Whether you're on the edge of your seat listening to a podcast about serial killers, or deep-breathing along with your guided meditation app, at any given moment, many of us are silently entranced by the disembodied voices that come through our headphones. Audio is powerfully immersive: it can relax you, entertain you, and even get you in the mood to have sex.
This is a realization that hit self-proclaimed "super-avid podcast consumer" Gina Gutierrez, one evening while listening to a meditation on the app Headspace. "It struck me that this audio experience was different because it actually changed how I felt," Gutierrez tells Refinery29. "I starting thinking: what if audio could be the medium for sexually inspiring content for women?" So, the idea for an erotic storytelling audio app called Dipsea was born.
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Dipsea is a lot like the apps Headspace and Audible in that it offers a library of audio stories, read by actors, that are designed to change your mood — only the stories on Dipsea are specifically intended to turn women on. While there's already a treasure trove of erotica on the internet, Gutierrez says they wanted to be selective about the types of stories that they offered on the app. The 5-to-20-minute stories are written by women, men, and non-binary people, and are expressed through a "feminist, inclusive, and relatable" lens, Gutierrez says.
When you open the app, you can browse the stories by category, or choose one of the how-to meditations on dirty talk or self-love. Some of the stories are first-person narratives (the story "Submerged," for example, is meant for solo play), some are designed to be listened to with a partner, and others are full-on fantasies (in one titled "Tulum," a couple looks for another couple to have a foursome with). "We think those moments where you're like, I would love if that happened to me, are really sexy," she says. "The idea of it being 10% of your regular life, but a little more interesting and exciting, is our sweet spot."
The beauty about audio storytelling is that how or when you choose to listen to one of the stories is entirely your business. "People definitely have such diverse interests in terms of what works for them and transports them — and totally different use cases," says Faye Keegan, cofounder and CTO of Dipsea. Users can listen to the stories before masturbating, while getting ready for a date, preparing for bed, or even while commuting on public transportation.
Really, Dipsea is an opportunity for women to "context switch," Gutierrez says. "A lot of what we hear from women is, I'm working an intense job, I'm stressed out, I'm living in my boss brain all day, then I want to come home and be relaxed," she says. Listening to an erotic story can be a helpful way to come down from your day and get ready to be intimate with your partner or to masturbate, she says.
If you've never been interested in erotic literature or even porn, don't write off Dipsea just yet. From a scientific perspective, studies have shown that women tend to be more interested in the broader context and narrative of sexual stimuli, while men respond more to visuals. "We’re not saying for some women porn isn’t the answer, but for many women it’s lacking," Gutierrez says. "It’s not giving them what they need, and that's obviously the bulk of erotic content on the internet." At a time when Tumblr is banning adult content, and we're apparently in a "sex recession," this could be exactly what you need to dip your toe into.