
Calmversations s08e24 | Sex, Tech, and Connection with Dr. Debra Soh
Feb 11, 2026
Dr. Debra Soh, neuroscientist and sex researcher known for Sex Stinction and The End of Gender, explores why people are having less sex. She discusses sex tech like robots and AI companions. She examines environmental and hormonal influences, shifting sex-positivism, porn’s developmental harms, and how intimacy, social media, and policy shape modern sexual connection.
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Testing AI Girlfriends And Sex Robots
- Soh experimented with AI girlfriends and sex robots and found them surprisingly realistic and emotionally convincing.
- She reports feeling spooked by how believable AI companions can be in conversation and attachment.
Plastic Surgery Visits Revealed Youth Trends
- Soh visited a plastic surgeon and observed many young women seeking unnecessary cosmetic procedures in urban areas.
- She questions who influences them and why teens and early-20s women pursue such changes.
Trauma Can Shape Sexual Preferences
- Soh shifted from uncritical sex-positivity to questioning whether some sexual preferences stem from trauma.
- She found links between adverse childhood experiences and paraphilic interests in her own research.





