Most things are improved by technology – and vibrators are no exception. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since the days of Hitachi magic wands waking up all your neighbours at 2am when you thought you were being super-stealth. However, for the most part we’ve never thought about syncing our phones up to our fannies – until now. 

Liz Klinger's Lioness Vibrator aims to change that. The vibrator is fitted out with sensors that monitor vaginal contraction, temperature and positioning. You sync it to an app on your phone, collecting data that is then charted in an “arousal curve.” The aim is to teach women about what makes them aroused and help them to understand their sex drive and what stimulation they like best.

The ultimate goal is “to empower women to learn more about their own bodies and to break longstanding taboos around female sexuality.” And they’re well on their way to achieving this, having raised over $92,000 of their funding target (the vibrators retail for $199 + shipping).

Nowadays, there’s increasing awareness of how technology may enable women to close the so-called “orgasm gap” (the gap between the amount of orgasms men have relative to women). Although we’re a long way from the days of Sigmund Freud postulating that women should be able to come through intercourse alone (clitoral stimulation being “an adolescent phenomenon”), nonetheless the fact remains that we’re still hugely in the dark about female sexuality. If you don’t believe me, think about some of your favourite Hollywood films – where the woman will come from about fifteen seconds of gently humping missionary.

To find out more, we spoke to Klinger down the line from California to find out whether this really is the vibrator of the future.

Hi Liz, thanks for speaking to us. Could you explain where the idea for the Lioness Vibrator came from?

Liz Klinger: After college I started working for Passion Parties, which sells intimacy products, and I started talking to women from all walks of life and different ages and I realised that so many women had questions. Like, they were going through menopause and their sex drive was changing, or they’d just had babies. And all these questions are what gave me the idea for the vibrator.

What about your background? Have you always been interested in female sexuality?

Liz Klinger: (Laughs). I never expected to be doing this growing up. I’m from the mid-west of the United States, and I never talked about sex with my parents– it just never came up. But the less we talked about sex, the more curious I was to learn about it. Because sex and sexuality play such a big role in everyone’s lives, but we don’t really talk about it.

As a woman in the male-dominated field of tech, was it hard trying to bring a product like this to market?

Liz Klinger: I actually experienced more problems when I was still at college. Even in Berkeley, which is one of the most liberal parts of the US, I entered this competition and I found out that one of the judges gave me a bad mark because he thought that women masturbating was wrong, that women shouldn’t masturbate. That was his main reason for giving me a bad mark. And this is in Berkeley, of all places. So it’s clear that there’s a lot of work to be done to change the conversation around female sexuality and make it less of a taboo topic. 

What about from your male peers in the tech industry? The tech industry is not especially renowned for being female-friendly.

Liz Klinger: You look at a room, you look at the demographics of tech, and there are a lot of guys. So that can be hard sometimes. You get lots of reactions, from giggling or laughing to people who are obviously uncomfortable. But there are also some great people. I’ve seen the best and the worst of the tech world in terms of the reaction to my product.

What’s your ultimate aim for the vibrator? Would people be able to have a spreadsheet of their masturbation times or something?

Liz Klinger: No, that would be so boring! But I’d like to see us be able to give women recommendations for what techniques they can use. Like, “here are some things you have liked before, here are some things you can try at a time when you are curious”. Or you could share the information with a partner if you wanted to try some things out together. 

What’s the feedback been like?

Liz Klinger: It’s been pretty interesting. Most people start out with a few questions and are just curious. Then after using it for a few weeks they have loads more feedback. One tester said "I notice my sex drive changes over the course of the month, it’s like a cycle, and it’s linked to my period or to how stressed I am". Or another person noticed they could use this information to talk to their partner about what they like in bed, what sort of foreplay they need and how long it takes to become aroused. So as well as being pleasurable, the vibrator sparks curiosity in people – which I think can only be a good thing.

You can buy a Lioness Vibrator here.