‘Body-positive for Black Bodies’: How Blex Is Filling a Gap in Sex and Dating Apps
SexForEveryBody.com is supported by our readers. We may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more.
From Tinder to Fetlife and all spaces in-between, the online dating industry is dominated by white founders and digital developers. However, Blex—a company focused on Black-centered intimacy and relationship enhancement—aims to diversify this marketplace.
Toneisha Friday co-founded Blex Technologies last year. She was living in Singapore at the time and having intimacy issues with her partner who was 13,000 miles away in Seattle.
“We wanted a therapist of color, and that proved difficult to find,” Friday says.
“We needed a relationship coach or therapist to help us—while we were living apart from each other—find that spark.”
‘strengthening melanated sex and intimacy’
Not to be deterred and inspired for something more, the young couple used their dismay to create what became the iOS and Android-available Blex app.
Their initial goal was to curate and highlight a community of Black sex and relationship educators on a platform meant for coaching.
“We have an editorial team that creates blog content, and our robust training methods highlight a non-judgemental approach to education, exploration, and curiosity—‘sexing the way you want to sex,’ ultimately,” Friday says.
Blex Technologies trains its already-experienced team of relationship and dating coaches to fine-tune their skills in solving physical, psychological, or emotional issues with a progressive mindset.
How it works
The Blex app is a for-pay service charged monthly, with fees going directly to pay for the app’s development, plus for the work of ten coaches (nine, of whom are Black) for services rendered.
The app’s monthly fees range anywhere from $100 to $200 per month, split over three unique tiers of service that include anywhere from two to six relationship or sexual health coaching sessions, plus other available real-time and digital services.
After downloading and signing up for the app, users must fill out a small survey that asks users why they downloaded the app.
The company’s Chief Operations Officer also tracks the most trafficked content and then tailors information toward how Blex is best serving its users and how can they help them better.
Related Read: Will Celebrating Sexualized Black Bodies Be America’s Newest Tradition?
Early app growth amid COVID-19, has been measured but slow.
Friday counts 300 regular users to date. Having a sample size so small within a product’s first year of development does. however, allow for profound realizations to emerge from a hyper-focused sample.
Initial reports show excitement surrounding the Blex app’s Community Message Board Forum.
It’s there where users can ask simpler, less therapy or consultation-related questions to both coaches and fellow users alike about methods of sexual communication to their partners, or just sex questions in general.
‘an ecosystem of solutions’
As well, the key to Blex’s early sustainability has been satisfying the niche, specific desires of its established sample of users. Thus, the development of Blex’s curated device and aid “sex kit” box service has been essential.
“Overall, Blex Technologies is an ecosystem of solutions. For as much as we have the app, we also realized we needed a tangible option,” Friday relates.
“We can tell someone about the mental health benefits of masturbation, but many Black people feel like these items are not specifically made with Black sexual anatomies in mind. We identify companies that make premium products with an ethos that supports people of color.”
Friday’s thoughts head one level more profound with a poignant, positive note to close:
”These companies all must use ingredients that are body-positive for Black bodies. We want people to feel good about and while having a premium nut.”
Overall, Toneisha Friday sees Blex’s goals as an app and company as having far-reaching and deeply culturally-impacting possibilities.
“Systemic racism and classism have led to a lack of significant sex education in low-income and Black communities. Moreover, sex education in America is still a taboo topic that’s not a mandated part of our lives. However, Black people’s attitudes are evolving towards sex and sexuality. Ultimately, Blex provides and friendly and positive avenue for exploring the present and future of sex as a topic of interest with good intentions.”
Image credits: Shutterstock, Blex Technologies
Marcus K. Dowling is a kink-friendly journalist, broadcaster, and entrepreneur.
As a journalist, he’s a published author in Superchamp Books’ 2020-released Dating & Sex: The Theory of Mutual Self-Destruction. He’s also an accomplished food critic, having appeared on the second season of the History Channel’s The Food That Built America and Modern Marvels, plus being published in Washingtonian and the Washington City Paper. Plus, as a writer in the fields of race and culture, he’s written for The Bitter Southerner, ESPN’s The Undefeated, Washington Informer, Red Bull’s Amaphiko community service campaign, and is in the top 10% of most-read writers on Medium, notably at their LEVEL vertical.
As a music writer, he’s written for Rolling Stone, Vice, The FADER, DJCity, VIBE, Complex, Bandcamp, The Boot, Nashville Scene, CMT.com, and more. Moreover, he’s been quoted by the Associated Press, ESPN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Billboard Magazine, and The Tennessean.
