I Dream of A Well Regulated Sex-Toy Industry

Before I get into the meat of this post, I wanted to present you with a little scenario to really set the mood.

Imagine this if you will:

For some time now you have been wanting to by yourself a sex toy. Dildo or vibrator  you don't care, as long as you can have some fun when you're by yourself. So you walk into your very first sex-toy shop. Immediately you are overwhelmed by the sights sounds and smells of all of the various toys on display. You don't even know where to start, there's so much to take in. But then your eye spots a small friendly-looking dildo in the corner. Its packaging proudly proclaims that it is 100% silicone. You don't know much about sex toys, but you know what 100% means, and you've heard that silicone is one of the safest toy materials you can get. You purchase your dildo and immediately take it home to enjoy.

But the next morning, you notice that something is horribly wrong. You're itching and burning in a place that no one ever wants to itch or burn. How could this have happened? You bough a safe toy, didn't you? You double-check your toy's packaging and once again see the bright pink label proclaiming 100% silicone. Unless of course, 100% silicone means different things to different people.

And that, my friends, is one of the sad truths about the sex toy industry. Most of us probably think that we know what 100% silicone means, but we would be wrong. 

100% Silicone can mean that a toy is:

• A blend of Silicone and PVC (which is porous)
• Jelly, with a little bit of silicone thrown in (also porous)
• CyberSilicone (which is a blend of silicone and rubber [porous again])
• actually 100% silicone (non-porous)

The problem is that the sex toy industry is not regulated. There is no oversight board or committee (like the FDA) to tell us as consumers when a company might not be telling the truth about its materials. If organizations weren't in place to regulate the food industry grocery shopping would be a very different experience. And unfortunately, that's the exact type of experience many of us have when trying to buy sex toys.

So what can be done? 

Enter:

A brand new non-profit organization that aims to help provide some oversight to the sex toy industry.

How exactly do they propose to do this? you ask. Good question. I'm going to go ahead a let the wonderful people over there tell you all about it:

"Dildology.org intends to provide material verification services and maintain a public database of the results, adding transparency and oversight to the industry while educating the public about the science behind pleasure products. We stand on our own, uninfluenced, and we are dedicated to protecting the health and wellbeing of the dildo-loving population at large through education (and maybe a little entertainment)."

Dildology.org is being run by three people who are very passionate about sex toys and safety. They believe that we as consumers deserve not to be lied to by companies trying to pass off materials like PVC and rubber as "100% Silicone". Unfortunately, as most of us know, sex toys can be expensive. What most of us don't know, is that material testing is also quite pricey. And since Dildology.org is committed to remaining a non-profit (which means not taking on advertisers), there are few options for raising the necessary funds.

 

That means, you guessed it, fund-raising! Dildology.org is currently taking donations to raise the money to purchase and test various toys.

How can you help? Easy, tell your friends, tell your neighbors! Go door-to-door! Help spread the good word of sex toy safety! We all deserve to know what materials are going into toys that we put into our bodies. 

Door-to-door not your thing? That's totally cool too, you can help by making a donation!

The majority of your donations will go directly to product purchase/testing (with the remainder going to donation incentives, equipment and educational materials).

Why should I donate? you might be asking. What's in it for me? Good questions. 

Well, first of all, you get the satisfaction of knowing that you helped to educate people about what materials are actually going into their sex toys. 

Also, you're helping to force the sex toy industry to be more responsible for the items they create. As it stands now, just about anyone can slap a "100% Silicone" sticker on pretty much any product they choose, and very few people are going to do anything about it. But if companies know that their toys are being independently tested and verified, they're going to think twice before blatantly lying to their consumers.

On top of those amazing (and personally satisfying) incentives, there's more!

How much more you ask? (boy, you ask a lot of questions!)

• Donate $15 and get a coupon for 15% off at SheVibe.com
• Donate $50 and get a Dildology T-Shirt!
• Donate $100 and get a spot on the (coveted) Dildology.org Donor List!
• And much, much more!

(Go to http://www.dildology.org/donations/ to check out all of the amazing donor incentives!)

So that's it, donate, spread the word, do what you can to help this amazing non-profit get going and help us all! Like I've said many times before, we're consumers in this industry, and there's a surprising amount of power in that position. We're the ones who can make change in this industry, but none of us can do it by ourselves. Dildology.org is going to make a difference to the industry, so donate and be a part of history!