... to not consider vibrators "mainstream"?

[PavlovsDoggie]

In the sense that most of us have them, etc.

They're advertised on MN, but the reality is you never see them mentioned in mainstream books, movies, TV, etc.

Silly thoughts on a train passing time on a Friday evening!!

YABU - no of course they are mainstream, most of us have them

YANBU - yes, they are niche, just see ads for them on MN, but not much out there in the team world

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@MyDcAreMarvel

I don’t own one never have , neither have my close friends.

Why were you even talking about it then?

Why are they called toys? Surely they are more appliances, like a nespresso?

I wonder whether they have an age restriction in the supermarket.

Well sex appliance doesn’t have the same ring to it as sex toys does it!

You can buy them in boots and at the supermarket - I got a cheap bullet from Ocado during lockdown

I think I first bought one when I was about 27, and thought myself very liberated at the time. Now a few years later I think they’re considered very normal. I have a larger one I like (my trusty friend); and a clitoris sucker that promised much but I thought was just okay. I’d maybe buy more if I had more time to use them

I don't own one now. Did in my early 20's. They are too noisy.

@Gullible2021

My adverts are for silk pillowcases, cocktail rings and a weighted scarf with pockets for remote, phones, snacks etc. Sounds about right.

#selfcare

Why did I read that as cock rings? 😂

Literally just watched a Tango advert featuring one. 😂

I am 36. I don't own one, never have.

I like sex, it's what I've got a DH for.

Yeah all my friends have one. I'd be shocked if some one said they didn't. Am 41

I think it's odd to say you've never had one but prefer the 'real thing', how do you know if you don't try it? If it's not your thing and you don't want to try it that's absolutely your choice but you can't prefer the 'real thing' if you haven't tried both. Also it always surprises me when this sort of thread comes up how many women don't know the difference between a vibrator and a dildo. A penis shaped sex toy that you use as a penis that vibrates and jimmies about is a dildo. A vibrator is used for the clitoris and generally isn't inserted.
Ann Summers used to be fantastic for women, when I bought my first vibrator in the early noughties I was late teen, had nothing like the internet we have now and I went to a shop in Oxford Street that was staffed by women who would come and show you all the options available if you wanted or would leave you alone to look at/ investigate the display models. Dildos have never appealed to me so I haven't tried one but I've had a vibrator for nearly 20 years. They are fantastic for period pain!

They are mainstream in my view. I have a few. What's not to like?

Absolutely mainstream!

@Chainson

I think it's odd to say you've never had one but prefer the 'real thing', how do you know if you don't try it? If it's not your thing and you don't want to try it that's absolutely your choice but you can't prefer the 'real thing' if you haven't tried both. Also it always surprises me when this sort of thread comes up how many women don't know the difference between a vibrator and a dildo. A penis shaped sex toy that you use as a penis that vibrates and jimmies about is a dildo. A vibrator is used for the clitoris and generally isn't inserted. Ann Summers used to be fantastic for women, when I bought my first vibrator in the early noughties I was late teen, had nothing like the internet we have now and I went to a shop in Oxford Street that was staffed by women who would come and show you all the options available if you wanted or would leave you alone to look at/ investigate the display models. Dildos have never appealed to me so I haven't tried one but I've had a vibrator for nearly 20 years. They are fantastic for period pain!

Maybe because for some of us a battery operated plasticky device is not what we want at all, ever and we prefer a living, breathing, flesh and blood, pheromone ridden human being with a brain, a heart, a mouth, a tongue, hands, a penis and so on? If I want to get myself off, I can do it without a vibrator in a tiny amount of time. The idea of a "device to bring me to orgasm" leaves me cold.

I can prefer the "real thing" because for
me so much of what I want and am
into involves the person I'm having sex with. I don't want a pale imitation of that.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

62 and I’ve never owned one.

I’d say, treat yourself!

It would take me ages of hand action to come otherwise and neither I nor DH can be arsed. If you can do it quickly lucky you, crack on but it's 20 minutes of slog on the old clit (after a bit of foreplay and sex) or 3 minutes to heaven. 😁

The question was simply are they mainstream, not whether you personally like or use one, I don't think. It isnt an appliance or partner competition.

Don't want one? Don't have one. But they are still mainstream regardless.

The only thing I’d say though Gullible is that sometimes a vibrator can give you types of orgasms a person can’t! I can have clitoral orgasms any old way, but g-spot ones usually only with an internal vibrator. And I’ve had the odd cervical orgasm with a vibrator too, which DP definitely doesn’t manage to provide

Seeing as they sell them in Poundland, I would say they are pretty mainstream.

@irresistibleoverwhelm

The only thing I’d say though Gullible is that sometimes a vibrator can give you types of orgasms a person can’t! I can have clitoral orgasms any old way, but g-spot ones usually only with an internal vibrator. And I’ve had the odd cervical orgasm with a vibrator too, which DP definitely doesn’t manage to provide

I'm not judging anyone who needs to use them, unlike people that call those of us who don't want them "odd".

But I don't have any issues in the orgasm department (all of the ones you mention). I might just be anatomically lucky.

My ad is for a pregnancy test my vibrator isn’t that realistic!

Some women might "need" to use them but I'd say most women who have one choose to use them. There's a difference.

There are adverts for sex toys on tv with lovehoney ads, Anne Summers is a high street chain rather than a hidden back alley shop, and they do pop up a lot in tv/film even though not in things like soaps etc. I’d say they are pretty mainstream, especially compared to 15-20 years ago. Most of my friends either own one or have done at some point.

What’s with the posters bragging about never owning one? Masturbation isn’t meant to be a replacement for sex. It’s it’s own separate thing. Bloody hell, life is short. Enjoy yourself.

It’s not bragging, the assumption that all women under a certain age have them is annoying though and people saying they would be surprised or find it odd! We don’t all have one. They don’t appeal to me in anyway, that’s not bragging.