This Donut-like Sex Toy Aims to End Painful Intercourse

May 30, 2018

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Intimate wearable customizes penetration depth with modular design.

For many women, penetrative sex can simply be too uncomfortable or outright painful to enjoy. says

But Emily Sauer claims to have a solution with her intimate wearable called Ohnut and is currently seeking crowdfunders to back her Kickstarter campaign.

Modular design

According to Sauer, the Ohnut device “customizes the depth of penetration” by using linking and compressible ring modules meant to be placed around the base of the penis or other objects during sex.

Think of it as a “skin-safe polymer blend” ring that joins together other rings in order to create the ideal, and discomfort-free, length for penile or sex toy penetration.

Solution to dyspareunia?

Sauer’s project stems from her 10-year battle with dyspareunia, the medical term for painful intercourse.

According to the Ohnut press release:

“She refused to recognize it as a real physical (let alone emotional) problem. She defined herself as confident woman and a desirable partner – being ‘melodramatic’ about pain wasn’t in her nature. Though looking back, it didn’t even occur to her that a solution could exist. For Emily, painful sex during deep penetration was something she accepted…but never really got used to.”

Fortunately, she did discover a possible solution and, after trial and error, invented the Ohnut, which she says has gained the support of healthcare professionals. They include surgeons, pelvic floor physical therapists, and sexual health educators. Several cancer research centers have also contacted the team to find out how to offer the Ohnut to patients, states the press release.

Perks for backing

As of this writing, the Ohnut is at $33,645 of its all-or-nothing goal of reaching $50,000 by June 14.

Like most Kickstarter campaigns, backers can get some nice perks, though you won’t be able to get an actual Ohnut to try out for anything less than a $58 pledge.

Hope for the future

The Ohnut is exciting on many levels. It could give women with dyspareunia the opportunity to enjoy penetrative sex without pain or discomfort.

The project is also another sign that female entrepreneurs in sex-related industries are continuing to gain ground.
It looks like Vagina-nomics, which is the trend of more women getting into sex tech to create products for women, is still booming and on the rise!

Image sources: Ohnut

M. Christian

M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex.

Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.”

Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian.

As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2.

M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise.

Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex.

If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro.

M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.