It was Good Vibrations who over two decades ago started Masturbation Month in response to the forced resignation of the first black U.S. Surgeon General, Jocelyn Elders, who openly endorsed masturbation as a healthy part of one’s sex life.
After suggesting that masturbation should be taught as a part of sex-ed in schools, Elders faced public backlash and was promptly relieved of her position. And thus, on a societal level we continued to not discuss it. Masturbation was shrouded in hush-hush secrecy; swept under the rug, something to be ashamed of.
In reality, sexual pleasure is such a positive force for so many people.
While the conversation has shifted in recent years as a growing wave of sexual health and wellness advocates gain popularity and are thrust into the public arena, changing a paradigm is slow and laborious work.
As May rolled around and a slew of companies embraced the pro-self-love message of the month, Good Vibrations was at it again, this time with the help of fellow Bay Area company O.school, for a collaboration that would honor the spirit from which the movement was born.
Fittingly, O.school is an online resource that focuses on delivering accurate, pleasure-based sex education. Since its launch in 2017, they’ve teamed up with Good Vibrations on a number of projects but founder and CEO Andrea Barrica says her relationship with Good Vibes extends further back.
“I bought my first toy at Good Vibes in Berkeley while I was in college, and it was a transformative experience for me,” she recounted. “A month before the founder of Good Vibrations, Joani Blank, passed away, I wrote her an email about how much Good Vibes had helped me and how I wanted O.school to follow in the work she did.”
While the two never did meet, Good Vibes and O.school’s collaborative project, “My Sex Toy Gives Me Superpowers,” rings true to the sex-positive message Good Vibes has championed from the beginning, continuing both companies’ work to normalize and celebrate pleasure and self-love in all its many forms.
The series’ first episode, which debuted during Masturbation Month, featured Barrica herself in a one-minute animated clip which details in-short her journey towards self-acceptance and empowerment via unlikely means.
Imbued with a newfound confidence by none other than the power of her vibrator, Barrica takes the viewer on a journey to “Orgasm Island,” the place beyond the stigma, and asks: “Where else can I go?”
Raised to be a “good Filipino daughter” and growing up in a traditionally Catholic family, Barrica describes feeling ashamed of her desires and burgeoning sexuality. “I was following other people's narratives and that never worked for me,” she says in the clip.
Discovering sex toys led to a personal breakthrough, one that she was able to parlay into other areas of her life.
“So many people feel shame about sexual pleasure — even when we get past thinking of it as sinful or dirty, we still face social narratives that call it selfish or self-indulgent,” explained Barrica. “In reality, sexual pleasure is such a positive force for so many people.”
For her, experiencing pleasure was a catalyst to developing her sense of intuition that has since inspired and guided her through life.
“I started speaking, I decided to write a book, I started a company,” she reflected. “Finding pleasure helped me do more good.”
Searching for a way to “mind-meld,” as Good Vibes staff sexologist Carol Queen put it, the team recalls initial phases of the project as a series of discussions on how to further the conversation about sexual pleasure.
“So much of what we do at O.school is about getting people to open up — whether that's asking questions or sharing experiences,” Barrica said. “The more people talk about sex, the less shame they feel, and the more joy.”
Eventually, reps from both companies reached out to their local community, hoping to hit on inspiration for an idea that would resonate.
Ironically, the team didn’t have to look far to find their first story.
“It was somewhat accidental,” mused Barrica. “Originally, it was done more as a proof of concept, but the team really liked how it turned out, and it's helped other people open up.”
After being put into motion in the fall of last year, the super-powered project finally began taking shape around New Year’s.
“As the project progressed we'd listen to audio, talk about the story, and shape its visual presentation via feedback and suggestions,” explained Queen.
The team then zeroed in on a handful of stories: a small selection of personal narratives that cut a diverse scope and offer insight into the unique ways self-pleasure can foster personal growth.
As of now, a total of three episodes have been released, the subsequent two featuring writer and activist Latishia James-Portis, and trans educator and performer Buck Angel.
“These are all oral histories — the narrators are the storytellers themselves in interviews that we've done talking about how understanding and accepting pleasure changed them,” said Barrica. “I think it helps make it personal and relatable.”
The individual episodes clock in at exactly one minute each and feature the simple yet layered animation of Lee Friend Roberts, who’s worked on a number of O.school originals previously. Available both online and on Instagram, the episodes have been released to positive feedback from users who praise the mini-series for its candid celebration of self-pleasure and its transformative power.
In her episode titled “Healing,” James-Portis describes becoming reacquainted with her body after surviving a sexual trauma.
“Part of my trying to feel at home again in my body was through masturbation,” she explains, “and with the use of sex toys it put my pleasure in my own hands, literally.”
“When previously being alone in the dark with someone else had been so traumatic, to be in the dark creating a pleasurable moment for myself was deeply healing.”
Touching on the concept of virginity and religious stigma as well, James-Portis’ episode presents pleasure as a therapeutic act above anything else.
As the series continued to take shape, clear themes developed.
“What I've really noticed is the way people can be disempowered by cultural messages and lack of information,” said Queen. “When a toy gives us superpowers, it's always in conjunction with us taking a step away from that state of shame, judgment, or lack of knowledge.”
Particularly in Buck Angel’s episode “Canyon,” in which he shares how the use of sex toys helped him to embrace his masculinity in a new and previously unimagined way, the idea of sex toys being transformative takes on a new meaning.
Two years into transition, Angel described still being deeply uncomfortable with his body and most especially with the idea of vaginal penetration.
“If I get penetrated that doesn’t make me a man, and if I get penetrated in my vagina, I’m really not a man,” he recalled.
Until one day when using a vibrator the toy inadvertently slipped and found its way inside of him, leading to an instant orgasm.
“It was magic,” he said.
Previously fraught feelings became newfound joy with the help of a small toy.
On the largest scale, the transformative power of pleasure is at the heart of the series.
As Barrica notes, “Pleasure can help transform shame into pride and trauma into healing. It can have a transformative effect on who we are — our sense of power, our conception of sexuality or gender, our rightness in our own body.”
However while the stories are similarly empowering, they are also individually meaningful. “Solo sex and toys can be different experiences for different people,” explained Queen. “We all have different backgrounds and needs and talking about those differences is important.”
For Barrica, sex toys brought her out of her shell whereas for James-Portis, masturbation was a means to heal and for Angel, a gender affirmation.
“So much of what we're told about sex is fiction,” said Barrica, “most notably that there's one right way to be sexual. In reality, sexual pleasure is incredibly personal, and everyone's body is different. By focusing on real-life stories, from different people in different bodies coming to terms in different ways, it helps destabilize this idea that anyone is abnormal.”
Reps from both companies say that they plan to release at least four episodes in the first season but hope that the project will be ongoing.
“Masturbation and toy use can be such hidden experiences,” said Queen. “We want to take the veil away and show how important this kind of sexual agency can be for people.”
