Toys in the Sheets - Sex Toy Survey
Sex Toy Survey Results - Introduction
Introduction:
Who uses vibrators and other sex toys?
When? Where? How? How Often? And Why?
Vibrators first went public in 1973, when Betty Dodson, Ph.D., author of Sex For One, lead a workshop on female masturbation
at a sexuality conference in New York City. Today, many sex therapists recommend sex aids -- Vibrators, Dildos, etc. -- for sexual
enhancement and as therapy for women learning to become orgasmic. But no research elucidates the sociology and demographics of
the people who use them. Using the keyword "vibrator", the senior author of this study searched the psychological
literature (PsycINFO database: contents of 1,300 journals compiled by the American Psychological Association, 1971 to date) and
discovered only eight studies during the last 24 years involving sex toys -- six dealing with vibrators as therapy for women
learning to become orgasmic and two case reports describing the use of vibrators in treatment of men's sex problems. The
scientific literature contained no information about sex toy users or their attitudes about or use of sexual enhancement
devices. This paucity of information suggests that (1) only a small fraction of sex toys are used for therapeutic purposes,
and (2) that an investigation of who uses sex toys and their attitudes about them might shed new light on Americans' sexual
practices and beliefs in the 1990s. In 1996, one tantalizing piece of information about sex toys became public. In the 1994
survey, Sex in America, Robert T. Michael, Ph.D., John Gagnon, Ph.D. and Edward O. Lauman, Ph.D., of the University
of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, discovered that about 20% of their national sample called sex toys either
"very" or "somewhat" appealing for sexual enhancement.
Michael et al. maintain that Sex in America is the first sex survey ever based on a representative random sample of
Americans. They insist that its results are closer to the truth than the findings of previous national surveys (Janus,
Hite, etc.). Sex in America has been criticized for limiting respondents to those aged 18 to 59 and for its
methodology interviewing some of its 3,432-member sample in the presence of their spouses and/or children. Nonetheless,
this survey represents a considerable methodological improvement over previous surveys and its findings must be taken
seriously.
Sex in America shows that Americans are more monogamous and more sexually conservative than had been previously
reported. In view of this sexual conservatism, it is remarkable that the survey also showed that one American in five
finds sex toys appealing. In other words, about 50 million Americans appear to be favorably disposed to vibrators and
other sex toys.
The "Toys in the Sheets" survey pilot project is the first attempt to discover: Who uses sex toys? When? Where? How?
How often? And why?
Survey Methodology To appreciate the "Toys in the Sheets" survey, one must first understand what it is not. It
is not a survey of the general American population's use of sex toys. We don't know (at least, not yet) how many Americans
have used or currently use sex toys. Rather, the "Toys in the Sheets" survey focuses on the subset of
Americans who already own at least one sexual enhancement item and investigates who they are, when, where, how, how often
and why they use them.
The co-authors of the "Toys in the Sheets" survey developed the 29 item questionnaire in consultation
with three sex-survey experts affiliated with the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies of the University of California,
San Francisco (CAPS-UCSF): Joseph Catania, Ph.D., Diane Benson, Ph.D. and Jessie Canchola, Ph.D. However, the survey
has no official connection with CAPS-UCSF. It was mailed to a geographically representative, random sample of 1,000
people drawn from the more than 1.5 million-name database of the Xandria Collection Catalog, one of the nation's oldest
and largest sex toy marketers. Of the 1,000 survey recipients, 246 (25%) returned reasonably complete surveys (however,
some respondents did not answer every question).
The "Toys in the Sheets" survey cannot be considered a definitive investigation of sex toy users.
Given a 25% response rate, its findings must be viewed with caution. Nonetheless, the "Toys in the Sheets"
survey sheds new light on an area of sex research that has been overlooked. It provides intriguing new information about
sex in America in the 1990s. And it has already inspired follow-up research. CAPS-UCSF has included questions about
sex-toy use in an ambitious study of American sexuality, based on the largest representative random group ever assembled,
an estimated 8,000 respondents. This study was completed in 1997.
Acknowledgments
The "Toys in the Sheets" survey benefited tremendously from technical assistance provided by sex-survey consultants
Joseph Catania, Ph.D., who helped design the survey; Diane Benson, Ph.D., who consulted on pretesting the survey; and Jesse
Canchola, Ph.D., whose computer expertise produced the 1,000 name random sample from the Xandria Collection's more than 1.5
million-name database.
Three sex therapists and one physician who specializes in sexual medicine also provided valuable input: Louanne Cole, Ph.D.;
Betty Dodson, Ph.D.; Marty Klein, Ph.D. and Terry Sullivan, M.D. Cole, Dodson and Sullivan are members of the Lawrence
Research Group Advisory Board.
Finally, the "Toys in the Sheets" survey would not have been possible without the generous support of the Lawrence
Research Group, Inc., Brisbane, California, publisher of the Xandria Collection Catalog.
Credits
By Michael Castleman, M.A., author, Sexual Solutions: For Men and the Women who Love Them and member
of the Lawrence Research Group Advisory Board and Amy Levinson, Vice President,Marketing, Lawrence Research Group, Inc.
In consultation with sex-survey experts: Joseph Catania, Ph.D., Diane Benson, Ph.D. and Jessie Canchola, Ph.D. and
sexuality authorities: Louanne Cole, Ph.D., Betty Dodson, Ph.D. and Terry Sullivan, M.D., (all of whom are members
of the Lawrence Research Group Advisory Board), and in consultation with Marty Klein, Ph.D.
© 1999 Michael Castleman and the Lawrence Research Group, Inc.