5 Unintended Ways Pokemon GO is Changing Our Sex Lives

If you’re anything like me, your newsfeed has probably been dominanted with articles about the popular gaming app Pokémon GO for the past few weeks. Most of the stories to emerge so far have focused on how this augmented reality game is affecting the everyday lives of users. For instance, among other things, it is helping many folks to get more exercise and lose weight, which is great. At the same time, though, it has also (sadly) contributed to at least a few cases of distracted driving that ended in car crashes.

However, one thing you may not have heard much about yet is how Pokémon GO is affecting people’s sex lives. Yep, you read that right.

As you’ll see below, there have been a number of rather surprising sexual implications of the Pokémon GO phenomenon that the creators of the game probably never anticipated.

1.) It has become a dating and hookup app of sorts.

In order to “catch ‘em all,” Pokémon GO users have to get out of their homes and wander around town. In the process, users inevitably run into people they might not otherwise have met. And because they’re all playing the same app, they presumably have some shared interests, which makes breaking the ice a little easier. In light of this, it makes sense that numerous reports have emerged about strangers becoming friends–and, in some cases, lovers–as a result of these chance meetings.

But people aren’t just meeting spontaneously–there are also several organized groups designed to facilitate romantic connections among app users. For instance, on Tinder Social and Facebook, you can find interest groups for Pokémon players who happen to be single and want to meet up.

Then there’s Pokédates, an online service that tries to match up Pokémon players who have similar interests and schedules for romantic dates where they can “catch ‘em all together.” This service promises to help you find your “Pokémate.”

Of course, there are also some folks who are using Pokémon GO just for sex–and that’s why the phrase “Pokémon Go and Blow” (no joke!) has been making the rounds on social media.

Reddit and Craigslist seem to be where most people who are looking for Pokémon-related booty calls are going, and you can see a collection of the most interesting postings people have made here. To give you a flavor for these posts, one Redditor is looking to “meet up, level up, catch a Jigglypuff, and hookup,” while one Craigslister is looking to “play with some pokeballs and then each others.”

2.) It has inspired a line of sex toys.

Yes, seriously. A set of Pokémon-themed dildos and buttplugs is now on the market. This sex toy series has been named “Pokémoan” (get it?), and they’re available for sale here.

There are currently four options (Bulby, Charmy, Squirty, and Piky), which range in price from $67-93 AUD apiece. If you want to catch ‘em all, you’ll need to shell out a whopping $269.

It goes without saying that this one is only for the true Pokémon lovers.

3.) It has also inspired a bunch of porn.

I performed a search for Pokémon-themed porn–for research purposes, of course–and, boy, there’s a lot out there. On Pornhub alone, a quick search for “Pokémon” brings up nearly 300 videos, several of which have been watched a million times or more. Among them are animated Pokémon sex videos, as well as videos of humans having sex while dressed up as their favorite Pokémon characters (it’s kind of like furry porn, only with people wearing Pokémon costumes instead of animal costumes).

Some of this porn has predated Pokémon GO, of course, but it definitely became more popular after the launch of the app. Believe it or not, porn site xHamster reported that “Pokémon” and “Pikachu” were more popular than their usual top search terms (think “MILF” and “teen”) for several days in early July!

Quite a bit of new Poképorn has emerged in response to the popularity of the app, too. As just one example of this, you can now find some pornos in which women are walking around playing the app and every Pokémon they find just so happens to be in a male stranger’s pants.

I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to how the Pokémon are “caught” in those videos.

4.) It may soon be changing our sex laws.

Shortly after the explosion in popularity of Pokémon GO, concerns were raised across the United States about how this app might lead children and adolescents to the homes of people who have been convicted of sex crimes. Although there aren’t any known instances in which usage of this app has been linked to sexual victimization, some lawmakers in New York are trying to take preventative action.

In fact, lawmakers are currently drafting bills that, according to the New York Times, would prevent higher-risk sex offenders from playing such games and, also, would require that the people who make Pokémon GO and similar games in the future ensure that they don’t send users within 100 feet of any sex offender’s home in the process of meeting a game’s objectives.

5.) It’s being used to promote safer sex.

While some see potential danger in Pokémon GO, others see an opportunity to educate users about safer sexual practices. For instance, one Planned Parenthood branch recently tweeted: “When you don’t want to #CatchEmAll, condoms help prevent pregnancy and STDs” along with an image that I think is probably best described as a “Pokécondom”: a combination of a Pokémon character and a condom (check it out here).

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Image Source: 123rf.com/Ekaterina Minaeva

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