Is female masturbation one of the last great taboos?
I have a large number of female friends, they’re fairly evenly split between married and single, with a slightly higher percentage falling into the single category, and a very small percentage sitting in a relationship but not married (symptomatic of my age, I suppose). Despite all my close female friends, and despite being comfortable enough to pee in front of or even shower in front of some of them, there’s still a topic that is never discussed: masturbation.
Even among those who will discuss their sex lives, masturbation is a taboo topic. Particularly the use of vibrators or other toys. It’s such a taboo topic, in fact, that when a friend of mine shared a picture of a vibrator on facebook with the caption “Please like this page so I can win this” I signed up to support her. Sharing took ladyballs. And I was impressed.
The whole concept fascinates me. It is taken as a given that all men masturbate, yet the same is not said about women – even if it is thought. Even if the statistics indicate that’s true.
For me, this comes back to the idea that a woman’s body is not really her own. And this can be seen everywhere. From the over sexualised images of women in the media, advertising and the music industry, to the modest coverings worn in some cultures keeping a woman’s body sacred – for her husband’s eyes only. And this bothers me.
We seem to live in a world where nothing is more taboo, more threatening, more terrifying or more likely to immediately illicit a strong negative response than a woman owning her sexuality. From riding on a wrecking ball nude to oozing sex and glamour a la Christina Hendricks or Dita Von Teese. It makes society uncomfortable.
All this ran through my head at 1,000 miles an hour when I was approached to receive for review, and for giveaway (different ones, of course), some vibrators.
“I can’t do that!” Thought I, “My dad reads my blog!”
Followed by the fear of what would happen if The Viking’s work stumbled upon the post. Or people from my work. Or even one of those guys who says borderline inappropriate things to me on Facebook, to the extent that the Viking has occassionally had to remind them that’s his wife they’re talking about.
Could I do it? Could I break the taboo? Turns out I can. And I’m inviting you to as well.
The product is Thrill by We-Vibe (pictured above) and my review so far is pretty short. I’ve only managed the time or inclination to test it the once and I have to admit, I found it a little difficult to figure out. But one thing that really appealed to me upon opening was how feminine it looked. It was not a giant fallic object designed to make any man feel like he’s sharing the bedroom with Ron Jeremy, rather it was small and discrete.
It is designed to vibrate on your clitoris while also hitting your g-spot. So far I’ve only managed to make it successfully vibrate the hell out of my pubic bone, but I’ll give it another go at some point. Perhaps when the after affects of temporarily turning into the Elephant Man are completely out of my system.
In the mean time we have 3 of these babies to give away. And I’m going to make it easy. All you have to do is comment on this post saying you would like to win one. You can tell me why if you feel so inclined. You can even do it anonymously (just make sure you don’t then put in your real email if you have a gravatar account, as your face will show up) and I’ll reply to the 3 comments who have won this device.
If you comment, but don’t say you want to win one, I will not consider it an entry. I also want to hear what you all have to say about this topic.
Do you think it’s another form of misogyny? Do you believe women should be more open about their sexuality? Do you think this even rates as a taboo?
