For transgender folks shopping for pleasure products, it can be a daunting challenge to find items that accommodate their changing bodies, address their specific needs and support gender affirmation during intimacy.
Matty Hennessey has experienced this firsthand — both as a transmasculine person navigating his own sexual journey and as a pleasure professional with nearly two decades’ experience in the industry, including five years as a buyer for an adult ecommerce company.
We’re taking these intimate experiences that often make people feel dysphoric, and figuring out how to reframe those things into something gender-affirming.
Sifting through thousands of products over the years, Hennessey repeatedly faced the same frustrating dead ends, encountering designs that triggered dysphoria instead of pleasure. It seemed like the sex toy industry was unaware that people like him existed.
“I felt invisible when I was looking through those catalogs,” he recalls.
Going Straight to the Source
Rather than accept the status quo, however, Hennessey decided to confront it. In 2024, he launched Eversense, a company dedicated to creating sex toys that don’t just accommodate trans bodies, but celebrate them.
As a buyer, Hennessey built massive catalogs and developed an encyclopedic knowledge of what was available on the market.
The turning point occurred during a conversation with a friend who was experienced in business development. When Hennessey expressed disappointment about not having been able to design products at his previous company, his friend simply asked, “Why don’t you just go for it?”
At first, Hennessey says, it felt like a pipe dream. But with guidance from his friend and encouragement from his wife, he took the leap.
Taking a community-first approach to product development, Hennessey assembled a 50-person focus group representing diverse identities from around the world, to help test his first product through a detailed two-month diary process.
“I don’t want to design for them; I want them to design through me,” he explains. “I want to be able to put all of these things into place that people are asking for, from the source.”
To that end, Hennessey also makes himself easily accessible to community members by openly sharing his phone number and email.
“I’ve spoken to at least 100 people who were complete strangers,” he explains. “Some of them just needed to connect with another trans person. Others have reached out saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I have this idea and wanted to tell you about it.’”
Every Body, Every Wallet
A strong emotional component drives Eversense’s mission.
“We’re taking these intimate experiences that often make people feel dysphoric, and figuring out how to reframe those things into something gender-affirming,” Hennessey shares.
Among the company’s first flagship products is My-Tie, which was born from both community input and personal experience. Inspired by his own physical changes during testosterone therapy, Hennessey created a bolo-style cock ring that enhances physical pleasure while helping with gender dysphoria.
The key innovation is the finger loops at the end of the toy, which allow users to pull genitals up, forward and out for more accessibility. For Hennessey, this design mimics what might be achieved by a metoidioplasty — a gender-affirming surgical procedure that remains financially out of reach for many.
“With this toy, I feel fulfilled instead of encountering that dysphoric feeling of, ‘Why can’t my body do this?’” he says.
In addition to trans users, My-Tie can also benefit older people, folks with mobility changes, and different body shapes, including customers dealing with erectile dysfunction or those on estrogen.
“Everyone’s body is changing, no matter what your identity is,” Hennessey notes. “I try to design toys that can grow with you.”
Eversense has also created Holdme, which features a flexible, spring-coil design that can expand to fit between the user’s fingers. You can wrap it around yourself for a hands-free experience or use the vibrating fingertips to rub or stroke. It has a soft, squishy texture that stimulates all the sweet spots.
It’s ideal for folks with: bottom growth after testosterone, larger sweet spots, post-metoidioplasty and post-phalloplasty bodies, limited hand mobility, or changing tissue sensitivity.
Eversense’s commitment to community also includes pricing and accessibility, reflecting mutual aid practices in queer and trans communities. Hennessey plans to use a sliding scale model where customers can donate at checkout — such as by rounding up their order — to help fund those unable to pay full price.
“That money will go into a fund, which is there for folks who reach out and say, ‘Hey, I really want this, but I can’t afford it,’” he explains. “We fight for each other through crowdfunding and community support.”
‘Lead with your heart’
So far, industry response has been positive, including partnerships with companies like SheVibe.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to has been like, ‘That’s really cool, I’m so glad you’re doing that,’” Hennessey reports.
Even Hennessey’s mother, who initially struggled when he came out, has become one of the brand’s biggest cheerleaders.
“She doesn’t necessarily get it — and she doesn’t need to know all of it, right?” laughs Henessey. “But she has just been so supportive in every single way that I needed from her.”
Currently crowdfunding for prototype development, Hennessey hopes to have My-Tie in hand by the end of the year. Having gotten this far, his advice to other aspiring entrepreneurs in the space is simple but powerful.
“If you don’t try, you’ll never know if you can do it,” he says. “Lead with your heart, come from a place of caring for other folks. That way, you will be successful whether you end up with a huge business or not. There are so many benefits to just doing what you want to be doing and feeling like you’re making steps forward in your dream.”
As Eversense gets ready to officially launch, Hennessey also has a message for his colleagues in the industry: “Every single unique, beautiful, perfect body deserves love and care from us — right now more than ever.”
