flawed at its very core. Companies increasingly don’t want to take part in CES. They don’t want to be associated with that sexist atmosphere of booth babes and exclusion. The only thing that could save the expo from falling into obscurity would be a complete overhaul. That’s not going to happen soon, but consumer interest in CES is waning. Corporate interest will follow.

I say good riddance.

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