THIS ENTRY WAS POSTED ON March 7, 2024 BY The Pleasure Chest.
March is Women’s History Month and March 8th is International Women’s Day! To celebrate, we’re doing a deep dive into all the brands and products we carry that were/are invented, owned and run by women and non-binary folks. From powerful wand massagers to pack-and-play dildos to vibrating jewelry, these woman-owned brands have created some of the most innovative products that have come out on the sex toy market in a decade.
Along with highlighting some of these brands’ best products, we also wanted to draw attention to the impact these women and brands have had on the pleasure products industry in general, as well as the individual work they’re all doing to make this world a better place for us all. Destigmatizing painful sex, suing for sexist ad policies, funding humanitarian non-profits and normalizing pleasure practices are just a few of the things the folks on this list are doing on a day-to-day basis. These are things that help ALL of us, and that deserves some celebration!
Happy International Women’s Day, y’all! Now let’s get into exactly why these women/non-binary individuals and brands are the big deals that they are.
COTR
Founded by Alicia Sinclair, COTR is an umbrella of high-end tech savvy brands that includes Le Wand, b-Vibe and Cowgirl. Each brand of toys does something a little different (which we’ll dive deeper into in a bit.) But there are certain features that are shared between them. Each brand that makes up COTR is complete with products that are modern and luxurious versions of classic sex toys that have been around for decades. What Alicia Sinclair does with COTR is look at gaps in the market and improve upon existing products. She’ll take a product that has been well-loved by customers, but maybe not so well-loved by manufacturers, and pour some love into the creation side of the equation.
Alicia has more than 16 years of experience in the Sexual Intimacy Industry. Alicia is a Certified Sex Educator, Certified Sexuality Coach, and is a member of the World Association of Sex Coaches. In 2017, she was awarded the prestigious XBIZ Exec Award for Businesswoman of the Year, an honor that recognizes courage, ambition and drive to build or lead a thriving sex industry business.
COTR understands that there are customers who want their toys to be not only high quality and long lasting but also beautiful and exciting! That’s what all of COTR’s products offer that brands that have been around for years unfortunately lack. Let’s get into each brand individually and see what each one specifically brings to the table…
Le Wand
Le Wand is a premium brand of personal vibrating massagers that brings a much-needed makeover to the wand massager sex toy category. Historically, wand vibrators have been large, unwieldy devices with a sort of medical look and color grade. Wand massagers were the first handheld style of vibrator, with the Hitachi Magic Wand being the first to gain mass popularity in the late 60s and early 70s, and unfortunately there hadn’t been much of a change to their look, size and functionality since then apart from minor improvements. Enter: Le Wand.
Le Wand breathes life into the classic wand massager with a sleeker look and more thought put into the technology of the toy. Many folks on the Pleasure Chest staff jokingly refer to Le Wand as the Apple product version of the classic wand—and for good reason! Offering multiple colorways and made with high-quality materials, Le Wand provides a wand sex toy to those who want their toys to be as beautiful as they are functional.
Since the launch of the original Le Wand as well as various versions such as the plug-in and mini, Le Wand has created a line of wand attachments as well as chrome bullet vibrators and even stainless steel G-spot toys to fill up their ever-expanding luxury catalog.
b-Vibe
b-Vibe is what happens when education and quality meet fun and function. Noticing a gap in the anal toy category that takes advantage of the modern technology available to us now, Alicia Sinclair created b-Vibe, a line of anal products that are tech-forward while still remaining user-friendly and accessible. b-Vibe is the result of years of research, utilizing innovative designs to address specific sources of anal pleasure that often go ignored.
b-Vibe also emphasizes one thing other anal toy brands have historically overlooked: the education aspect of anal play. Each b-Vibe item comes with information on how to safely engage in anal pleasure both in general and with the specific toy purchased. The brand also created their very own Anal Academy, a database on the b-Vibe website that includes comprehensive guides, how-tos, engaging videos from sex educators and more. They even have their own podcast: The Plug Podcast!
b-Vibe started with the iconic Rimming Plug—a vibrating anal plug that features spinning beads in the stem that mimic the sensation of rimming. Since then, b-Vibe has branched out into various styles of anal toys including training kits for both beginners and advanced players as well as hygiene items and their iconic line of weighted Snug Plugs!
Cowgirl
The Cowgirl is a premium sex machine that you sit on like a saddle (hence the appropriate name!). It’s similar to the classic world famous Sybian machine that’s been around for ages, since the early 1980s to be exact. The Cowgirl was designed to uplift this iconic technology with a more luxurious look and a more comfortable fit that could accommodate a wider spectrum of users. COTR offers a selection of attachments that are more versatile and made in modern colorways with high-quality materials that are built to last.
The Cowgirl is padded and angled for ergonomic comfort so it can be used for longer periods of time. It’s made with vegan leather, a long-lasting material that’s optimal for easily keeping squeaky clean. It also includes a non-slip silicone base to keep the machine safely secured underneath your weight. The Cowgirl features a corded remote as well as smart phone app functionality to make your play even more customizable to your needs.
CalExotics
California Exotic Novelties was founded nearly 30 years ago by Susan Colvin and was the first ever woman-owned sex toy company. Colvin and the CalExotics brand completely revolutionized the pleasure products industry, curtailing trends towards customer needs and emphasizing accessibility along with the use of higher-quality body safe materials as they became more widely available.
CalExotics was the first brand to:
- introduce waterproof toys to the market
- offer manufacturer warranties
- create rechargeable rabbit vibrators
- have an all-women product development team
- make 100% premium silicone items
and much more! Needless to say, they’re a pioneer of many of the typical features we see in toys available today.
CalExotics is known for their product’s reliability and their entry-level price points, providing pleasure to the masses no matter their personal economic circumstances. Today, they offer one of the widest selections of sex toys, from dual-stimulating rabbit vibrators to strap-on harnesses to gender affirming sex toys designed to meet the pleasure needs that reach all across the gender spectrum.
Banana Pants
Banana Pants is a non-binary/woman-owned and operated company that manufactures dildo cushion bases. It may sound like a niche product, but it’s something that has been much needed in the sex toy industry.
Strap-on dildos have historically been made with flat bases that offered little to the wearer of the strap. Not to mention, flat bases can be uncomfortable and even painful, especially if the dildo being used is heavy. Folks could add more stimulation by adding vibrators to the inside of the strap-on, sometimes fitting them in sewn-in pockets. This is a quick-fix and it works successfully for some people, but recently there’s been a surge in the dildo cushion bases due to their comfortability and usability.
Enter: Banana Pants! Offering various shapes and sizes of dildo cushions that provide all sorts of different stimulation, from tongue-flicking to simple standard grinding, Banana Pants brings fun and function to the strap-on dildo sex toy world.
Dame
Founded in 2014 by sexologist Alexandra Fine and MIT engineer Janet Lieberman, Dame’s mission is to change the way sexual wellness and pleasure is understood and experienced by helping to close the “pleasure gap” and offering a path to shame-free sexual pleasure and well-being. Dame’s products are produced and developed in-house with the help of their research done via Dame Labs, their hub of people-centered research, community building and educational initiatives.
Eva, Dame’s first sex toy, was the most crowd-funded sex toy in history and helped to launch their entire line of sleek and modern sex toys designed with the next generation in mind. Their second product, Fin, was the first sex toy allowed on Kickstarter. These two things alone have helped normalize the purchase and use of sex toys in recent years.
In 2019, Dame sued NYC’s subways for discrimination in advertising when they blocked their ad campaign after years of negotiating and payment. The MTA cited a policy that prohibits a ‘sexually oriented business’ from advertising in their spaces, including ads for sex toys or devices for any gender. Dame fought back by pointing out how vague this ad policy was and also how sexual health ads aimed at a cis-male audience had been somehow exempt from this policy (for example: ads for multiple erectile dysfunction products).
Three years later, Dame successfully settled with MTA and is now able to display ads on the subway. This is a major win for sex toy brands across the US that have consistently struggled with advertising their products (even with non-sexual graphics!) due to vague and outdated guidelines. Thank you, Dame!
Sportsheets
Sportsheets is a brand that creates innovative BDSM gear for beginners and advanced players alike. CEO Julie Stewart started the brand when her brother saw David Letterman stick to a Velcro wall during one of his talk show segments. This sparked an idea to create a product that allows couples to explore BDSM in a way that allows them to “only be as tied up as they want to be.” The result of this idea is the original Sportsheet: a plush bedsheet and anchor pad with cuffs combination that allows one to pull off the bedsheet releasing them from being restrained should they desire.
Now, 30 years later, Sportsheets is still creating BDSM gear that is accessible, stylish, budget-friendly and easy to use and understand. From positioning equipment to door jam slings and sex swings, Sportsheets’ products allow you to build your own sex dungeon with ease. Their products are even travel-friendly so you can take down and travel with your BDSM dungeon and re-build it wherever you want. Most of their items are secured with Velcro and buckle closures making getting in and out of the equipment simple and effective.
BDSM and kink products can often be intimidating to curious beginners, which is right where Sportsheets fits in. Sportsheets encourages folks to explore without having to worry about complicated tools that take the fun of your play.
Crave
In 2008,
award-winning industrial designer, Ti Chang, founded INCOQNITO, a line of
intimate accessories that double as fashionable jewelry, thus creating the
category of pleasure jewelry. Soon after, Ti met Michael Topolovac, who was in
the early stages of founding Crave and working to bring modern products and an
improved buying experience to the sex toy category. They joined forces to bring
Crave to life and grow it into the brand it is today.
At Crave, Ti leads the design vision of the company's full line of products and has been the leading voice in bringing modern sex toys into the mainstream. Her experience in manufacturing helps her manage production across their global supply chain and her designs have won numerous studious design awards. She was even able to collaborate with Yves Saint Laurent to create an even more luxurious version of the iconic Crave necklace in 2020.
Many brands have attempted to create similar products to Crave, but nothing has come close to the design and quality of the original vibrating necklace!
In addition to creating innovative and beautiful vibrating jewelry, Crave also started the Crave Foundation for Women, a non-profit organization that supports individuals workings towards creating a world where pleasure is a universal human right. The Crave Foundation developed a $10,000 grant that awards two people every year who are working on some of the most pressing forms of gender-based violence and reproductive justice. Crave contributes 1% of its yearly profit to the Foundation to fund it. Recipients include activists, business owners, artists, humanitarians, educators, authors and much more.
New York Toy Collective
Founded in 2012, NYTC creates high-quality intimacy toys and products for all forms of gender affirmation, ranging from packers, STP products, binders, accessories and more. They were the first and only company to use 3D technology that allows customers to create pleasure products molded after their own bodies—now that’s innovation! This alone shows their dedication to creating toys and accessories that provide a unique experience to every individual who uses them.
New York Toy Collective’s products have been embraced by both adult and mainstream media and have been featured in The New York Times, Times Magazine, Huffington Post, Motherboard, Jezebel, Fleshbot, Cosmopolitan, and more. Their popular Mason Dildo was featured in the television series Transparent’s second season, and Orange is the New Black star Ruby Rose featured the company’s best-seller, Shilo, in their gender-identity-focused “Break Free” music video.
NYTC is an exceptional brand for many reasons, but mainly because they understand how emotional connection is vital to gender expression. They want their products to work seamlessly with your body and meet your needs with little to no effort on your part so you can simply enjoy the pleasure and joy they bring!
Ohnut
Founder and CEO Emily Sauer created the Ohnut after feeling exhausted and discouraged by years of experience with painful penetration.
Ohnut is a set of silicone rings that are worn on the base of the shaft. They’re worn like cock rings, but they’re not nearly as tight and they don’t serve the same purpose. The Ohnut rings (which can be stacked together or worn individually) act as a bumper to prevent penetration from going too deep. The Ohnut provides stimulation and coverage to the shaft while also providing comfort to the person being penetrated. It’s a win-win!
Once the Ohnut was launched in 2018, institutions like Mayo Clinic and Harvard’s Cancer Research Center reached out to start carrying it immediately for their patients who had similar experiences to Emily’s. Now, Ohnut is referred by over 5,000 healthcare practices in the US alone!
Not only does Ohnut provide a much-needed pleasure accessory to users all over the world, but they also offer education surrounding painful penetration and pelvic floor health. The popularity of the Ohnut and the resources the brand provides have helped to normalize talking about painful sex, which is the first step toward working to eradicate it completely.