1. How can I participate?

Any person who has a Lioness Biofeedback Vibrator can participate. Go to the research tab in the Lioness app. There, you will have the option to opt in to share your data with vetted researchers who are using the platform, view current and upcoming studies, and see what studies you may be interested in that require additional criteria, information, or guidance.

Research Platform screenshot on the Lioness App

2. What data is shared?

By opting in, the data that will be shared with vetted researchers are sensor data (force sensor, temperature, accelerometer, gyroscope), date, timezone, vibration levels, tags, and notes. By default you are opted out, which means no data is shared. The data Lioness collects is de-identified and anonymous, so researchers (and the Lioness company) do not know whose data is whose.

Additionally, sometimes different research projects will require additional information beyond the data Lioness collects as listed above — many projects require demographic information that Lioness does not collect.

You can check what the researcher needs and make sure you approve of the requirements before signing up.

3. What if I do not want to participate?

Every user is by default opted-out of all medical and academic research. You need to proactively opt in to individual research projects in order to share your Lioness data and any other requirements a researcher may need.

4. What are current and upcoming studies?

Click here to check out the current studies. We are actively in discussions with other researchers on topics ranging from physiology, behavioral, and medical applications. Watch this space!

5. What if I don't have a Lioness?

For now, you need a Lioness product in order to participate on the platform. There may be studies in the future that do not require a Lioness product, but because the Lioness technology is the only thing out there that provides both physiological and subjective sexual function data at a global scale, it is otherwise logistically difficult to do most studies on the platform without a device like it.

If you are curious to learn more, you can learn more about Lioness here and how to get one for yourself. We are hoping in the future to provide more ways to expand the range of users who can participate on the research platform through external funding and expanded product lines, though as we are a small company with just five people and limited funds, the timeline on all of this is unknown.

Given the complexity of the hardware and technology, each device is extremely time intensive and expensive to produce (more than most typical vibrators — equivalent research tools like the Lioness can cost $1000+ for comparison). Furthermore, research related to sex, pleasure, and physiological function has historically had extremely limited funding, so we do not have a timeline for when this might be rolled out in the future.

We'd love to accelerate this more, but remember that sex has been taboo since the beginning of time so ... there's a lot of work to do. Remember that Rome wasn't built in a day, either! But we're trying our best. Your support and spreading the word about these efforts would be invaluable to us.

If any potential investors or donors want to help accelerate this... please get in touch!

With pride,
Liz and Anna (Lioness Co-founders)
and the Lioness Team

Anna Lee and Liz Klinger
Lioness Co-founders