Sexual thrill seekers drive the development of computer and web technology, declares doctor

What’s the biggest driver for the development of computer and internet technology? Sexual thrill. So says Dr Trudy Barber, an expert on cyberspace and sexual subcultures, has spent years researching how people's sexual choices help shape new technology, including the internet, which she likens to the development of video players which brought pornographic films into the home in the late 1970s.

According to Barber, who is speaking at the Royal Society of Medicine this week, computers are increasingly being used by those seeking sexual thrills and this use is helping inspire new and innovative technologies, according to a cybersex expert from University of Portsmouth.

"People are inspired by their own sexual inclinations which results in some innovative uses of technology," she says. "Nothing shocks me now although I’m frequently surprised at how ingenious people are in order to obtain sexual satisfaction."

Dr Barber defines cybersex as computer mediated sexual contact or technologically mediated intimacy. This can mean anything from phone sex to someone literally being wired up to a personal computer server through which others in cyberspace can access and give sexual pleasure.

"Computer technology touches so many aspects of our lives it's really not so surprising that it would infiltrate and influence our sex lives. In contemporary western society sex is for pleasure and for entertainment and computers will have an increasing role to play," she says.

Her talk aims to bring a wider recognition of sexual lifestyle options to doctors and sexologists who are trying to better understand more contemporary sexual practices.

Dr Barber's research has led her to internet sites such as Second Life, an internet-based virtual world where 'Residents' assume an alter-ego called an avatar to interact with each other online. She has found that people there are quick to adopt the sexual practices from their regular lives into their second life.

"The role of deviation as a key to innovation must not be overlooked as it will contribute to our understanding of new intimacy, culture and the future of developing information and communications technologies," she says.