Due to the coronavirus, sex-toy sales are up, stigma is down
The near-countrywide stay-at-home shutdown has, over the last month, turned us into a nation of at-home mask makers, stress bakers, manicurists and declutterers. It’s also turned us into a nation of self-gratifying pleasure seekers eager to stay connected — sexually and intimately — with both ourselves and others during this anxiety-fraught period of extended social isolation. At least that’s a conclusion that can be drawn from the recent increase in sex-toy sales.
Adult novelty companies contacted by the L.A. Times reported increased web traffic and surging sales, particularly in late March, after stay-at-home orders started being issued coast to coast.
Chad Braverman, chief creative officer for Doc Johnson, a North Hollywood-based adult novelties business, said sales were already booming — up double digits in January and February compared with the previous year — before rocketing 100% year-over-year for the last five days of March.
From sex-coach apps to teledildonics, options for sexual intimacy are right at your fingertips
At Ontario, Calif.-based CalExotics, founder and Chief Executive Susan Colvin reported a 30% jump in internet sales toward the end of last month (though she pointed out the jump did little to offset the loss of wholesale bricks-and-mortar business). For Lelo, a luxury sex-toy brand headquartered in Stockholm, the rise was 60% over the same period, while Lovense, which focuses on internet- and Bluetooth-connected interactive toys (a field known as teledildonics) reported March to be the second-best-performing month in the Hong Kong firm’s nine-year history behind last Christmas.
“I’m not at all surprised by that,†said psychologist Laurie Mintz, a University of Florida professor and author of “Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters — And How To Get It†(as well as a consultant to Lelo). “Orgasms have long been known to flood your body with good chemicals that help you sleep and decrease anxiety. ... There are a lot of people who have been using sex toys for a long time, but I think quarantine at home has really allowed [sex toys] to become more mainstream.â€
As an example of just how mainstream, Mintz pointed to the March 27 NYC Health Department advisory titled Sex and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which reads, in part: “You are your safest sex partner. Masturbation will not spread COVID-19, especially if you wash your hands (and any sex toys) with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after sex.â€
“People are scared,†Mintz said. “People are lonely, and I think there’s been enough talk [about the topic that] it’s destigmatizing sex toys and masturbation — finally — and that could be one of the very few positive outcomes of all this.â€
People are also seeking advice and tips on how to navigate intimacy in the midst of the coronavirus-caused chaos. At Coral, a 6-month-old Culver City-based app that’s part sex coach and part digital intimacy guide (its motto: “a guide to horizontal happinessâ€), the number of new users shot up 45% last month with the number of users opening the app in just the last week of March rocketing 140%.
What might the lasting legacy be of the pandemic-provoked search for sexual intimacy? That’s something that’s been very much on San Diego sexologist Jill McDevitt’s mind.
“For a few weeks now, I’ve been really curious about the sexologist and sociologists who are going to be studying the social and sexual impact of this for decades,†she said. “Because I think it’s going to show us that sexuality is a need. It’s not frivolous; it’s not silly or inappropriate. It’s a human need. And here we are going back to basics as humans right now with just the necessities. And this is proving to be a necessity. People want to know how to stay sexually connected.â€
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