‘SHE BON’ Is An Artful, Wearable, Sensual, Sensing Platform

SHE BON (that’s the French bon, or “good”) is an ambitious project by [Sarah Petkus] that consists of a series of wearable electronic and mechanical elements which all come together as a system for a single purpose: to sense and indicate female arousal. As a proponent of increased discussion and openness around the topic of sexuality, [Sarah]’s goal is to take something hidden and turn it into something obvious and overt, while giving it a certain artful flair in the process.

The core of the system is a wearable backpack in the shape of a heart, from which all other sensors and feedback elements are connected. A lot of thought has gone into the design of the system, ensuring that the different modules have an artistic angle to their feedback while also being comfortable to actually wear, and [Sarah] seems to have a knack for slick design. Some of the elements are complete and some are still in progress, but the system is well documented with a clear vision for the whole. It’s an unusual and fascinating project, and was one of the finalists selected in the Human Computer Interface portion of the 2018 Hackaday Prize. Speaking of which, the Musical Instrument Challenge is underway, so be sure check it out!

16 thoughts on “‘SHE BON’ Is An Artful, Wearable, Sensual, Sensing Platform

  1. Congrats to Sarah!! Really love her work on this project and its been wonderful to watch her projects and skillset evolve over the years. I am very much looking forward to the completion of all the subsystems on this one its been fun to follow thus far!

  2. I’m struggling to see the point of this, does any random person care if someone is aroused? Surely a relevant interested party will know using more conventional methods? It is a nice build though, bit too quirky for my tastes though I guess.

    1. I would hope at least somebody out there cares. Most people want to be wanted, by strangers as well as a singular “relevant interested party.” Even in a strictly exclusive relationship, people still like to feel like others want them. It’s not such a bad thing, believe it or not.

      I think the quirkiness may be in an effort to be disarming and lighthearted while trying to break the ice and get people to talk about sexuality and be less repressed about it. Sex is pretty damn silly, but we try to treat it as solemn and terribly important sometimes–to the consternation of just about everyone involved.

  3. So it’s a Hornyometer. Inspite of the article stating ” As a proponent of increased discussion and openness around the topic of sexuality” It’s vey coy and not immediately apparent what this thing does or how it does it. (Blushes.)

      1. The project on Hackaday.io starts off: We should be more comfortable talking to one another about sexuality and intimacy.
        Then is replete with euphemisms, synonyms and innunedo. Couldn’t be more vague if it tried.

        ….It’s a hornyometer.

          1. Yugh. I have a bit of morbid curiosity about what got moderated out, but it’s probably better off that I missed it. What’s up with likening moderators to the secret police? Confusing human rights for forum privileges sure is a funny thing.

            I sometimes wonder how a male version of this would go over. I don’t know if openness of sexuality is more taboo for women or for men, but it’s certainly demonized in different ways, and aspects that are welcome are more often performative rather than sincere and genuine. Hard to tell with my own limited point of view.

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