There has been a lot of bad press around sex toys and associated extra-marital aids over the years, particularly those items specifically aimed at males. A significant element of this negative opinion stems from in the manner in which they are generally marketed and perceived. Whilst brands such as Ann Summers have successfully applied an acceptable veneer to sex toys for women, and even moved outlets onto the high street, an equivalency for men is yet to materialise. By focussing on intimacy, elegance and discretion, manufacturers and retailers of sex toys for women have avoided profanity, explicit language and graphic imagery: instead using metaphor and suggestion to sell their wares in a socially agreeable manner.

Male sex toys have a long-running association with social exclusion, seedy self-gratification and ultimately humour. As a result, items such as inflatable dolls and penis extenders are more likely to be referred to by a stand-up comedian or sitcom than a marketing campaign or salesman. The knock-on effect of this is the development and perpetuation of a view of male sex toys as shameful and laughable. This isn’t helped by the way in which a great number of these products have historically been packaged: often depicting scantily clad women and boasting a shameful pun for a name alongside spurious claims in explicitly adult language.

We are however living in a society which purports to be lenient, progressive and open-minded: which has had a serious impact on the increase in acceptability of female sex toys. In order to emulate this shift for the equivalent male products a number of myths need to be demystified.

The first of these concerns the products themselves and their application. No longer is the male sex toy industry aimed at the lonely or ‘sexually experimental’ per se. In fact, one of the most rapidly growing areas in the sex toy industry is the couples market. Products in the couples market aim to enhance and re-invigorate the sex-lives of both partners, as opposed to acting as an alternative to conventional physical relations. A substantial portion of this market is aimed squarely at males of all sexual orientations, and does so without resorting to the dated packaging or descriptions mentioned previously.

Alongside an already established shift in the industry itself, a major shift in assumptions is required on all levels to match the intentions of the more modern and forward-thinking sex toy manufacturers and distributors. This change in mentality will be hard to achieve, even though the majority of adults believe that sex is not seedy and nor are items designed to increase enjoyment from it. Due to what is in many cases a misguided sense of Christian morality, many companies, publications and broadcast networks still hold outdated views on intimacy and perpetuate a negative view on sex, hence all associated industries.

The future of the male sex toy industry is dependent upon maturity on the part of the manufacturers and distributors, as well as the legislators and censors. A gulf needs to be demonstrated between this industry and the pornography industry as the two need not and should not be viewed in the same light. Only when this has happened will sex toys in general gain the place in society they surely warrant given our widespread pride that we are liberal and accepting as a nation.