SexTech TO: Building Canada's First SexTech Community

Billed as "Toronto's first ever platform bringing together SexTech professionals and enthusiasts," this inaugural show happened at the beginning of the month in Canada's largest city. The event aimed to build a community of sextech professionals working in the area, cultivate relationships that spark collaboration, creativity, and innovation, and provide a first meeting of like-minded individuals.

As we're all well aware, a wide range of products, services, and mind-(and loin)-blowing experiences fall under the umbrella of sex tech these days. SexTech TO catered to and explored these interests while promoting a culture of acceptance and exploration.

Alexandra Friedman co-produced the event with Erin York and shares her thoughts below.

First of all, how did the event go? In what ways did the proceedings exceed your expectations, and in what ways did you think, "Mmm, well, we aren't going to be doing that ever again," if you thought that way at all?

The event went so much smoother than I anticipated! Since this was my first time running an event at this scale, I was expecting the unexpected. I was preparing myself to be running around all day putting out fires, but there were none. The speakers all ran on time, the volunteers were on top of things, and I was actually able to enjoy myself, meet people, and catch bits of everyone's talks. I was blown away; it was such a well-oiled (well-lubed?) machine. 

What is the most difficult aspect of putting on an event? And then, what are the specific intricacies of putting on an event about sextech?

The hardest part was marketing, getting the word out to the right people. The sexuality industry faces so much censorship online that it sometimes makes advertising feel like you're screaming into the void. We're constantly trying to appease the algorithm, spelling out words in discreet ways, just hoping that platforms don't hide or take down our content. For sextech in particular, it was also a challenge to get people on board when they've never heard the term "sextech" before. People who don't know what it means aren't sure if it's applicable to them, but in reality, it's almost inevitable that everyone has interacted with some form of sextech as an adult in 2025. 

What fall under the sex tech definition these days in your opinion?

My quick definition of sextech is "any form of technology that enhances human sexuality." It's a very broad category. Sex toys are usually the first and only thing people think of, but it also includes things like porn, dating apps, and other things people might not think of, like assistive devices for folks with disabilities or online sex education platforms. 

What do we most need to work on when it comes to our sex positivity these days? Where are we most lacking or where most of our prejudices lie?

There is still such a huge stigma in our culture around talking about sex, and this really stems from shame. Our culture teaches us to be ashamed of our sexualities, our bodies, and our desires from so many angles (school, religion, media, etc). Then there's a horrible loop that continues, where people feel shame, so they try to keep information under wraps, so there's a lack of education, which then enables more shame. If you stay in the dark about something, it stays scary. Everyone has a body, has desires, has sex - sex education helps people learn that there's nothing wrong with them and gives them the tools to live their sexual lives in a healthy, safe, and fulfilling way. Sex ed literally saves lives.

Are you already planning for another conference and if so what do you want to tackle next time that you didn’t this time?

I would love to make this an annual event. It's a lot of work for 2 people (myself and my co-producer Erin York). If we can continue to get the proper funding, we can keep doing it. There is always so much positive feedback validating that these kinds of educational & community-building events are needed. I would love to grow the conference into a multi-day event with more programming, different learning tracks, and a vendor marketplace. There is so much room for growth in this industry.