THENovember 4th is celebrated Sex Toy Daythe international day dedicated to objects of pleasure. And if the first thought goes to taboo, to a smile or to embarrassment, it seems it’s time to change perspective: sex toys are not just erotic accessories, but tools that can improve sexual well-being and therefore also overall health. Gynecologists, midwives and physiotherapists today suggest their patients use particular sex toys to improve vulvar-vaginal atrophy, urinary leakage, hypertonicity of the pelvic floor. But not only that. To remember it is LELOthe Swedish brand that since 2003 has transformed personal massagers into true design objects. Sex Toy Day, explains the company, serves precisely to “normalize the language of pleasure and spread a freer and more aware body culture”.
From the laboratory to the bed: when engineering meets intimate health
How is a sex toy born? From an unexpected combination of technological research, listening and design. In the LELO laboratories in Stockholm, the creation of an object for pleasure follows a path that resembles that of a hi-tech product: it starts from real surveys and feedback on people’s desires, we move on to design and finally to technology.
This is how lines like were born Enigma™designed to stimulate the entire clitorisvisible and internal, e Hugo™dedicated to prostate massagestudied on scientific evidence that this type of stimulation can increase the intensity of male orgasm by 30%. (data International Journal of Impotence Research2021).
Pleasure, here, is treated as a complex sensory experience, where the body meets technology: sonic waves, adaptive vibrations, certified medical materials, apps with artificial intelligence and remote connection. Intimate well-being meets safety.
From taboo to self-care: pleasure as part of health
Science confirms it: an orgasm is not just pleasure, but a beneficial neurochemical reaction. During orgasm, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin are released — the same molecules that regulate mood and reduce the perception of pain (study Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience2022).
Furthermore, masturbation improves knowledge of one’s body and the ability to communicate desires to the partner, reducing anxiety and sexual dysfunctions, as underlined by the guidelines ofAmerican Sexual Health Association.
Yet, as LELO research shows, three out of four people believe that masturbation and sex toys are still taboo.
A cultural silence that weighs especially on women: according to the Journal of Sex Research (2023), women who regularly practice autoeroticism declare a 45% greater sexual satisfactionbut the topic remains little discussed.
From digital privacy to the pleasure emoji
For Sex Toy Day, LELO has also launched an ironic but symbolic proposal: aemoji dedicated to sex toysto be inserted into keyboards all over the world.
One way to say that talking about pleasure shouldn’t be embarrassing more than it is embarrassing to talk about mental or physical well-being. “We have learned to talk about mental health and supplements, but not yet about masturbation,” observes Luka Matutinovic, CMO of the brand.
In fact, the World Association for Sexual Health consider the Sexuality is a human right, linked to psychophysical health. And silence, experts remind us, remains one of the major obstacles to a healthy and peaceful relationship with one’s body.
Educate in pleasure (without blushing)
Behind a design object, a chip or an app, there is something simpler and more revolutionary: the idea that taking care of your sexuality is an integral part of well-being. Personal and as a couple. Sex Toy Day is not a hymn to excess, but a invitation to knowledge. And if science tells us that pleasure is good for you, maybe it’s really time to stop blushing.