American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists sexuality contemporary March 2012 Vol. 46, No. 3 The international resource for educators, researchers and therapists In this issue... News of Members . . . . . . . .2 Horowitz publishes chapter on nontraditional families Member Spotlight . .3 Meet Heidi Woodruff of Clarksville, Tenn. Quick Hits: Sex in the News . . .6 Sex ed standards urged Book and Media Reviews . . . . . . . . . .8 Reviews of books by Rosenquist, Price and others Educational Opportunities . . .12 AASECT conference just three months away! Zzzzzzzrrrrrr D espite the name of her Madison, Wisconsin sex toy store — A Woman’s Touch — co-owner Ellen Barnard, MSSW, says about onehalf of her customers are men. And like most customers, they’re fairly straightforward about what they want. “I’m looking for something for my partner,” they say. “And I’m curious too.” For many men, that something often turns out to be a vibrator, which may surprise some readers, but not Barnard. “They’ve always accepted them,” she says. “Maybe because they’re tools and guys like tools.” Whatever the reason, scientific data support Barnard’s anecdotal evidence. Many guys are as comfortable around vibrators as they are around power sanders and lawn mowers. Several studies written by Michael Reece, PhD, director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University, and several others in the same department, including Debby Herbenick, PhD, and Brian Dodge, PhD, show that vibrator use among men is common. An October 2010 study by Reece et al. published in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy (“Vibrator Use Among Heterosexual Michael Reece, Indiana University Men Varies by Partnership Status: Results From a Nationally Representative Study in the United States”) found that nearly 44 percent of heterosexual men incorporated a vibrator into sexual play at some point in their lives. In a nationally representative sample of 1,047 men between the ages of 18 and 60, the researchers asked heterosexual men whether they used a vibrator with a partner, alone or not at all; why they used vibrators; their relationship status and other demographic information. (A separate study focused on gay and bisexual men; more on that later in the article.) It turns out that the most popular form of vibrator use among heterosexual men is with a partner during foreplay (93 percent). The second most popular form of male vibrator use is with a partner during sexual intercourse (82 percent). Exactly onethird of participants reported using a vibrator during solo masturbation (33 percent). And one-fourth of men (25 percent) used a vibrator in all three sexual situations. “Vibrators play an important part in many American sexual repertoires,” Reece told Contemporary Sexuality. Nearly one-half of men embrace vibrators continued on page 4 Male Vibrator Use continued from page 1 According to Reece, earlier studies on the subject focused on erectile function and ejaculatory control, but this is the first to examine everyday use, including why heterosexual men incorporated vibrators into their sexual play. Given a choice of several options, most heterosexual men said they did it “for fun” (66 percent) and “to spice up my sex life” (52 percent). Other reasons cited for male vibrator use: “Curiosity” (47 percent), “to make orgasm easier for my partner” (40 percent), “my partner wanted to” (31 percent) and “to make orgasm easier for myself” (5 percent). Relationship status also played a role in whether these men toyed around with vibes. Data from the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy showed married men and those living with a female partner were more likely to use vibrators (46 and 40 percent, respectively) than men who were single and not dating (29 percent). “Most of the male use occurs within the context of a female partner,” Reece says. “What this probably tells us is that women might be the ones introducing a toy, like a vibrator, into a sexual relationship because women find that it stimulates them in ways that intercourse alone does not.” It’s also good for the guy. “Patterns indicated that men with a history of vibrator use reported higher scores on the International Index of Erectile Function domains for erectile function, intercourse satisfaction, orgasmic function and sexual desire,” the study noted. Buying vibrators When men wander into sex toy stores or add a vibrator to their online shopping cart, are they doing it with their sweetie in mind or are they looking out for Number One? The study found that a majority of heterosexual men (59 percent) reported purchasing a vibrator for use with a female partner. Only a tiny fraction of men (13 percent) said they bought a vibrator for themselves. In either case, men don’t have to go out of their way to buy a vibe. They’re increasingly available at discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Target and at drug stores. “If you go into Duane Reade or CVS, there are vibrating products on the shelves right beside the condoms in ways there never used to be,” Reece says. “They range from small massagers to insertable vibrators.” It hasn’t always been that way. In an introduction to his study, Reece notes that a 1953 March 2012 Vol. 46, No. 3 “Most of the male use occurs within the context of a female partner. … Women might be the ones introducing a toy, like a vibrator, into a sexual relationship because women find that it stimulates them in Debbie Herbenick, Indiana University ways that Kinsey study reported that vibrator use was “rare” among Americans, both male and female. A 1976 Hite study reported only “small numbers of men [describing] their use of vibrators.” That’s changed in recent decades. In 1992, the National Health and Social Science Survey reported 1 in 5 men saying a vibrator or dildo was “somewhat” or “very” appealing. And then came the baby boomers, sex toy parties, HBO’s Sex and the City (the much talked about episode documenting Charlotte’s infatuation with the “rabbit” vibrator aired in 1998) and the Internet. Growing acceptance of vibrators seems to have prompted companies to take action. In the past few years, major companies like Durex and Trojan introduced several new vibrating products, including the Trojan Twister, Trojan Pulse Intimate Massager, Durex Play Vibrations (“Perfect for up to 20 minutes of vibrating pleasure!”), Durex Play Touch and Durex Play Ultra. Most of those products landed on store shelves after Reece and company began quizzing men on their vibrator habits. “We collected those data in 2008 and 2009,” intercourse alone does not.” — Michael Reece continued on page 5 www.aasect.org Contemporary Sexuality 4 Male Vibrator Use continued from page 4 he says. “Vibrating products have become mainstreamed. Now they are available in so many more places than they used to be. So our guess is that … in the last three to four years it’s increased even more.” Gay and bisexual men Indiana University researchers didn’t limit their inquiries into male vibrator use to heterosexuals. In a 2010 study published in the International Society for Sexual Medicine, Reece and several colleagues asked 25,294 gay and bisexual men about their vibrator use. Titled “Characteristics of Vibrator Use by Gay and Bisexually Identified Men in the United States,” the study asked users of Online Buddies — the owners of ManHunt, Big Bear Den and ManHunt Daily websites — to complete a 20minute survey on the subject. Participants received $10 e-coupons. The survey included questions on sociodemographics, health status, sexual behaviors and vibrator use. The major finding: Nearly 1 in 2 gay or bisexual men (49.8 percent) reported using vibrators. That rate is about five percent higher than among straight men. “It’s slightly higher,” Reece says, “But probably not what people would expect it to be.” Other study highlights documenting vibrator use among gay and bisexual men include: • Older men are more likely vibrator users than younger men; • Vibrator use among white men (52 percent) was higher than other racial and ethnic groups: Black (35 percent), Hispanic/Latino (38 percent) and Asian/Pacific Islander (35 percent); • Men in a relationship with another man were less likely to use a vibrator than bisexual men in a relationship with a woman; • The most popular forms of vibrator use: Masturbation (42 percent), foreplay with a male partner (32 percent) and intercourse with a male partner (29 percent); about vibrator use by gay and bisexual men. Those data are missing from the study on heterosexual vibrator use. “I would love to see these kinds of questions asked of heterosexual men,” he says. Such knowledge might help educators talk to heterosexual men about personal vibrator use. “Women are more likely to share their sexual experiences,” Glickman says. “Men don’t generally talk about these things.” Study notes In the discussion section of the International Society for Sexual Medicine study, Reece et al. admitted a limitation: It is a convenience sample. He writes, “Challenges remain with establishing a true nationally representative sample of gay and bisexual men for research.” Also worth noting: The Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy study on heterosexual vibrator use was funded by Church & Dwight, the Princeton, N.J. company that manufactures Trojan condoms and vibrators. Contemporary Sexuality asked Reece about Indiana University’s partnership with Church & Dwight, which was outlined in a January 28, 2008 press release on the university’s website: http://bit.ly/yjhNeL “It is clear that corporate entities in the United States help influence human behavior probably way more than any of our clinical or educational interventions will,” Reece says. “We should be partnering with companies to help ensure they are designing products that are going to meet people’s needs.” Adds Reece, “If we can help Trojan to design a condom that men actually want to wear and that their partners want them to wear, that will probably have a much greater influence on condom use in the United States than any of our traditional public health interventions would.” That said, Reece is happy to be pulling back the curtain on American sexual behavior, discovering what’s really happening in bedrooms across the nation. “I don’t think we’re as prudish as we like to pretend we are,” he says. “That’s especially true with vibrators.” “I don’t think we’re as prudish as we like to pretend we are. That’s especially true with vibrators.” — Michael Reece — Todd Melby • The most popular contact points for vibrator use: Inserted into anus (87 percent), held or rubbed against anus (73 percent), held or rubbed against testicles (61 percent) and held or rubbed against penis (58 percent). Charlie Glickman, PhD, education program manager at Good Vibrations and an AASECTcertified sexuality educator, likes the specificity March 2012 Vol. 46, No. 3 www.aasect.org Contemporary Sexuality 5 Copyright of Contemporary Sexuality is the property of American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors & Therapists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.