The sex toy phenomenon
Simply in fashion or a real social phenomenon? No one knows if the sex toy wave will last. These days however, taboos are being broken and people unembarassingly show off their ‘toy’ to friends.
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Cheeky duck, geisha balls and vibrators of all kinds are no longer hidden at the back of the drawer or under the mattress. They are everywhere: magazines, television series, books and of course, specialist shops and home parties.
We are far removed from those seedy practices traditionally found in red light districts. Sex toys are glamorous now, and are used both for solitary pleasure and erotic fun between two people. Doctissimo looks at this ‘sex toy madness’.
Women’s pleasure to the fore...
The search for pleasure can be a real challenge for some women and the time when sex was just a marital obligation is long gone. Today, woman demand a real ‘right to pleasure’. They want to know their bodies better and discover orgasm, the ultimate pleasure, over and above just pleasant sexual relations. Women want sexual satisfaction, with or without partners.
The taboo has therefore been broken, and sexuality is now an integral part of a woman’s personal fulfilment. While pleasure can be a two-person discovery, sexual relations are sometimes not enough to explore all the possibilities. To add a little spice to their sex life or simply to learn more about themselves, women are no longer hesitating to use sex toys.
Is happiness is a sex toy?
Propelled in part by the series and film, Sex and the City, and its emblematic rabbit, sex toys for women are omnipresent these days, particularly in the UK. Everyone is talking about them and if you believe everything you hear and read, sex toys are apparently a pretty sure path to sexual seventh heaven.
From vibrating eggs to a designer Gigi, women are spoilt for choice! Size, shape, colour or material, there are thousands of sex toys available through online shopping, high street sex shops and private home sales parties.
Sex toys can be a way of discovering or recovering a lost pleasure, but especially a way of learning about yourself and optimising future experiences with a partner. After all, how can a woman guide her partner to give her pleasure if she doesn’t know herself?
A sex toy for everyone?
So will every woman have her own sex toy soon? Well, we’re still far from these types of numbers and there’s quite a gap between what people say and reality.
“Almost 80% of people who come here confess that they have never touched a sex toy in their life!” confides Fleur Breto, manager of the fashionable Parisian love store “Passage du désir”. According to the 2004 Durex Sex Survey, 49% of British people admit to using sex toys, compared to 43% of Americans and 20% of the French nation. Hard to know if this is true or just people trying to look like they are following the trend.
And beware of preconceived ideas: contrary to what many men believe, these toys are not there to replace them! Sex toys even create fear in the male population as they imagine women doing away with them altogether, yet sex toys are no way a substitute. Experiencing pleasure using a sex toy does not mean one can't experience pleasure without one. Increasing numbers of couples do their ‘saucy’ gadget shopping together, to spice up their evenings in.
Dr Hutcherson, author of the American best-seller ‘Pleasure: A Woman’s Guide to Getting the Sex You Want, Need and Deserve’, believes that, "Every woman should own at least one intimate toy for her personal pleasure or to enhance sexual games with her partner”. The most important thing is to feel comfortable with yourself and your sexuality...
So, what'll it be for you - sex toy or no sex toy?
Copyright © 2010 Doctissimo
Posted 16.07.2010
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