CES 2020 is permitting sex toys but rejecting scantily clad booth babes and male models. The conference's organizer, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), said the decision is intended to make CES more inclusive to all, amid accusations of sexism.

In January, the CTA faced a backlash for rescinding an innovation award to a female sex toy, and then banning the device maker—a women-led startup—from appearing at CES 2019.

CTA has now decided to clarify its stance on sex toy products. As part of a one-year trial, "tech-based sexual products" will be permitted in the Health and Wellness product and startup categories in the Eureka Park section of the show, the organization said in a Tuesday announcement.

Next year's CES is also banning exhibitors, both male and female, from wearing clothing that is "sexual revealing or that could be interpreted as undergarments." Any "clothing that reveals an excess of bare skin, or body-conforming clothing that hugs genitalia must not be worn," the CTA said.

How the association will enforce the new policies may be tricky. But don't expect a flood of sex toys. The products must be "innovative and include new or emerging tech to qualify," the CTA said. The show is also maintaining its existing ban on pornography. So no "anatomically correct dolls or robots intended for use in sexual acts," a CTA spokesperson told PCMag.

"The technology must be applicable to human sexual health and wellness," the spokesperson added. "CES defines sexual health products as technology products that aid humans' physical well-being in relation to sexuality."

The CTA took a very different approach when it came to the Ose sex toy, which was originally slated to receive an award at January's CES. The CTA later revoked the award on the grounds the device was "immoral, obscene, indecent, profane, or not in keeping with the CTA's image," according the device's maker, startup Lora DiCarlo.

The decision smacked of hypocrisy, given that other sex toys and scantily clad booth babes have been present at the annual show, usually for the amusement of male attendees. "You cannot pretend to be unbiased if you allow a sex robot for men but not a vagina-focused robotic massager," Lora DiCarlo's CEO, Lora Haddock, wrote at the time. "This double standard makes it clear that women's sexuality is not worthy of innovation."

The organizers behind CES appear to have taken the criticism seriously. On Tuesday, the CTA said it had been working with a "number of external advisors" on improving its existing policies.

"CTA is committed to evolving and continuing to create an experience at CES that is inclusive and welcoming for everyone," said the association's vice president, Karen Chupka, in today's announcement. As part of the policy updates, the CTA has also partnered with a company called The Female Quotient that's focused on advancing gender equality to host panel discussions at next year's CES.

Lora DiCarlo told PCMag it supported the policy updates, and plans on appearing at next year's CES show. "We're optimistic that this is a step in the right direction," the company said of the CTA changes.

Check out PCMag EIC Dan Costa's interview with Lora DiCarlo CEO Lora Haddock below.

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