Sex toys. While they’re not usually an intergenerational talking point (“Back in my day, we used to walk 3 miles through the snow to charge our bullet vibrators…”), the stories around a woman’s first sex toy say a lot about contemporary attitudes about sex, pleasure and yes, female power.
Despite the fact that they’ve actually been around for ages (as author Rachel Feltman says in her forthcoming history of sex, Been There, Done That, vibrating belts were teased as sexual aids in ads as far back as the turn of the 20th century), it wasn’t until as recently as the 1970s that sex toys were even a considered a mainstream product category. Thanks to discreet internet vibrator boutiques, they're even more popular today—though usually behind closed doors.
In the interest of delving even more deeply into the increasingly well-parsed world of sexual wellness, PureWow conducted an anonymous poll of women between the ages of 25 and 52 about the first sex toys they ever owned. As it turns out, the discourse and attitudes surrounding toys that are used for sexual pleasure have changed immensely over the years.
As one Gen Xer explained, "“I am in my mid-40s. I had a lot of shame around pleasure and I don't have that anymore. ... I've started to put more effort into seducing myself lately and it's much more rewarding than just pressing a button—although that is, of course, still part of it."
