Sex tech entrepreneurship navigates shifting societal norms, rapid technological innovation, and complex regulatory frameworks, presenting unique ethical and outsidership challenges. Despite valuable insights from the broader sex and tech industries on overcoming these barriers to mainstream markets, research specific to sex tech remains scarce. The initial aim is to qualitatively explore the experiences of sex tech entrepreneurs and their stakeholders, focusing on the ethical challenges and mainstream outsidership. The second aim is to discover the strategies used by sex tech startups and their stakeholders to overcome ethical and outsidership barriers to access mainstream markets. Drawing upon recorded video data from the Sx Tech Eu Conference 2023 of 15 sex tech entrepreneurs and their stakeholders, this qualitative phenomenological research explored and analysed the raw data with an inductive thematic analysis using NVivo. Three core themes emerged, including being pushed to the margins by misguided policies that censor broad swathes, overcoming barriers to the mainstream with common ground and startup common sense, and cultivating a safe haven that fortifies the sex tech ecosystem. While further research is needed on sex tech startups facing stigma and censorship, effective strategies for mainstream success are already in play.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-533494 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Gardner, Alexandra |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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