This report is not only the world’s largest physiological data set on sexual behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s also the world’s biggest study done on real world, in-the-bedroom-where-sex-happens sex (rather than in the confines of a research laboratory) in general!
How has COVID-19 changed our sex lives?
COVID sex and its alleged sex toy boom is an ambiguous conclusion at best. While a number of stories in the media may lead you to believe that everyone is buying more sex toys and having more sex, we have evidence that those bedrooms are not actually that buzzy. Using Lioness Vibrator product usage as our guide, we’ve observed far more convincing evidence of a significant drop-off in masturbation frequency as the year wore on relative to 2019 for the same users.
We looked at anonymous aggregate physiological usage statistics from 1879 Lioness users primarily in the United States who were active in 2019 and 2020 and nearly 40,000 sessions recorded from January 1, 2019 through December 12, 2020. Specifically, there were 19,578 total sessions in 2019 and 19,481 total sessions in 2020*. We supplemented this data with a smaller qualitative user survey of 235 Lioness user respondents to better understand what was going on from a qualitative perspective.
Key takeaways:
– Less Frequent: Masturbation frequency plummeted while the pandemic boomed — November 2020 showed a 37.78% decline in masturbation frequency when compared to frequency in November 2019.
– Longer Duration: Between February 2020 and April 2020, average session duration decreased by 20 seconds. However, between July 2020 and November 2020, average session duration increased by 30 seconds—which is roughly correlated to when US COVID cases spiked.
– Higher Quality (When It Happened)? The most common session rating in 2019 was a 4/5, while the most common rating in 2020 was a 5/5.
See the full report at www.lioness.io/covid-study.
Animated GIFs available at lioness.io/covid-study.
How does the Lioness Sex Research Platform work?
The research platform leverages Lioness’s first product, a smart biofeedback vibrator. With the Lioness Vibrator people can visualize their sexual response and orgasm through biofeedback, data, and artificial intelligence. To date, the company has analyzed over 100,000 anonymized, aggregate “sessions” (including orgasms) from around the world.
Right now, anyone with a Lioness Vibrator can opt in to the research platform for free. We’ve received research inquiries from all over the world and hundreds of signups from users to participate in the first two research studies on the platform; one on studying pleasure and menopause and one on device validation for clinical applications.
The Lioness Sex Research Platform is important. Here’s why:
This platform is the first of its kind, letting users participate in medical and academic research conducted by researchers from anywhere in the world. This type of data and techniques mid-20th century researchers like Masters and Johnson dreamed of having.
“Participating in research gives users more insights on their sex life that many Lioness users are looking for when purchasing Lioness. It also helps advance our scientific understanding of sex.
The field of female sexual response is ripe for opportunities for scientific breakthroughs that will inevitably lead to more knowledge and innovations that can improve everyone’s lives. It’s not just for women, but also for anyone with a vagina and their partners.”
Furthermore, real world data has never existed — until now — on how different people respond during sexual interactions in the bedroom (real world data means in a natural environment i.e. not a sterile lab), and especially not on a global scale. User participation has a lot of value for health and scientific breakthroughs that were previously not possible.
About Lioness
Lioness (www.lioness.io) is women-led company and a recognized pioneer and innovator in the Sextech and Femtech industries. Their in-house ex-Google X and ex-Amazon engineering team uses cutting-edge technologies to create new experiences for sexual exploration that were previously unimaginable.
Although their first product, the Lioness Smart Vibrator, may look like a basic sex toy, it’s the first and only vibrator to improve orgasms through biofeedback, data, and artificial intelligence. The Lioness Smart Vibrator was developed from over half a decade of research and development with sex researchers and doctors as well as conducting numerous user studies, analyzing 100,000+ orgasms, and incorporating the latest machine-learning developments. Lioness brings patented biofeedback technology previously only ever seen in research labs into a sleek, easy-to-use vibrator with an intuitive mobile app.
Today, the Lioness Sex Research Platform connects users and researchers to accelerate our medical and academic understanding of sexual wellness, health, and pleasure. Lioness is committed to its mission of destigmatizing female pleasure and correcting the systematic imbalances in sexual health research and education.
The Lioness Smart Vibrator took home multiple Best of Awards and Finalist awards at CES 2020 from Refinery29 and Engadget, won the Women’s Health Innovation Spotlight Powered by Johnson & Johnson, and was a finalist for Last Gadget Standing, one of the longest-running events produced by Living in Digital Times (LIDT) in partnership with CTA. Their engineering lead and Co-Founder Anna Lee is on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2020.
About Center for Genital Health and Education (CGHE)
CGHE (www.genitalhealth.org) is a non-profit, independent research center founded by sexuality educator Elizabeth Wood, MSW, CSSE and pelvic floor physical therapist Dee Hartmann, DPT, PT — pioneers in their fields with over five decades of combined experience.
Their mission is to provide high quality, evidence-based, independent research that will provide practical information to advance three main goals:
- Champion the study of genital diversity as the norm for all vulvas
- Advance education of sexual pain and pleasure by researching sexual function in the bedroom and out of the research lab
- Understanding pleasure, arousal and orgasm throughout the lifecycle
Links to animated GIF versions:
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https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2095/1465/files/masturbation-rating-2019-2020-lioness.gif?v=1610309266
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Related Images
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2095/1465/files/masturbation-decrease-2019-2020-lioness-2.gif?v=1610308695
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2095/1465/files/masturbation-rating-2019-2020-lioness.gif?v=1610309266
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2095/1465/files/masturbation-duration-2019-2020-lioness.gif?v=1610309711
Related Links
https://lioness.io/
https://lioness.io/pages/lioness-research-platform
https://lioness.io/covid-study
SOURCE Lioness
