“People are much more liberated about sex and are much more likely to use a sex toy.”
Tucked away in a drawer, kept close at hand under the bed, or simply out on full display on the nightstand, more and more sex toys are making their way into our bedrooms and our conversations.
Recently, over a glass of wine and some Korean food, my friend told me that, sadly, her vibrator had broken.
“How?” I asked with the same concerned tone I use when she tells me she’s just split up with a boyfriend.
“I think I burned out the motor from overuse,” she confessed, going on to say that she had not had the vibrator for very long.
“It ended around the same time most of my relationships do, right around the three-month mark,” she laughed. We talked unabashedly about what she wanted most in her next vibrator, and where she was planning to buy it.
But we aren’t the only ones talking about sex toys. With Madonna flaunting her Purple Penetrator around London, Eva Longoria treating her girlfriends to vibrators on their birthdays, and Missy Elliot incorporating sex toys into her songs, celebrities seem to be just as brazenly honest about their own sex toy habits, and perhaps even helping to increase the popularity of the sex toy industry.
Gill Lamon, owner of Come As You Are sex store, says in the 10 years since the store has opened she has seen the interest in the sex toy industry steadily grow.
“People are much more liberated about sex and are much more likely to use a sex toy,” says Lamon. “Folks just want to know that what they fantasize about is normal and once they get that assurance, whether it be from (a celebrity) or someone in my store … they realize just how regular sex toy use is.”
For a woman on the hunt for a vibrator, Lamon recommends buying one that you can use in as many ways as possible.
“Not everyone reacts the same way to the same stimulus so you do need to find something that feels pleasurable to you,” she says.
Lamon adds the mistake most women make when buying a vibrator is they buy the strongest, “best” one on the market, find it doesn’t suit them and then dismiss all vibrators.
“Start with something less expensive, but (that)?has variable speeds,” she suggests. “Then once you find what you like, you can go back to your favourite sex shop and invest in one that is higher quality and might last a little longer.”
For couples, Lamon recommends starting out with a vibrating penis ring — an elastic ring that sits around the penis and has a vibrator attached to it —?for added stimulation.
“When buying a sex toy always keep in mind what you want to use it for,” she adds.
Kasia Iglinski is a journalist who enjoys her work and her dating life. Armed with a notepad and a curious mind, she’s always on the prowl for a good story and a good date.
