Last week, AVN.com reported that electronics giant Samsung had kicked out a maker of “smart” sex toys from the company-run “Growth & Innovation in the Wearables Device Market” conference, which Samsung co-sponsored with the group, SF Women in Tech.
But though the conference was aimed at highlighting women in technology, apparently the welcome did not extend to women who conceive and design women’s sexual technology, because according to Lioness CEO and founder Liz Klinger, a Samsung official ordered her to take down her Lioness vibrator display, and told her, “you don’t belong here.”
The Lioness (pictured above) functions like a normal “rabbit” vibrator—but includes biofeedback data technology that allows users to analyze their orgasms, and use that data to improve the personal orgasmic experience.
Now, a week later, Samsung has issued an apology for kicking Klinger and her company out of the show—but then again, not really. The company issued its apology not to Klinger, but to the Vox Media-owned technology news site The Verge.
As of Wednesday, she told the site, Klinger had heard nothing from Samsung, and had seen the company’s “apology” only when a reporter for The Verge shared it with her.
The statement read:
Samsung is proud to support both women in technology and the future of wearable innovation. This was an event organized by women for women, and men allies who are interested in developing wearable solutions for women. We regret an interaction that occurred with a presenting startup and apologize to those involved. We have addressed this internally and will learn from this as we continue to sponsor female innovators.
But Klinger was not impressed.
“If you translate the statement, especially given the lack of any concrete steps or outreach at all, it basically says they don’t intend to change anything and this is just intended to dismiss what occurred, which is disappointing,” she told The Verge.
Klinger also said that she believed the company did not intend to include women’s sex tech firms in its future events, but instead had merely learned "to exclude/filter these companies ahead of time. What we'd hope for isn't anything huge, just a basic commitment of greater inclusion and concrete steps to achieve it.”
Unfortunately, experiencing discrimination simply because her company manufactures a sexual device for women is not a new experience for Klinger. According to The Verge, her company “had trouble just opening a bank account,” which, as AVN.com has reported, has been a common experience for many sexually oriented businesses.
Photo via Lioness.io
