
Hacking my Vagina - kogir
http://scanlime.org/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/
======
jtchang
Really cool!

Is reverse engineering the wireless protocol easy? I imagine hacking hardware
involves a lot more work than software.

I also love how she 3d printed out some plastic cases for her toy. I see cheap
3d printers eventually being so ubiquitous that a quick prototype may be just
as easy to hack up as a working software program.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
I can't wait for easily and cheaply 3d-printed electronics. Just the thought
of buying the parts and plastic stuff, putting them in a machine, and letting
it work, building a complete device.

I can dream.

~~~
iamwil
Well, the more I looked into this possibility, the more I think it's not going
to look like traditional electronics that we know. Chances are, somebody's
working on this right now, and we just don't know about it.

There's been some promising blips here and there with the reprappers:

[http://blog.reprap.org/2011/06/new-approach-to-printing-
meta...](http://blog.reprap.org/2011/06/new-approach-to-printing-metals.html)

[http://blog.reprap.org/2012/04/some-more-printed-
circuitry.h...](http://blog.reprap.org/2012/04/some-more-printed-
circuitry.html)

~~~
iamwil
Some recent discussion on it and more up-to-date info.

<http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?2,154755,154835,quote=1>

------
qdot76367
For anyone interested in more stuff like this, I run a site about sex and
technology and track open source sex projects:

<http://www.slashdong.org>

~~~
qdot76367
And while we're at it, fun fact:

There's a toy called the vstroker, that's basically an endcap to the
fleshlight for doing accelerometer readings. (<http://www.vstroker.com>,
NSFW). It also uses a CC25XX radio chip, and comes with a USB dongle that's
basically the reference implementation. So, since these two talk on the same
controls, you should be able to take the dongle from the vstroker and the lelo
toy, and have full USB computer control.

Boom. Teledildonics capabilities, using a combination of toys that are
(vaguely) gender incompatible.

~~~
pizza
Submit the idea!
[http://www.halfbakery.com/category/Computer_3a_20Teledildoni...](http://www.halfbakery.com/category/Computer_3a_20Teledildonics)

~~~
qdot76367
I've got a vibe on order now, so I should have results tuesday. :)

------
swalsh
I love the breadth of skill that went into this project. It shows good
knowledge of software, hardware, reverse engineering, and its even tied
together in a really neat package.

~~~
lalc
Seriously. I'm thinking of finally going and getting a 3D printer based on her
blog. Lots of cool hacks and prints in there.

~~~
trhtrsh
You don't need to buy one, there are lots of mail order printing services, and
local services in big cities.

------
scanlime
Hey, this is beth from scanlime.org. I was doing my best to keep the site up,
but it looks like Dreamhost just pulled the plug. I'm pretty annoyed with
this.

~~~
kephra
_oh_ HN managed a DDoS again

608 points should be around 60.000 visitors. Thats something any site should
be able to handle, but ...

<http://dreamhost.com/servers/vps/> <\- All VPS plans come with UNLIMITED
Bandwidth and Storage.

UNLIMITED ... till they pull the plug _lol_

But it might also just be that the site is overloaded. I sometimes get an
"Error establishing a database connection" and sometimes "Problem loading
page". So there is still a server who desperately tries to answer requests.

What kind of server do you have at dreamhost? A VPS? Is that VPS some
Viruozzo/OpenVZ crap, or a Xen instance?

~~~
cup
The post is also on the front page of the technology subreddit so that is
probably pulling in a few thousand more people too.

------
lifeisstillgood
She is inventing an industry for something every human on the planet does
pretty much every day. Big market, disruptive technology. Yet somehow I don't
see it on techcrunch.

I am reminded of pg's discussion on finding the taboo's in society.

We still have plenty.

~~~
blhack
Inventing an industry?

Hardly. There are plenty of hackers who have been working in this space for
quite some time. The field is called "teledildonics".

~~~
mhitza
I actually thought you made up teledildonics ...

------
zeteo
I wonder if an article called "Hacking my Penis" would ever last long the HN
front page.

~~~
vacri
Why does any article focusing on women's experience have to have someone come
along and say 'it's hard for us men'?

~~~
mistercow
I sympathize with that point, but there's more to it than "what about teh
menz?"

The question is this: is this doing well on HN because HN is full of
progressive-minded feminists upvoting a neat DIY project on its merits, or is
it doing well on HN because it serves as fodder for the nerd-girl fantasies of
a primarily male readership?

I really think this is an important point that often gets missed on male
dominated social news sites. Readers are quick to pat themselves on the back
for the community's mature lack of slut-shaming, while neglecting to realize
that an entirely different form of sexism and woman-objectification is taking
place.

~~~
rizzom5000
No need for stereotypes. The article deserves to be up voted because it is
remarkably thorough and well written.

~~~
mistercow
I agree that it deserves to be upvoted for those reasons. I just don't think
that's necessarily the primary reason it _has_ been upvoted. Examining the
"would this be ranked this high if it were about penis hacking instead?"
question is productive because it addresses that.

~~~
Karunamon
>I just don't think that's necessarily the primary reason it has been upvoted.

So do you always assume bad faith on the part of others or..?

~~~
jQueryIsAwesome
Being biologically biased is not "bad faith", is just a well known human
trait.

~~~
flyinRyan
This seems to imply it can't be fixed (if it can, why do you assume the worst
now?). If it is something that can't be fixed, what's the point of your
bringing it up?

~~~
jQueryIsAwesome
Biologically biased doesn't mean it can be changed; for example we are
biologically biased to be polygamous just like most mammals; but we are
socially configured to be monogamous so most of us are.

~~~
flyinRyan
So how do you know that the majority of people who voted this article up
aren't already there? I have to be honest, your post strikes me as karma
fishing.

~~~
jQueryIsAwesome
How do I know the most upvoted article of the year holds that position because
the sexual nature of its content? What a tought question.

~~~
flyinRyan
You don't know. Period. It could be. Isn't it also remotely possible that this
was a hardware hack and a pretty inventive and effective one?

------
DanBC
I'm so pleased there's no use of the word "dildonics" on that article.

And I'm sad there's no awesome open source version of Rez to go with her
device. Probably NSFW for language and underwear photo
([http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-
rezvibra...](http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-
rezvibrator.html))

~~~
qdot76367
_cough_ <http://www.github.com/qdot/libtrancevibe>

There's been open source trancevibe drivers since 2003. :)

There's 3 toys based on the protocol.

\- The original Trancevibe (ebayable, surprisingly powerful)

\- the Drmn trancevibe (<http://tim.cexx.org/projects/vibe/>), no longer sold

\- This weird one: [http://www.harnett-
tech.com/search.php?act=search&SKU=US...](http://www.harnett-
tech.com/search.php?act=search&SKU=USBMC-01)

I wrote the original Second Life trancevibe control layer in 2005 (i.e. click
on virtual genetalia, real vibrator vibrates), which was later integrated into
in-world genetalia by one of the larger virtual sex object manufacturers.
After the Drmn trancevibe went off sale, they created that last one to sell to
customers.

------
victorhn
This is not meant to be a troll post, but just sincere curiosity.

From the site "My full name is Micah Elizabeth Scott, but I used to be Micah
Dowty prior to Fall 2010. My friends call me Beth."

How can a woman who used to be a man can have a vagina? is there some kind of
surgery? do you keep your sensitivity to be able to use vibrators?

~~~
tankbot
Micah, though traditionally a male name, is sometimes given to females. There
is no reason to assume there was a sex change, maybe she got married or just
changed her name.

~~~
ZoFreX
Frankly I find it rude to speculate. It's none of my business what someone has
in their pants, or what they used to have in their pants.

~~~
lmm
When the article's all about a device that goes into their pants?

If we were talking about someone with a surgically reconstructed vagina I
think that would be relevant in this particular story, just because physically
it won't be identical and the effect of the vibrator could be different.

------
dmschulman
Cool hack! And maybe I don't read enough, but I thought it was especially
interesting since it was one of the first builds where I saw someone create a
custom circuit AND a custom enclosure using a 3D printer.

Though it involves a sex toy, I think the build was straightforward,
technical, and decidedly un-sexy. I don't know where the feather ruffling is
coming from besides the discussion of the link's title.

------
jiggy2011
In all seriousness, somebody needs to disrupt internet porn again.

If you trying and look for it on google all you get is shitty "tube" websites
full of autoplaying livejasmin ads and links that go round in circles.

The content is terrible too, either staged "reality" BS , stuff designed to
shock more than titilate, unwatchable crap made with a smartphone or weird
softcore stuff that tries to be "arty" or "feminist".

~~~
viraptor
I believe <https://makelovenotporn.tv/> tries to fill that space a bit. It's
definitely good quality and isn't limited to the very softcore movies even if
the name suggests otherwise.

~~~
cindygallop
Thanks for that testimonial - much appreciated :) Anyone interested can read
more about what we're building on our blog:
<http://talkabout.makelovenotporn.tv/> \+ email cindy@makelovenotporn.tv and
I'll fast-track you into beta (we hope to be able to take the site out of beta
next month).

~~~
dematio
<https://makelovenotporn.tv/> is disrupting the sex industry industry!
#realworldsex

Techno-porn: how the sex industry drives mainstream technology

Star: "I don’t think most people have a clue how much life today is in debt to
the porn industry. Online banking and shopping are secure because porn
distributors needed to make their transactions with consumers secure."

[http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/859762--
techno-p...](http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/859762--techno-porn-
how-the-sex-industry-drives-mainstream-technology)

------
jiggy2011
Anyone want to fund my kickstarter for a vibrating fleshlight that runs
nodejs?

~~~
lalc
Pandering a bit too hard to @shit_hn_says ;)

------
guylhem
The title is misleading. But the idea of haptic sex toys, and the approach of
the hack - especially identifying that the remote _was_ the problem- is great.

We will see if haptic sex toys become mainstream. I didn't even know they
existed in the first place!

It seems like a real innovation!

------
ciriarte
I cannot express how much I admire this post. This is how I think women should
address gender equality: not by antagonizing men, but through sound and
assertive work like this.

~~~
gcheong
Men getting antagonistic when their sexist behavior is called out is not the
fault of the women calling that behavior out.

~~~
derleth
> Men getting antagonistic when their sexist behavior is called out

That isn't all that happens, as you can see from the comments like "Oh, yes,
men have it _so hard_ " whenever a situation that favors females over males is
brought up.

~~~
drivebyacct2
I was praying that one was sarcasm...

~~~
derleth
> I was praying that one was sarcasm...

It's part of a culture, one men perpetrate just as much as women if not more,
that says "women are the only victims of sexism." If that statement doesn't
seem immediately idiotic to you, the best I can offer right now is this:

[http://www.alternet.org/story/156194/what_about_the_men_why_...](http://www.alternet.org/story/156194/what_about_the_men_why_our_gender_system_sucks_for_men%2C_too)

~~~
drivebyacct2
No one says that. No one here is saying that. To portray the reaction that has
taken place here, scoffing because it is female and sexual, is in and of
itself sexist.

Reverse discrimination sucks for whites, maybe I should question every
submission that is authored by someone who isn't white?

You'll note that I address male taboos about sex in other posts, but
ironically it's probably not what you want or what you're really getting at
without being explicit about.

Do you understand that "any female-positive topic" -> "what about the menz" is
exactly the problem with this attitude?

~~~
derleth
> Do you understand that "any female-positive topic" -> "what about the menz"
> is exactly the problem with this attitude?

It would be nice if "gender equality topics" weren't _exclusively_ "female-
positive topics", and that the topics about how men get the bad end of sexism
weren't immediately met with sarcasm and derision.

------
dematio
This is awesome. It's cool to see more people are hacking sex toys. Hopefully
with all these cool hacks, it will remove the stigma. People have a stigma
against vibrator is because they always imagine vibrator as a huge penis
vibrator that they seen in porn movies. The fact is many studies shown that
size doesn't matter. [http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-
sex/200903/the...](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-
sex/200903/the-most-important-sexual-statistic) The first electrical vibrator
was invented as a medical device and to stimulate the clitoris, not the
inside.

I believe the world will be a better place when women can have orgasm as much
as men do.

My startup, www.vibease.com, is helping couples to stay intimate even from a
distance. We have a mobile App with long distance vibrator. We use Bluetooth
and internet connection. Currenlty we are taking pre-order. We try to bring it
to mainstream market and it's not easy: <http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-
app-2012-11>

------
ghjm
This is a really cool hack, but my problem is that I don't understand the sex
part. What's better about waving your hands around to control the motor speed,
vs. using a dial?

This is not out of prurient interest. I just can't understand the engineering
without understanding the use case. Maybe you have to be female to get this?

~~~
larrys
I would almost say that it would make more sense to have something you touch
to create the changes in speed or intensity or whatever vs. air waving? And I
would think it would be possible to actually use a smartphone (with vibration
feedback) that you rub,touch whatever which would be better than air.

The feedback is important also. I fly rc helis and once you get used to using
the sticks and the channels on a traditional radio using the iphone (say on an
ardrone) and tilting to do the same (for me at least) is not as satisfying. It
doesn't feel real or challenging.

~~~
qdot76367
Well, vibease is now alive and kickin' here, so there's a couple of other apps
I'll mention:

\- BodyHeat, by OhMiBod/PerfectPlum: <http://www.ohmibod.com/app/>

\- Closer ToGetHer - <http://www.getclosertogether.com/>

------
lobotryas
Fun article and an excellent hack!

Any takers to found a startup in order to dive in and disrupt the sex toy
industry with some cutting edge innovation? Imagine the millions you'd rake in
if you re-invent sex.

I'm looking forward to at least one ero-toy applicant in the next round of YC
apps.

~~~
dematio
Going to top incubators with sex related product is tough.

I'm Vibease co-founder. We tried and we keep trying. So far no luck.

This is our pitch: Vibease helps couples to stay intimate, even from a
distance. It's a mobile app for couples with personal massager integration.

Note, we didn't even put the word "vibrator". The rest of the story you can
find it from here: <http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-app-2012-11>

~~~
lobotryas
Hey, love your idea!

Some unsolicited advice from someone who's just heard about your product for
the first time :)

* Avoiding the word "vibrator" is a good thought (sadly it has too many negative connotations), but I'd recommend never shying away from discussing the underlying problem you are trying to solve because it's both serious and real. ie: "People are busier than ever and are spending increasing amounts of time apart. We're taking steps forward to helping couples maintain a level of intimacy and connection in our dynamic world."

* Alternative language to just talking about "intimacy" can be a focus on the positive side-effects of intimacy, such as: happier lives, higher level of trust, and greater relationship satisfaction.

* The settings screen in your screenshot has a lot of sliders. I hope there will be some good presets for those who would otherwise get overwhelmed by the number of choices.

* Similarly, fingers crossed for a PC/Mac client (or otherwise the ability to video-chat over Skype) since holding two small devices (a phone and the massager) can get tricky.

As for the pitch, maybe a tongue-in-cheek: "Vibease lets you reach out to your
partner and maintain intimacy from across the room... or across the world."

Sounds like you'll have a ton of (challenging, unique) fun with this product.
Good luck!

------
askothecoder
This is weird. Or not. I have hard time even making a difference between weird
and not weird these days. Either way, carry on.

~~~
lalc
This is just neat. Now, "Hacking my Fleshlight" would be weird.

~~~
drivebyacct2
>Now, "Hacking my Fleshlight" would be weird.

Why?

~~~
lalc
Females are generally supply side, males demand side in traditional sex
economics. Rejection of same through toys is therefore empowering to women and
degrading to men. Thus labelled "weird."

~~~
drivebyacct2
Not to be too pointed, but that attitude is socialized, largely by people who
make statements like "It would be weird if it were for men." Also, I think
that there is less of an imbalance than you would believe. As we know, people
are quite good at saying one thing in public and doing another in private.
_Especially_ when it comes to sex.

~~~
lalc
Oh, I know. But good luck with this particular sea change.

And yes, certain demographics turn the equation on its head. As expected of
economics.

------
polarcuke
Wow, this is easily the strangest top post I have ever seen on hacker news. I
actually can't stop laughing. I guess it's because most people just don't
think about technology and sex in the same thought unless you are thinking
about internet porn. An interesting read no less.

------
tzury
This hacker-girl has an amazing portfolio (note she's 26 years old).

See her resume at <http://scanlime.org/resume/>

~~~
skarmklart
Pretty cool that she's the author of CIA.vc

------
stcredzero
After everyone was feeling stuffed and mellow in the house, I brought out the
old PS2 and hooked it up to the projector and the stereo, then put in Rez.
(Has been called "Tron on Ecstasy.")

[http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-
rezvibra...](http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-
rezvibrator.html)

I think there's a lot of hacking potential. I think it would be cool to have a
back room in a club where you have Rez on a game console on a big HD screen
with a nice sound system. One could also implement a wireless protocol for the
trance vibe info and publish the protocol, so spectators would casually walk
in and wirelessly experience the "synaesthesia."

------
brini
Text only cached version:

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://scanlime.org/2012/11/hacking-
my-vagina/&hl=en&tbo=d&strip=1)

------
georgeorwell
Warning: this is not a politically correct viewpoint, but nevertheless it's my
perspective.

The actual best thing about this post being in first place on Hacker News is
not that it's a woman posting but that she has a Y chromosome and most people
don't realize it.

It's like her recently-acquired vagina is a new laptop to be hacked. It's
still objectification of women if you try to turn into one and then objectify
yourself.

The real goal of this post is to get a bunch of men to fantasize about "her"
and glorify how cool "she" is for being a geeky hacker.

Not all trans(vestite|gender|sexual) people are like this.

~~~
djcapelis
My girlfriend wrote this post for the same reason she wrote the the other
posts on her blog: to share her work and talk about neat hacks. Your statement
that she's doing it for attention is incredibly sexist.

Also she's queer, so the idea that she's doing it for male attention is pretty
funny really.

~~~
Matt_Cutts
I loved the stuff about reverse engineering the protocol. Very neat stuff.

This is a great post with so many neat hacks along the way--when she started
talking about modeling and 3D printing the enclosure I was thinking "Wow, this
is a true renaissance hacker."

The world needs more blog posts like this.

~~~
djcapelis
Yeah, she's impressive. You might enjoy some of the other posts on her blog
too, my favorite is the duct tape RFID post, but mostly because she made that
one for me.

(But also it's a neat hack, she powers the microcontroller via the I/O pins
and just attaches the vcc and ground pins to a capacitor.)

------
hcarvalhoalves
Sex in the future. It's going to be weird.

------
cindygallop
_cough_ Have already urged @scanlime to do this, but anyone else, as and when
you hack your vagina - or penis, we're totally equal-opportunity :) - please
do submit your (or your friends') #realworldsex video demo to
<https://makelovenotporn.tv/> (with our revenue-sharing business model, you
could make a nice chunk of change :))

~~~
finnw
...but only you live in the USA

~~~
cindygallop
No, we're global, and welcome #realworldsex video submissions from anywhere in
the world :)

~~~
finnw
Quote from your site:

> _If you're outside the US, we're sorting out a system for international
> payouts, and have to ask you to be patient while we get that put in place._

------
JeremyMorgan
I clicked on this only because of the extreme curiosity the headline
generated. The article did not disappoint.

Easily one of the smartest things I've read in quite a while, and much of the
hardware stuff is over my head but wow, color me extremely impressed.

------
jzurawell
Your vagina has a 500 error.

------
Empro
I'm amused this is the top story.

~~~
lucb1e
And, being one hour old, having a much higher score as the second highest
which is five hours old. And having the highest score of the entire front page
by quite a wide margin.

------
personlurking
"Power Exchange" section title. Must be a resident of SF.

------
tomnardone206
There is a project out there to share 3D printer files for sex toys.
MakerLove.com provides files you can download and print for free.

------
smagch
The product seems really innovative sex toy for female. I've seen a interview
of tenga's founder before. He thought there were much room for innovation of
sex toy industry. I was quite impressed that he spent a year to build his
first product. I've been impressed again.

<http://www.tenga-global.com/>

------
nickik
Intressting.

Going a step further would be to give the vibrator some AI. There is of course
some need to monitor pleasure, I dont know if that is easily possible but one
could implment some kind of AI that would to that.

The next step would be to sell it to millions of woman and analysie all the
data. Would be intressting what could be figured out that way.

------
robbles
Really cool project, and looks like it was executed really well in many ways.

However, I couldn't help being reminded of this comic: <http://xkcd.com/196/>
I feel like there's a lot of social factors that would make using an invention
like this a little awkward. Maybe that's just me?

~~~
ricardobeat
Why, did you read the entire post? It doesn't require any tinkering to work,
and the interface is totally natural.

------
tathagatadg
secure communication of Vstorker(see qdot76367 comments) + this hack with
video == Sex over IP.

Target customers: long distance couples, virtual sex business. Taking it
further: build a Airtime like social network around it.

Revenue stream: from selling the hardware, membership.

------
egypturnash
Here's a functioning cache link, since the site is hammered for rather obvious
reasons. <http://scanlime.org.nyud.net/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/>

------
rhplus
Link is down. Here's a Coral Cache version:
<http://scanlime.org.NYUD.NET/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/>

------
khmel
Vagina rocks! This topic would never get so much attention if this would be
'Hacking my ... nose, knee, hand etc..'. Some star topics are easy to predict.

Nerds have their own weaknesses

------
brennenHN
Super clever title and article for getting HN attention, but also pretty
interesting.

------
dillon
Science that gives me an erection. Very very good read.

------
agumonkey
Wonderful website full of gem.

------
marktronic
What's a vagina?

Sincerely, Never Touched A Boob

------
felipelalli
epic!

------
_W_o_W_
...and how does it feel to your soul to be slave of your body? (instead of
master...)

~~~
JabavuAdams
Congratulations! That's the dumbest thing I've read all day.

------
cwb71
500 Internal Server Error

Best linkbait title ever?

------
the1
If you have smart enough AI, do you get pregnant by it? That's how babes born,
right?

------
iframe
Why this? aren't there thousands of virgin nerds ... ?

