How the sex toy became a discreet fashion and well-being accessory

“A pocket size to have fun everywhere. » With the launch of its latest intimate toy, a miniature version, Womanizer confirms the fashion accessory status of the so-called female sex toy. More suggestive, the phallic-shaped sex toy has not disappeared, but it is being stolen by more refined and discreet designs, colorful versions or fashion prints, to the point of forgetting (sometimes) their original function.

“Economic actors made a change in the packaging and design of sexual objects at the end of the 20th century, for CSP+ women,” explains Ines Khemila, doctoral student in sociology at Paris-Saclay University, who wrote a thesis on the circuit of sexual objects. The idea was initially to “mark a distinction” between “a sexuality considered aesthetic or chic” with more discreet forms and “a sexuality considered pornographic” with toys perceived as cruder.

From “Rabbit” from Sex and the City…

“The sex toy market gradually opened up to women from the 1970s,” adds Ines Khemila. But it was not until 1998 – and an episode of Sex and the City in which Charlotte became infatuated with an imposing “Rabbit” vibrator – that demand exploded. Launched by Vibratex thirteen years earlier, the rabbit sex toy became essential. Highlighted in the press, and described as the “Rolls-Royce of sex toys” by O, the Oprah Magazine in 2006, it is gaining popularity as the taboos surrounding it fade. Its shape is still suggestive but it begins to “de-sexualize itself to integrate into a sexuality considered playful and chic. »

Its trivialization is underway. Nearly one in two French women say they have already used it in 2017, compared to 9% ten years earlier, according to an Ifop study. But even more, it is “the Covid-19 pandemic [which] has generated a boom in the consumption of sexual objects online”, indicates Ines Khemila. And this although “their use [is] not uniform among women. » In confinement, the threshold of 50% of French women declaring having used it is crossed, according to a study, not on pleasure, but on “sexual well-being”. A (re)qualification which will (also) accelerate its change.

…On the catwalks of Fashion Week

Since confinement, the success has been such that sex toys have arrived in perfumery brands (Sephora, Nocibé). They are now appearing in the well-being section with dedicated designs - pebbles, flowers or colorful fruits. The more speech is freed, the more discreet they seem, almost all-purpose. A paradox? “I don’t see that as a contradiction. It’s not because we talk about it more openly that we want our sex toys to be visible to everyone around us,” says Verena Singmann, public relations manager at Lovehoney Group (Womanizer, We-Vibe). “Discretion remains one of the important criteria when choosing a sex toy, both in terms of design and sound level. »

“Sexual wellness brands are still subject to significant restrictions on social media, where it can be difficult, or sometimes impossible, to show off our products”

Far from the imposing design of its beginnings, the sex toy has transformed into a chic (but more shocking) object. In 2022, the On Aura Tout Vu house is teaming up with LELO to propel it onto the Fashion Week catwalks. On the menu, a collection of luxury intimate toys, to be worn as pendants or tucked into jewelry bags. Since then, other fashion brands, including Diesel, have followed, reducing any ambiguous design to nothing. Specialists in the sector can only rejoice in the age of… social media. “Designing objects far from the traditional codes of the sex toy allows content creators to talk about pleasure in a more natural way, and to bring sexual well-being more easily into mainstream conversations,” continues Verena Singmann.

Sex toy or AirPods, difficult to decide

The brand, which inspired the film For Pleasure, goes even further with “SNAP”, a miniature reinterpretation of its clitoral stimulator. Which looks exactly like… wireless headphones. It is also in a similar box, decorated with a mirror, that this tiny intimate toy is offered. “The idea was to create a product that women could easily take with them everywhere. We believe that they should not have to compromise when it comes to their pleasure,” explains Verena Singmann.

Here again, the toy has been designed to be discreet, being able to easily slip into a handbag, without losing its power. “Barely 5 cm for six intensity levels,” specifies the brand in a press release. But the idea is also to desecrate the image of the sex toy. “We wanted to bring a more playful dimension to this category. Its charging case, its compact format and its mirror give it more of the appearance of a lifestyle accessory. » Proof of this new status as a chic accessory, “SNAP” will parade on September 30 for designer Alphonse Maitrepierre at Paris Fashion Week.