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Home > Sex Tech > These Are Your Responses to Coining a Replacement for ‘Sex Toys’

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Home›Sex Tech›These Are Your Responses to Coining a Replacement for ‘Sex Toys’

These Are Your Responses to Coining a Replacement for ‘Sex Toys’

By Jenna Owsianik
November 5, 2017
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Which new term might help give the sex tech industry the respect it deserves?

"Words have power" written in white chalk and in all caps appears on a blackboard.

A short time ago we asked you, dear readers, if you had any suggestions for a better term to replace “sex toys.”

We were prompted to do so after receiving a thought-provoking tweet from sex tech entrepreneur and MakeLoveNotPorn [NSFW] founder Cindy Gallop earlier this year. We had tweeted out an article bemoaning the lack of gender diversity in the design and marketing of sex toys.

Unimpressed with our choice of words, Gallop said the sex tech industry isn’t taken seriously and part of the problem is the “toy” in “sex toy.” It trivializes the technology, she later added.

Gallop has a point. The sex tech industry often isn’t taken seriously. Venture capitalists don’t invest in startups. The stigma associated with sex also keeps talented people from taking jobs in the field. So the industry struggles to make due with a shortage of financial and intellectual resources.

The quickest way to make people think differently about something, is to change the language around it. @FutureofSex https://t.co/1siLI39vdn

— Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop) October 24, 2017

But will ditching the term “sex toys” really make a difference? Some of you shared your thoughts and proposed replacements with us on Twitter.

First, let’s give the sex tech industry a round of applause for how far it’s come. We have dropped retrograde and clinical phrases from popular vocabulary.

Wasn’t that the improved name from sexual assistance device?… lolz.

— OR4Now (@Or4Now) October 24, 2017

When I was young “sex toys” were called “marital aids.” LOL

— Kirk (@CreechingHand) October 24, 2017

Then we received some creative ideas:

Erotech accessories.

— Neil BOOliver Fans (@NeilOliverFans) October 23, 2017

(Not bad.)

Amorous Aids for Adventuresome Adults

— Barry Parsley (@BarryNParsley) October 24, 2017

Shortened to AAAA? Sounds like a battery or a car-towing service.

‘Joy Facilitator’? ‘Orgasmatron’? Not sure. https://t.co/BiIjSaXP48

— A.F. Waddell (@afwaddell) October 23, 2017

Folks also seem to enjoy including the word “pleasure” in their proposed phrases, which isn’t surprising since “pleasure products” has gained traction on some adult retail sites.

Pleasure Pal

— Jim Logan (@logie67) October 23, 2017

I have always referred to #SexToys as #PleasureProducts. It’s all about the #SexualPleasure whether single or couple #enjoy ? @cindygallop https://t.co/XMItkCVCRm

— SexTherapyAustralia (@sextherapyaust) October 23, 2017

We have started to use “pleasure product.”

— MoreThanSexToys™ (@MoreThanSexToys) October 24, 2017

Pleasure interactives

— Nder Wiggin (@AI1971TheMovie) November 3, 2017

Pleasure probe? Joy Toy? Orgasm Producer? Climax Solution Products? Mostly, I think I’m happy to stick with #sextoys.

— Rose Crompton (@RoseC_Leic) November 3, 2017

Others said we should keep using “sex toys,” including a commenter who liked the term because it links to the idea of sex being fun.

I prefer the word “toy!” https://t.co/BvDit2VRlG This is play! What do you want it to be, work?

— Eλf Sternberg (@elfsternberg) October 26, 2017

Issue not light-heartedness but trivialization, given lack of support for #sextech https://t.co/InZesLzD4i Investors don’t take us seriously

— Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop) October 24, 2017

Gallop herself said her team at AllTheSky Holdings will unveil a new category term “when the time is right.”

In the meantime, she’s chimed in with her own idea. I’m not sure whether she’s pleasantly trolling us with her simple and appropriate suggestion or if we’ve been seriously overthinking this whole thing.

I have one. ? #sextech

— Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop) October 22, 2017

What are your thoughts? Is “pleasure products” the way to go? Should we just say “sex tech”? Has Jenna taken this conversation way too far? Tell us what you think in the comment section below. 

Image sources: Twitter, geralt

Jenna Owsianik

Jenna Owsianik is a Canadian journalist and sex tech expert. Since 2014 she has been Editor-in-Chief of FutureofSex.net, the world’s leading publication on how technology is changing human sexuality, today and tomorrow.

Jenna is the primary author of the Future of Sex Report (2016).

Her expertise covers state-of-the-art sex technologies and the major fields driving innovations in intimacy: robotics, virtual reality, remote sex (teledildonics), immersive adult entertainment, human augmentation, virtual sex, and sexual health.

A trained journalist with a Masters of Journalism from The University of British Columbia, Jenna’s reporting has appeared on Futurism.com, Al Jazeera English, CTV British Columbia online, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS 60 Minutes, Global News, and CKNW Radio in Canada and the United States.

As a sex tech industry consultant, she is especially passionate about helping companies deliver accessible services and products to people with disabilities and other underserved communities.

Jenna also runs the sites SexforEveryBody.com, a sex-positive, body-positive online magazine that promotes inclusive sex education; and DisabledSexGuide.com, an adult resource on sex, disability, and erotica.

In 2013, Jenna won two Canadian Online Publishing Awards for her work on The Pain Project, a multimedia site on global access to palliative care.

She won second place at the 2011 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism’s Public Health category for her participation in the documentary Freedom From Pain.

Jenna has an Honors BA in Women’s Studies and Feminist Research as well as a French minor from The University of Western Ontario. She spent a year studying at L’Université Lumière Lyon 2 in Lyon, France.
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