Raise your hand if you’ve ever wanted to approach two or more people for a group sex scenario, but you were just plain too awkward to get it done.
Same.
Luckily, as in all things, there is now an app for that. Fantasy is in its final stages of development, and the goal is to match people according to their fantasies, and to help non-monogamous people share those fantasies with new partners.
Andriy Yaroshenko is the app’s founder, and while he’s not poly himself, he was inspired by learning about that life – the idea that there’s not a finite amount of love to go around, the idea of compersion (feeling joy, rather than overwhelming envy, at the thought of your partner enjoying themselves with another partner). The self-styled sex evangelist has a background in marketing. Those two elements combined helped awaken him to the fact that there’s a growing demand for sex positivity and openness on the dating scene, and that there is definitely a market for a poly hookup app. (Let’s be real, listing yourself as part of a couple on Tinder comes off as a tad out of place, no?)
While the app is about sex first and foremost, it doesn’t stop there for Yaroshenko. He explains that what he’s interested in is helping people to foster a greater capacity for self-awareness and, by extension, intimacy.
“For me it’s not about ‘sex sells,’” he explains. “It’s about sex tells you who you really are and what you actually want, sex as a door into your inner world, into the place where love can come from. It’s not just about finding the closest body to fuck; it’s about connections and energy.”
Aside from finding new people to play with, Yaroshenko says, the app can also help to maintain preexisting relationships. If you’re poly, for example, but you and your partner(s) don’t necessarily share all the same fantasies, the app can link you to people who want to explore those things with you.
The idea is to create a space of “mindful intimacy” wherein everyone’s desires are out in the open. Those without much experience with openness can scope out others’ profiles for inspiration, while those who know what they want already can actively seek. As Yaroshenko points out, sex can never meet its full potential without open discussion of needs and fantasies.
“Unfortunately,” he says, “sophisticated reflection on genuine desires – including sexual ones – has not yet become a regular part of our everyday activity, while this is an essential skill that underlies the harmony of intimate interaction.”
“Another issue here is that rather often people simply lack proper vocabulary to describe what they want. They are restrained within the scope of information they have, failing to learn about numerous ideas – both ethical and applicative – that may turn to be exactly what they want. This problem wants a solution.”
Fantasy aims to fill that niche, both in app form and through an educational blog that can guide people into exploring what it is they’re really into.
Right now, it’s in the final weeks of beta testing in Russia, with a closed U.S. beta version opening up to invited users on Feb. 20. It’ll be available in New York, L.A. and San Francisco before it goes U.S.-wide sometime this year, and free love revolution 2.0 can start anew (maybe).