Samantha Cole is the author of How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex (read an excerpt on virtual reality here). Cole is a senior editor for Motherboard, Vice Media’s science and technology outlet, where she covers sexuality, online culture, platforms, and the adult industry, and in 2020, she was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for best digital news coverage.
In this exclusive interview, Residence 11 interviewed Samantha Cole about the evolution of the evolution of the internet and sex tech, sex and virtual reality, laws regarding pornography and sex work, and more. Catch Samantha Cole live discussing sex, dating, and virtual reality at our Residence 11 Desire East Summit, being held October 7 and 8 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Learn more about Samantha Cole on her website or on Twitter @samleecole.
Below please find selected excerpts from the interview, some of which have been condensed.
On censorship and content crackdowns on social media platforms:
“They’re focused on stopping sex trafficking online, which no one disagrees with that it’s a great mission, but the way that they’re implemented is too broad, too vague. It’s catching consensual adult activity and free speech in this net. A lot of it comes down to . . . a brand of evangelical Christianity that wants to kind of say no to all porn.
Then that bleeds over into pressure put on the banks to not serve these websites because they’re being accused of exploitation. Then that pressure trickles down to the platforms which can no longer pay people or themselves.”
On the rise of the internet and the pathologizing of “sex addiction:”
“It’s something that came around as the Internet came about, because you didn’t really hear about people getting addicted to Playboy magazines or VHS tapes; it wasn’t really a thing. It’s not something that [people] had access to all the time.
Suddenly, people can look at porn, [or have] sex with each other [or] do webcam sessions all the time now. A lot of people did have really disordered reactions sudden access to all of the porn that they could ever want, limitless varieties. It was definitely something that people struggled with.
But to call it addiction was to pathologize the very natural human desires that a lot of people have just to feel connection, especially sexual connection. [Often] it’s more about the shame that people feel around it that makes them feel like they’re out of control, or they’re looking at too much porn. A lot of times it’s something underlying that; maybe they’re anxious, maybe they’re depressed, maybe there’s something else that they’re trying to fill a need for that there’s looking at porn to do for them. A lot of people get into it early, because they’re looking for information about sex. They want to know how it’s done; they don’t get that information in a safe way anymore.”