December 2019 Media Recommendations + 2019 Wrapup

December 31st, 2019

This month’s new media recommendations are all podcasts; although, there is some other media types to check out in my 2019 wrapup.

Dr. Lehmiller has made the rounds discussing his survey about sexual fantasies, but his spot on NPR’s What We Do was one of the best interviews about it, no doubt in part to the skilled host.

Another NPR podcast, Planet Money, ventured into the billion-dollar sperm bank industry.

Check out this episode of Sex Out Loud featuring Tina Horn, who discusses making comics about sexual freedom (in a way that I hope isn’t a bad omen) Then, check out SFSX.

Finally, in this episode of Speaking Out Loud, the Pleasure Mechanics tackle the myth of the hymen.

2019 Wrapup

I also wanted to highlight some of the media I consumed over 2019 that have stayed with me. The best books have already been linked in my “Best of 2019” post, so this focuses on podcasts and video content.

In one of the last episodest56 of the apparently-defunct Science of Sex podcast, Joe and Dr. Zhana interviewed PhD candidate Christina Parreira who actually worked in a brothel.

Science Vs broke down whether the fertility cliff is real.

Speaking of Lehmiller, he interviewed Ari Tuckman about his book ADHD After Dark. They discuss the very real ways ADHD can play out in sex and relationships.

Outward’s episode about bi culture has stuck with me in subtle ways, even if I don’t remember any particular quotes.

Another episode from Science Vs that was an amazing and emotional listen is The Abortion Underground.

I love how Sex Ed School teaches kids about sex in realistic, age-appropriate, and fun ways. This would never fly in the US, which is so frustrating, but perhaps some educators will find these videos helpful.

Unladylike dove into the rise (and fall) of lesbian bars around the world.

I grew so much respect for Amber Heard when she was on Sluts & Scholars.

I’m so glad that I received an email about Something Positive for Positive People. Courtney tackles the issue of herpes in a way that I can only hope to emulate. I particularly recommend episode 92.

You all know how much I love learning about the science of sex, so my mind was blown when I heard Nicole Krause talk about research I’d never heard of on American Sex.

The 8-part podcast Sold In America is about selling sex is amazing.

And if you prefer visual content, Philosophy Tube’s episode about sex work was highly-regarded and for good reason!

Although not about sex, I really enjoyed the episode of Freakonomics featuring Geena Davis, who talked about Hollywood’s princess problem.

I’d also like to recommend the audiobooks of the LOTR series as narrated by Ron Inglis. They were so good!

If you click no other links, you absolutely must check out the free series Mercy Mistress on YouTube. Based on the memoirs by Mistress Yin, it’s a lovely, erotic, and more realistic take on BDSM than we’re used to.

Finally, my readers should check out the nerdiness that is this American Sex podcast with erotica writer and tabletop gamer Shanna Germain.

 

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Categories: media recommendations

Fun Factory Stronic Eins [Video Review]

January 25th, 2013

Fun Factory Stronic

Fun Factory Stronic
$199.99 from Fun Factory

Welcome to my first video review! I’m pretty excited and think this might be a direction I continue to go in  but not enough that I continued to make video reviews! I shot this with my phone, obviously, so it might be a little shaky, but it’s the best camera I have. I did this all in one take and didn’t feel like reshooting when my cat made an appearance, so I hope you can appreciate his beauty.

While I intended to follow a script, I veered off. All the information in the video is available in the text below, with a few additions at the very end of this review.

[edit]

Also, um, I never realized this was “Eins” like the number. I feel pretty derpy now, LOL. You’ll see that’s apparent in the beginning of the video, however.

Transcript — Sort of

Fun Factory calls this toy a pulsator, not a vibrator. It’s not something I think will catch on, but it goes to show that this is a different type of toy. I like to think of it as one that thrusts, but it’s a far cry from the thrusting rabbits with the weird accordion texture. In person, this looks like any other vibrator. There’s a hard plastic base and a silicone shadt with a slight curve intended for G-spot stimulation. The nub toward the base would theoretically provide clitoral stimulation, but mine is too far away for this to work.

When you’re looking at the toy from the side, there’s an engraved “ridge” that runs down the side to the tip of the clitoral nub. It’s similar to what you’d find on the Boss, which I’ve also tried. As I’m holding this, you can see that it’s not a very large toy. As the base, it’s maybe 1-inch wide. I don’t have very large hands, and I can encircle the entire shaft. At its widest, near the nub, it’s 1 3/4″ wide, but you won’t insert up this point. The shaft offers about 5 1/2 insertable inches. This is potentially a good toy for someone who isn’t a size queen.

The silicone is rather soft, and there’s some give in the nub and the head,[pinch silicone], but the shaft is rigid inside the plush silicone. As you’re looking at my video, you’ll probably see how much of a lint magnet the silicone is on this toy. It’s typical for any silicone toy, unfortunately, and is not unique to Fun Factory. My toy is a medium purple with a slight blue hue that doesn’t show up well in the video, and this toy is also available in pink. The plastic base is almost velvety to the touch. I like it.

The Stronic uses Fun Factory’s magnetic position, and the contact points are on the very end of the shaft. I think this position could be improved upon. While I like magnetic charging, getting the magnet to stay in position is often frustrating and problematic. However, the design makes it perfectly waterproof, so you can use it in the shower or tub. You don’t have to worry about keeping ports out of water when you cleaning it, and because silicone does collect lint so much, you definitely want to use soap and water rather than a spray or cloth.

Although, Fun Factory has changed the way the buttons work. There’s three buttons, one that says “Fun” which turns the toy on and off, and a + and -. They work exactly as you’d expect. One thing that I like is they’re raised, which makes them easy to find. there’s definite tactile and audible feedback when you press the buttons, too. Because of the third button, the Stronic will remember the setting it was on when you turned it off, and some people might like this.

When you press and hold the + button just a little bit, it starts this thrusting action that you can see in the video, but it’s easier to see in person that there’s an internal mechanism causing this up and down motion to mimic thrusting. It’s incredibly aggressive, almost violent. You won’t miss it, and it feels nothing like a vibrator.

As you increase the frequency of the Stronic, you can hear the motor running. It doesn’t sound like a vibrator, There’s a sort of back and forth sound, which is interesting to describe.

As you can see with the Stronic, Fun Factory has changed the buttons. There’s a + button that turns on and increases the speed of the thrusting. As you’re increasing the speed, it doesn’t seem that fantastic in your hand, but I’m not necessarily sure you can understand how this actually feels without using it. There are a few settings past thw different speeds of the thrusting, which I find difficult to describe. They produce an altogether different sensation, and there is no regular vibration setting. This makes this expensive toy a risky investment. There is not other toy that I can suggest you try before you shell out the cash for the Stronic, and there’s no plan B if you don’t love it like the Sasi by JeJoue.

This might not be a deal-breaker if you don’t particular enjoy internal vibrations. My G-spot responds to them, but I found that it also responded to the thrusting. The Stronic doesn’t feel exactly like sex, but it feels sex-like, which I guess is good enough for me. When inserted, the shaft stays still in my vagina/hand. In the video, my hand moves all around because the thrusting is just so aggressive, so it doesn’t seem as thrust-like as when it’s inserted. This, perhaps, make the decision to buy the Stronic more difficult.

I personally feel that it’s sex-like. The softer silicone probably helps with that, too. However, I’d need clitoral stimulation to get off, too, and the aggressive nature of the Stronic does make that a little difficult. Or maybe I’m not that coordinated.

The bottom line is, I like this toy. A lot, but I don’t know if I would have bought it myself because it’s such a risky investment. Don’t risk it if you’ll miss your $200. Use a coupon if you have the chance.

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Categories: Reviews

SEXTOY.com Vibrating Rabbit

April 4th, 2009

SEXTOY.com Vibrating Rabbit
$35 from Store.OfSexAndLove.com

I thought I’d do something a little different with this one. If you click here, you can see a video of how the control pack looks and also the stroking action.

If you weren’t aware that Sextoy.com has a few items in its ‘signature’ line, then you’re probably not alone. I didn’t know. However, I expect that this sex toy superstore probably knows a thing or two about sex toys. A domain name like sextoy.com is pretty damned difficult and expensive to get so the fact that they’ve had it – and for years – is impressive. But was I as impressed with their sex toys?

Of the two toys I received, I opted to try the Sextoy.com vibrating rabbit first. (The other, which I will review later, is a basic silver bullet). This rabbit is a little different from previous rabbits I have tried. For one, it doesn’t rotate. This is actually a good thing in my book; I’ve never been much of a fan of rotation. What this rabbit does instead, is pretty cool. There are several rows of connected ball bearings which move up and down along the shaft, imitating thrusting/stroking. Aside from the typical vibrating rabbit clit stimulator, the tip of the shaft also vibrates. Each of these functions has a separate control.

It’s a bright pink vibrator (perhaps too bright?) with a contoured head. Beneath the head are a couple ridges. The base/control pack are silver plastic with those digital type buttons. The same plastic extends about halfway up the vibrator, beneath the soft, outer material so the shaft doesn’t have any give or bend. The rabbit features a pointy nose along with his ears. The ears actually look harder than they are. It seems like this is a pretty soft material.

The material is listed a “ultra gel” which doesn’t tell me much. The back of the box warns to keep this “latex toy away from sunlight and heat.” Good advice but why not use a little higher quality material like silicone? Or even TPR Silicone would be an upgrade. I don’t have a latex allergy but I did experience a little burning-ish discomfort after use which is not something I’ve run into before.

Located at the bottom is the battery pack and I’ll start with the bad here. The cover for the battery pack pulls off. There are 2 heart-shaped buttons, 1 on each side of the toy, and squeezing them allows this toy to come off. Overall, I like this and it’s definitely unique. However, I have to squeeze those buttons pretty hard and pull the cover off with my other hand. This whole thing makes me really wish I had 3 hands (or someone to help) and as I am neither an alien nor is my husband around, it’s a bit frustrating. However, once the cover is off, the batteries (4AA) are easy to insert.

I tested all the functions separately and together prior to insertion which I would recommend as multifunction vibes can be a little complicated sometimes. As you go through these modes, the lights on the control pack light up, it actually looks pretty cool and futurotic. First, another light adds on (1 light for each mode) and on the highest setting, it cycles through all the lights. For the 4 mode functions there are blue and red lights and the 6 mode function (the stroking motion), there are red, green and blue lights.

The bullet for clit stimulation and the bullet in the head of the shaft have 4 modes each, 2 which pulse and a high and low steady vibration. For whatever reason, the pulsation modes are before the steady vibration and this seems a little backward to me. I expect steady vibration first and then whatever “extra” modes to come after. The different modes for the stroking motion are all an increase in speed. You can definitely tell because the toy becomes whinier but not all of these modes are really differentiable from the others. I’d say that this function might be a little better off with fewer modes, perhaps 4 like the other functions, which are more greatly varied. On the note of sound, this toy is pretty loud, louder than I’d like, in fact. However, upon insertion or pressing against my body, it quieted down significantly.

One thing I would change is to make the buttons protrude a little further. They’re not quite flush with the rest of the control pack, making them a bit difficult to push. I have noticed that the middle buttons, which control the thrusting, are sometimes not as responsive. In fact, in my video, you can see that I have to push the buttons several times before it kicks into motion.

But I know you all want to know, how does the stroking feel? After inserting this pretty pink animal into my pussy (I’ve used both System Jo H2O and ToyFluid lube but this isn’t a super thick toy), I was pleasantly surprised. I could easily feel the stroking up and down and although not meant to be a G-spot toy, it did stimulate it. If the SEXTOY.com Vibrating Rabbit were a little thicker, I think it might even help me achieve G-spot orgasm.

Unfortunately, the stroking does not stand up to clenching at all. As soon as I really got into it and would clench down, it would stop. This is a shame because if it held up to my muscles, I know my orgasm would have been that much more phenomenal.

I found that the bullet in the tip of the shaft became lost with the other functions on. It was just too deep to stimulate anything specific. The other issue I had was that the shaft was very straight and rigid. I would have liked it to have a little more give and/or be a little shorter. I wound up rocking/sliding this toy in a way that stimulated my G-spot but my cervix was banged up quite a bit. So I wanted to get the orgasm out of the way.

I had a similar issue with the clitoral stimulator. Alone, it felt good and that was how I eventually got off, while using just the shaft – functions off (it seems like I usually resort to this) – to stimulate internally. The vibrations definitely paled in comparison when the stroking function was on. I occasionally couldn’t tell it was vibrating at all. Because it’s such a demanding function, I think a stronger clitoral bullet is called for. The position also wasn’t as good a fit as some other toys I’ve used, but still did the job. The Ultra Gel material is quite soft so the bunny didn’t hug my pubic bone with as much pressure as I prefer.

In the end, I think SexToy.com tried to do a lot with this toy. They went about things in a unique way and I could really tell. However, not everything succeeded. While the stroking was super stimulating and got me all hot, it wasn’t enough to get me off alone. When used with the clitoral stimulator, I would clench my muscles as I got nearer to orgasm which brought the stroking to a halt. The shaft vibrator really did nothing for me at all and the rigid shaft was sometimes uncomfortable. I really wish I could have loved this toy because it seemed unique but thre are a few kinks to work out. Who knows, maybe we’ll see a Sextoy.com Vibrating Rabbit 3.0.

15 Comments

Categories: Reviews, Vibrators

Image © MisterUnlucky; used with permission.