Older Adults Need Different Sex Toy Designs: Study
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Women and vulva owners over 50 are the fastest-growing group of online shoppers for sexual wellness products.
According to US digital marketing agency DMN3, this demographic spends 250% more than the general population, as noted in a press release from sex toy company MysteryVibe.
Similar to the likes of OhMiBod, which released the senior sex toy Rev in 2019, MysteryVibe is another sex tech brand researching the specific sex toy design needs of seniors.
Senior sex toy design study
Seniors often face age-related sexual health challenges such as a decrease in sexual stamina or an increase in sexual dysfunction. Yet few products designed specifically for seniors exist, and younger and able-bodied sex toy designers tend to overlook older populations.
In a September 2021 press release, MysteryVibe shares details of its study with healthcare professionals and product designers to identify what makes products for older people more accessible and more useful.
While the document is largely promotional material for its own sex toys, it also provided the following takeaways:
- Product customization and versatility are critical for sex toy accessibility.
- Variable and safe vibration intensities must be mindful of health and hormonal considerations.
- Longer batttery life and multiple speeds. Pleasure products will likely need to hold a charge of at least 30 to 45 minutes.
- Design sex toy handles and bases that are comfortable for arthritic hands and wrists and fingers.
- Keep vibrations felt in handles to a minimum to avoid undue strain.
- Ensure buttons and controls can be identified in low-light settings and to people with vision impairments. (Glow in the dark buttons that protrude are recommended to increase sex toy accessibility).
- “Pleasure products should reverse engineer their design process to put the consumer’s needs first. Product design and functionality should work in conjunction with individual health needs, mobility, and environment.”
- The most accessible sex toys and plesaure products can be used in many different environments.
Jenna Owsianik is a Canadian journalist and sex tech industry expert. She is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sex For Every Body®.
Her expertise covers state-of-the-art sex technologies and the major fields driving innovations in intimacy: robotics, virtual reality, remote sex (teledildonics), haptics, immersive adult entertainment, human augmentation, virtual sex, and sexual health.
A trained journalist with a Masters of Journalism from The University of British Columbia, Jenna’s reporting has appeared on Futurism.com, Al Jazeera English, CTV British Columbia online, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS 60 Minutes, Global News, and CKNW Radio in Canada and the United States.
