Yes, it was only time before I wrote about sex toys.
With a global pandemic in progress, and many of us at home full-time, it’s no surprise sex toys made the news on multiple occasions.
The Guardian wrote about Sexual Exploration (Self-love in isolation: ‘I hope people are using this time to explore their sexuality’), Business Insider discussed how well the industry is doing (Self-love toys and luxury lingerie: Data shows what UK online shoppers are buying during social distancing and a love lockdown), and even BBC mentioned sex toys in the news (Coronavirus: The sex toy manufacturer making NHS gear).
Disclaimer: some NSFW at the bottom of the page.
But did you know that the sex toys industry, particularly the one addressed to women, has been historically dominated by men? No? Though if you think of it, that explains why so many sex toys are penis shaped…. An analysis led by Unbound, showed that in 2017 about 70 percent of sex product companies were run by men.
In the 1960s, Betty Dodson and Dell Williams started a revolution. Betty Dodson, an American sex educator, artist, and pioneer, started a pro-sex feminist movement where she led workshops and wrote manuals encouraging women to masturbate.
Around the same time, Dell Williams, an American businesswoman, and national advocate of women’s liberation, sexuality, and sexual health, attended one of Dodson’s workshops in New York – “Body/Sex Workshop”. Inspired by that, she founded the first feminist sex toy business in the U.S., Eve’s Garden. Eve’s Garden was now the first woman-owned and woman-operated sex toy business in America. YAY!
Since then, the industry hasn’t stopped evolving, and more and more women- led sex toys shops have opened.
Here are some of my favourite brands:
If you fancy seeing old ads for sex toys through the ages, check out this article from VICE: Fucking Hysterical: A Timeline of Vintage Vibrators
And if you fancy a 3 min video on the history of sex toys, here it is 🙂
On a separate note, here is the classiest looking one, packs a punch I can tell you 🙂
