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Men’s Toys – the Fastest Growing Sector

By on November 6, 2020

Bath, UK – With the popular culture moments such as the Sex and the City TV series, it has become the norm for women to talk freely about masturbation and many own a plethora of sex toys. It seems women have well and truly been taking their sexual pleasure into their own hands for quite some time now and retailers have wised up to this, leading to a wide range of products in the market being skewed towards women.

Male toys, on the other hand, have seemingly always been two steps behind in terms of social acceptance, mainstream popularity and choice. But thanks to factors such as the astronomical sex toy boom our catergory has seen since the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, stigmatised ideas surrounding male sex toys are beginning to be shattered and it is now the fastest growing sector in our market.

Why have male sex toys remained a taboo?

There are numerous detrimental factors for the stigma surrounding male masturbatory aids. For one, the whole narrative of male pleasure is often portrayed as a non-subject, which widely stems from the perception that men’s pleasure is an experience limited to basic friction and ejaculation, so why do they need to bother with anything other than their hand?

There’s also a large element of shame surrounding male sexuality. Historically, men who use sex toys have been stereotyped as someone undesirable, whereas with every stereotype, this is based solely on misguided information and ignorance, which has resulted in a society which sees men ashamed to talk openly about sex toys, when the reality is, 54% of men do use them [1].

What advances can we expect to see in terms of the male toy category?

Thankfully, as outdated attitudes begin to be challenged, the male sex toy market is in the incline and men are beginning to recognise that sex toys not only enhance feelings of pleasure, but also help them become better lovers and treat health issues such as premature ejaculation.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been a force in driving this growth in male sex toy sales, as many men turn to self-care practices including self-pleasure as they spend more time at home. In a recently commissioned Lovehoney lockdown sex survey, 29% of men revealed they had bought a sex toy during the lockdown period, with male vibrators coming out on top, followerd by masturbator strokers, cock rings and prostate massargers.

As male sex toys grow in popularity, a staggering demand for quality and choice of product has been built. Technology is far superior now than it was decades ago when the first male masturbator was created and cutting edge male toy tech advances will continue to improve at a rapid-fire rate. There was once a time when men’s toys only covered fleshlights. Men’s toys can now offer everything from magnet-powered pulsations, heat sensations, exhilarating vibrational modes and thrusting speeds, further helping men to realise there are many different pathways to orgasm.

How can retailers support this growing customer base?

As adult retailers, we have a level of responsibility to do our part to share positive messaging in our marketing about sexual fulfillment, happiness and joy, for everyone. With the consumption of social media on the rise since Covid-19 gripped the world, an obvious place to educate the masses on male-pleasure is here. The more of us voicing our opinion that sex toys are for everyone and that male self-pleasure is not something to be hidden away or branded a taboo, the better.

In 2020 we have all sorts of shapes and sensations available in adult products to vulva owners. As men begin to seek new ways to enjoy sexual experiences, retailers should be able to provide a similar range of product offerings, which boasts all of the quality and choice in sensations seen in women’s toys.

What are Lovehoney doing to support the male audience?

Although females make up a large part of our customer base, here at Lovehoney, we are passionate about making sexual fulfillment available to everyone, regardless of your age, sexual orientation, relationship status or gender. In the ambition of introducing a new generation of men to the joys of sex toys, we recently launched a realistic range of luxury toys to our consumers, under the sub-brand Blowmotion, to help men to enjoy intense levels of pleasure through elements such as heat-warming silicone which feels just like a human body.

We also set out to bring cutting edge technology to the men’s market through our popular Fifty Shades of Grey collection, which includes the recently launched Remote Control Couple’s Vibrator, which can be moulded into a cock ring as well as the Relentless Vibrations Remote Control Prostate Vibrator and the Relentless Vibrations Remote Control Butt Plug, all of which bring the powerful vibrations and varying intensity levels seen in women’s toys.

Our brand marketing team have also teamed up with a panel of sexperts, who can provide advice, insight and commentary on a variety of topics, including male pleasure. We hope that when other men see our male experts talk openly openly about sex toys it will help to further eliminate taboos and shift the focus to be about pleasure and not shame.

Although oppressive gender norms regarding the subject of male sex toys are dwindering, it’s high time for the issue to have a spotlight. The male toy offering now delivers all of the vibrations and pleasure seen in women’s toys, and as a category we now need to continue to spread the message about male pleasure positivity, given many men are still unaware of their status.

Here at Lovehoney our consumer marketing team are focussing on this through their marketing strategy, through working with a panel of male experts and producing informative content. It was important to us that we dedicated a section of our recent Virtual Camp Lovehoney consumer event to a powerful discussion on removing the taboos of male sex toys with sex coach Cam Fraser. We hope that by putting these positive, educational messages out into the public domain it will help people to change their outlook and truly discover sexual happiness.

www.lovehoney.co.uk

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