Sex Toys 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Exploring Pleasure

[00:00:00] Hi, everyone. Let's talk about sex. [00:00:02] I'm Dr. Laura Prescott, Associate professor for the Clinical PsyD Program at the Chicago School of Los Angeles. [00:00:12] Many of you have seen sex toys either lying around somebody's house or just brazenly put in full view for everyone to look at in a sex toy shop. And you might be wondering, should I try one of these things? [00:00:27] Are these too wild for me? Am I too wild for them? [00:00:31] Well, if you've ever wondered about sex toys, you've come to the right place. Today we'll talk about not just the benefits of sex toys, but we'll do a little preview of some common sex toys you may want to try out. [00:00:43] First off, the benefits. [00:00:45] This can spice up your sex life. If you are feeling like things in the bedroom are getting a little stale or boring and you want to try something different, there's a gazillion different kinds of sex toys that you can use and you can be as creative as you want with them. [00:00:59] Another benefit is they can help you learn more about what you like sexually and also just about exploring your own body after you do this. This can help you become more confident in your sex life. [00:01:11] They can also provide options for people who may have either disabilities or health conditions that limit them in terms of what they can do sexually. [00:01:20] These sex toys can make people who didn't even think that they could have sex very well with sexual dysfunctions or other issues have a fulfilling and gratify sex life. [00:01:32] So let's talk about some of these sex toys. [00:01:35] You've all probably heard of vibrators. And vibrators usually have some kind of either battery operation or you can plug them in and they have little vibrations. [00:01:46] They can be small, maybe just to stimulate a clitoris, or they can be bigger and they could have insertable parts or not. [00:01:57] Some common ones could be just the little bullet ones that are meant to be just tiny and using on a clitoris, or they could be a little bit larger. One popular kind is the Hitachi Magic Wand and this actually came out around the 70s. And it's kind of big. It looks like a giant microphone in a way, but it has different settings and you can do it too slower or faster. And it's really helpful to use if you're trying to learn more about what speed vibration you might want. [00:02:28] Another type is of course, another one you've probably heard of dildos. Dildos are usually penis shaped, but not always, and they're meant to be inserted in various orifices. [00:02:39] Also with regards to dildos, they can be various sizes. They can also be made out of different things. Sometimes rubber, plastic, even glass cock rings. So think of these as penile blood constriction devices. If you put them around your penis, they can help not only in terms of constricting the blood flow and making the erection potentially last longer, but they could make the erection be harder. [00:03:08] They could also increase the sensation on the penis while having sex. [00:03:12] And so these are things to try when you are thinking about, can my erection last longer? And you don't want to take a bunch of Viagra or worry about, oh, am I going to have priapism. [00:03:23] Anal toys. For those of you who are enjoying anal play or anal sex, there are some that are meant to stimulate the feeling of fullness in one's body. So butt plugs, you can just pop them in there and leave them in there. It provides that feeling of fullness if you want to just have the feeling of something in there. There's also anal beads. Lots of times people will stick these up their butts and then pull them out either slowly or quickly, and it will stimulate them and it actually will help maybe with an orgasm. [00:03:52] Sometimes even pulling them out at the moment of orgasm can help. [00:03:57] Strap ons. So if you don't have a penis and want to pretend you have one, or if you have one and want to pretend you have multiple ones, hey, who's judging? Then you can put on a strap on and use that. Usually it's attached to a dildo or dildo like thing, but you can also strap on other things and other accoutrements and penetrate people with them. [00:04:19] There's also some more wild side kinds of things, like if you're into bdsm, you can use floggers or crops. There's also things like sex swings where you can sit in a swing and either both of you can sit in a swing and have sex, or there's some that are made so that there's a hole in them and you can stick various bits and pieces through the hole. [00:04:40] There's also other interesting sex toys that are out there. One is kind of a combination of a vibrator and a dildo. In a way. It's called a sibian. And the sibian is like a little sadd that you sit on and you can have attachments. You could put, you know, a fake penis attachment on there and sit on it and have it vibrate. And it's like having a vibration from a vibrator and having a dildo at the same time. [00:05:05] So don't be shy, Go to a sex shop, look around and see what might interest you. Because you never know what might be your next favorite toy. [00:05:15] That's all for today. [00:05:16] Once again, I'm Dr. Laura Prescott, Associate professor for the Clinical PsyD Program at the Chicago School of Los Angeles.