LOS ANGELES — Vogue explores "a new frontier" in self-pleasure with an examination of the increasing mainstream presence of pleasure products for women.
"This is not the story I expected to write," notes Vogue.com contributor Maya Singer.
"When I first conceived this piece, I figured it would be a jaunty narrative about the re-branding of female sexuality as part of the wellness movement, and the ways a new generation of female-led companies producing beautiful sex toys and luxurious personal lubricants were aiding this shift... Coronavirus-wise, we all know what happened next. We’re living it still."
Singer had intended to explore the history of the sex positivity movement alongside "recent updates in our understanding of, and our conversations about, the clitoris and how it works" and her own "fieldwork" in road-testing new products.
Her story explores the travails of Lora DiCarlo, in 2018, when the start-up's Osé hands-free personal massager won a Robotics Innovation Award by the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The award was rescinded a month later by CES, and then re-awarded following a public outcry. Months later, CES announced that sextech would be welcomed at the 2020 show in its "health and wellness" section.
Singer identifies the entire episode as "a tipping point."
She also "eagerly" investigates Dame Products' Eva, Eva II and Pillo, and a variety of other sex aids.
"You know what happened next," she notes. "The world ground to a halt. Flights were cancelled. Travel was banned. Toilet paper was hoarded, and I found myself sheltering-in-place, in my apartment, alone, with a sex shop's worth of 'intimate wellness' products, to use the phrase preferred by Rosebud Woman founder Christine Mason."
Singer used her downtime to explore a personal revelation— that "sexual pleasure is highly relational."
"Don’t get me wrong," she writes. "I’m a big fan of the nullifying rapture of the vibrator orgasm, and given that I had about a dozen vibes to try out, I got off plenty of times in those first few weeks of social distancing... But, like a lot of women, my desire doesn’t happen in a vacuum."
It was an edifying experience for Singer to examine societal conditioning that tells women the point of sex is to please men. Today, she notes, women are invited to become more aware of their bodies and their own desires.
"Unlearning old habits won’t happen in the course of a day," Singer observes. "Or even over the course of a global pandemic. For society and individual women alike, there’s work to do. The good news is, this work is now being done by women, for women."
Read the complete article here.
Image source: Vogue.com
