INFO:

Why Do Women Masturbate? It’s not only because they feel horny! According to an article in the Metro, there is a plethora of reasons, ranging from pain relief for period cramps, to wanting to fall asleep, fast. Are Readily Available Sex Toys An Incentive To Masturbate? There is a huge variety of sex toys for women that we take for granted now. Me being able to publish this blog post, and you being able to read it, is due to a number of brave women (and men, too!). Has anyone heard of my fellow German, Beate Uhse? A fighter pilot in the Second World War, she was unemployed after 1945, and founded a mail order business, selling ‘marital hygiene’ publications. In 1961, she founded the world’s first ever sex shop, in Flensburg, Germany. Ok – I have a confession to make. I just love walking into sex shops, all over the world, particularly if they are not sleazy, or too male oriented. Yes, I’ve been to Good Vibrations in San Francisco, Come As You Are in Toronto, most major (and smaller) ones in London, and then there was the one in the gay district of Vancouver. I chatted to the owner, a little older than me. “We wanted to do something like the Germans were doing”, he said. What he meant was, you guessed it, what Beate Uhse had done. He told me that they had a picket line outside, when they first opened in Vancouver in the 70s. They imported sex toys from Germany, and couldn’t read the German instructions. If only I had been around, to help. A Short, And Very Abridged, History Of Sex Toys Early sex toys were massager toys, or later, very life-like vibrating dildos in off-putting colours. Women who founded sex shops in the 90’s set out to make sex shops less about the male gaze, and more women friendly. It’s worth reading the history of an iconic toy, the Rabbit, first invented in 1983, and which became really popular in the 1990’s, also due to the Sex and the City series. Even older is the equally famous magic wand, which was originally sold – discreetly – as a general massage wand. Feminist and sex educator Betty Dodson introduced it in her workshops from the late sixties/early seventies onwards. It’s Official – Women Have Sexual Desires! What we take for granted now, vagina owners having sexual desires, was far from acknowledged in the Fifties, and it took a lot of brave women and activists, as well as sex shops owned by both men and women, speaking out to create what is now fairly mainstream. I’m proud to be continuing their work of pleasure education. Even so, there are still countries in the world that forbid selling or owning sex toys, particularly Muslim countries, like the UAE, but also Alabama in the US. So – Why Do Women Masturbate?! Most of the reasons why women masturbate involve having the big O. Here is a list: Feeling horny – you guessed it! Relaxation, release, quick release Wanting to go to sleep Pain Relief, particularly menstruation cramps, but try it on migraine headaches! Feeling not so good or stressed, and wanting to feel better Finding out about likes and dislikes, and how to get to orgasm No current sexual partner, or no satisfying partner sex High libido Are there any reasons why women masturbate that I haven’t mentioned yet? Please write to me! Because female masturbation has become so mainstream, there is now even an ‘imperative’ to masturbate. Unfortunately, libido doesn’t take well to that. Masturbation may be good for you, however there is a conundrum, sexuality doesn’t take well to ‘shoulds’ – on the contrary, it can be quite a turn-on when masturbation is forbidden, or frowned upon.