What Sex Toy Retailers Can Learn from the EdenFantasys Scandal

October 13th, 2013

Let me preface this article by explaining which scandal I am talking about because there are many. EdenFantasy has been doing wrong by employees, clients, manufacturers and reviewers for years. But several months ago, the owner “discovered” there was barely enough revenue left to keep the company afloat. He fire all the employees and shut down all the clubs and programs, including Sexis and EdenCafe, that had been going on. He, then, decided to cut how many points — points that contributors had earned — that contributors could put toward their orders. This resulted in a strange “point consideration proposal” by Fred who literally and liberally berated the community for abusing the system that he had championed for years.

I quote:

You will be asked to submit a reconsideration request. It is optional. If you chose not to participate, your points will remain as they are now.
We review the submission manually and decide whether your points will be restored or completely erased.

All your points (or converted Gift Cards) will be cancelled and removed if company finds that you accumulated 500 points or more by intentionally abusing the system.

EdenFantasys is not a store you an trust!

Around this time, many products were “discontinued.” Reviews and orders were being canceled left and right. Some, mind included, took months to get out. Anyone who wanted to buy something was hard-pressed to do so. Affiliates who had reached their payouts were not — and some still haven’t been, 5 months later — paid. During this whole thing, Fred refused, and then denied when I brought it up, to discuss or admit the state of the company. He banned many contributors and limited the accounts of others, myself included. However, many of the previous employees began to speak up about how this was just the cherry on top of the shit sundae.

Reviewers and shoppers who wised up by reading posts like mine left in droves, many opening up a blog for the very first time. Others took to Twitter and other review/affiliate programs in light of Fred/EdenFantasys’ policies.  SheVibe opened their own forum.

There’s no doubt that it’s a ridiculous scandal and one that could have been completely avoided. It hurt the company and left the community scarred and fragmented, but that’s not all there is to it. Eden’s fallacies are absolutely a lesson that other companies can — and should — learn from. This is far from a cohesive list, so I encourage you to add your thoughts in the comments. I may even add them to this post. The scary part is how many of these facts are simply common sense.

Business Management

  • Don’t turn a blind eye to things like the bills. They don’t go away. Quite the opposite. They pile up, and you ruin your reputation with consumers, manufacturers and other companies with whom you have a relationship. When it gets to the point that the company needs to be shut down or sold immediately because you ignored or tried to deny away the problem for months or even years, there’s no one to blame but yourself.
  • Yes, you have to spend money to make money. No, you shouldn’t spend thousands or millions of dollars on projects that don’t bring in money and ultimately bleed the company dry. Yes, working with bloggers can yield positive results. No, it shouldn’t be your only end game.
  • Don’t blame the customers for your bad business practices. This falls under the “there’s no one to blame but you” category, but I’ll talk about it more anyway. Don’t blame customers for taking advantage of programs or sales that you created.
  • It’s such a sleazy thing to base your business on the idea that you will make deals with others. That you will slip them something a little extra under the table or that you’ll bow to their demands to appease them, especially if you’re hurting your customer in the process.
  • Don’t try to do it all. Even if you have the best of intentions, you can’t do it all. You just can’t. Determine what you can do and do it well rather than spreading yourself too thin. Otherwise, you wind up starting clubs and giveaways and blogger outreach. The best case scenario is that it works with a few hiccups or that it doesn’t, and you can gracefully back out. Sometimes people will understand. On the other hand, if you don’t realize that you’re setting yourself up for failure, you might make a bunch of promises that you can’t deliver on, which may result in some unhappy customers.
  • Treat your employees well because they are what make your company run. They may be the face that customers see. They have the power to testify against you in court and to tell your dirty little secrets.

Community

  • When you reward your contributors for listing pros and cons about things, they’ll do the same for your company. It’s not about bloggers, it’s about pissing off vocal people. And bloggers will talk — even Metis Black mentioned how quickly the network works a CatalystCon West —  partly because we like to talk to begin with, but it’s more than that. I feel as though I owe readers the truth, whether it’s about a a toy or a company. I feel an obligation to tell buyers that a company isn’t reputable. As a blogger, I feel a sense of community with my fellow bloggers, and I want to help protect them from companies that will take advantage of them. So it’s my job to talk about it on this blog, on Twitter, on Tumblr, on Facebook or on your forum. Wherever I can talk about what you did wrong, I will. It’s not about you. It’s not petty vengeance. It’s about raising awareness of wrongdoing.
  • This leads me to my next point: don’t lie. The truth always comes out. Either you wind up telling bigger lies to cover up the succession of untruths, you get caught in the act or you wrong a person whom you trusted with your secret, and the truth comes out. The truth always comes out. Can you deal with that?
  • People don’t react to change well, especially not if it’s sudden. Yes, you may have to change the focus or programs that your company has. If you do it all at once, people will complain because they’ve become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. You can attempt to smooth things over by explaining why you have to change, and even though you don’t have to explain how your company works or what you’re doing, a little transparency goes a long way. When you start lying, even if it’s just by having shady practices, people stop trusting you.

And that trust? Yea, it’s kind of important when you use marketing campaigns about how people can trust you.

 

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Categories: Articles

This Week on Tumblr

June 29th, 2013

Love is Love!

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The Death of EdenFantasys

June 5th, 2013

image

 

If you’ve been around the Internet the last couple days, then you’ve probably come across this audio video, featuring the voice of Fred, the owner of EdenFantasys, and some staff members as he fires them all in bulk – and all without really saying so. In the event that the video gets deleted, Epiphora has a transcript up on her site. Multiple sources have verified the validity of the video; although Fred continues to deny that it’s real (also in E’s blog).

In fact, that post only outlines years of member abuses, shady behavior and a whole slew of things that have made people walk away from the company and community with a sour taste in their mouth. Not one, not two, but multiple of my friends have been banned from EdenFantasys over the years, and most of the time there was no legitimate reason other than “makes the site look bad.” In fact, review policy was changed a while back to state that we could only write positive reviews, more or less, to keep things looking all sunshine and kittens.

And, so the gist of the audio is that things had been going downhill for some time, but the company wasn’t even able to break even last month. So… Fred had to fire everyone via audio chat in a completely roundabout way. While he made it obvious that he had known what was coming, some people were completely blindsided, and he didn’t even take the time to fire some people. He simply changed email passwords to some people, essentially ending their jobs in the shittiest way possible. But, hey, it’s not the first time.

Things have been going downhill for some time according to Fred in that recording. In fact, Fred would have you still believe that everything is just hunky dory, and the only staff member who’s still around is spewing those lies to the community. But it’s more obvious than ever that things are bad. Stock has been dwindling for months. Good luck trying to find anything to spend those gift cards on because vendors don’t want to deal with the company. They’re calling the shots, but Fred’s minions would have you believe that inventory is shrinking to get rid of redundant products. As the truth comes out, it seems like this never was the case.

I’m eventually getting to my point, which is something along the lines of “I can’t believe he treated employees like this and is lying point blank to the community” and “I totally saw this coming.” By now, you’ve probably heard complaints from several people about various aspects of EF dealings, including unfair bannings, blocking off-site links, sending out used toys and employee abuse. So, I’m not entirely surprised that things have gone down in flames, but I don’t think anyone could have seen this coming the way that it did. Even staff members were left out in the cold, and now that we have proof that Fred is blatantly lying, it only brings into question everything he has ever said and, by association, anything the staff members have ever said because we don’t know how much involvement he had in it.

[edited to add]

I would count several people who have worked for the company among my friends, and I don’t mean to implicate them as dishonest, but I don’t know that what Fred told them was in truth.

[/edit]

Fortunately, I have no personal loss, but many people do, and many people are still drinking the god-damned Kool-Aid for some unknown reason. I’m being realistic. I cashed out my points and bought one of the few freakin’ things that still left in stock because I don’t even know if the website will be around tomorrow. Some people are in a so-called panic mode, and they’re not wrong to be.

Even before this, my role really dropped. I was unhappy with the company after they fucked with my friends and I became far less active. However, I still signed in and accepted reviews for one simple reason: I was gaming the system. It went something like this.

  1. I’d write reviews and participate on site for points
  2. I’d turn those into gift cards and buy other stuff
  3. I’d get points for those purchases (the system no longer allows this)
  4. I’d use my affiliate code to earn actual money

No, I didn’t feel bad about this. I always felt that the company had it coming from an ethical standpoint and their system continued to let me do it for years. You see, I agreed with all my friends who had left but I kept my mouth shut long enough to make this work for me because who doesn’t want some extra cash or free sex toys?

I think, perhaps, that the methodology to spend money to make money is one that Fred does not understand. Throughout those years, I became increasingly frustrated by this community movement. Sure, some awesome people joined even after the people I have grown used to left, but the blogger outreach and points programs led to a lot of shitty reviews and spam that made the site that much less useful. If you weren’t all overly supportive for the company or even for a freakin’ toy, you weren’t community-minded. Somewhere down the line, EF really became about quantity over quality, as if having people posting and talking about you was enough to drown out the negative and the cold, hard truth. Sadly, for a while, it was.

This should be a lesson to everyone. Treat your community, customers and employees like shit? It won’t work. Spread yourself too thin? And you’ll soon tear. Respond negatively to criticism or suggestions and the people who have a different vantage point will stop talking to you and start speaking up against you. Make enemies in the blogosphere, and people will tell others about what a little shit you’ve been.

Shortly before the announcement that all the staff had been fired, I received a PM as one a group of valuable members, asking me to stick around through some upcoming changes, I had no idea they’d be so extreme and, honestly, how can Fred expect the company to rebound in any way? As it stands, there’s nothing to stick around for. The community, the store are all in dire straights. The staff is gone. EdenFantasys is as good as dead, and if you think otherwise, you probably deserve to go down with the ship.

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Categories: Everything Else, internet, News

Can you see me now?

June 6th, 2010

Jules wrote a post about a post that AAG wrote about being in the in-crowd. They both make great points about the so-call in crowd but I didn’t have much to say until I read an anonymous comment about this so-call “in” crowd and here I thought I was mostly ignored until I saw this:

It shows up regularly on blogs, on forums and in reviewer chat rooms.

Hey, wait! I know what this person is talking about. Yep, it’s the chat room I created many moons ago where reviewers could get together and talk about.. reviews and toys. Actually, I cannot take the credit. DBD first made a room on Meebo but it was public and we often got random strangers that would come in long enough to say “You like toys? You must be fat bitches. EWW! Perverts!” So I made a new room, password protected.

I figured we’d talk about reviews, toys, toy companies, websites and blogging but it has become so much more than that. Yes, we talk about those things on a frequent basis but the room has turned into a place where I’ve made real connections with real people except, maybe, AAG’S anonymous commenter. This started out as a reply to that person but I think it fits better here:

I love that you have first-hand knowledge of the chatroom I created! This means that you asked to be invited in and we let you in, regardless of affiliations. This probably means we’ve laughed together and shared some silly stories. It’s likely that you’ve seen us being critical about companies but we’re pretty equal opportunity. Lots of people and companies do things we don’t love (even folks in the “in” crowd but I’ll get to that later). Spend any time in the room and you will also see how much time people spend being positive and supportive. I know, I frequently hop in chat when the stress of my divorce is just too damned much.

If you’ve spent any time in the room, you know that some folks are still with EF. If you’ve stuck around, you’ll probably see that EF employees (like Sammi) and backers were still allowed and welcome even after the shit hit the fan. You’ll also note that AAG has never visited (for no particular reason other than she hasn’t inquired, I would suppose). Neither have any other staff members of EF but that’s because they never asked me for the password. Not once. As the chat room admin, I might even be inclined to let people in but it doesn’t matter because someone has been reporting every damned thing we say to others anyway. Tattle tale much? Since when is anything we say in a relatively private place up for argument?

And if you spent more than 5 minutes in the room, you will see that we often disagree with each other because WE are real people, too, not just “them.” We do not hang on everyone’s every word but, because of the amazing feedback and support we’ve been able to give each other within that chat room, we believe we can trust one another. So if Epiphora says something happened, I believe her. Not because she can do no wrong but because that’s what friends do. (But even though I trust her, maybe sometimes I think she’s full of crap, too.)

Does that make me part of this so-called in crowd? Making friends with people who give me the time a day? Then guess who else I’m friends with: Carrie Ann and Sammi. (Okay, they don’t have to admit it, but I consider them friends). Sorry to go throw a kink in your hatred and stereotyping there but let me make it really confusing for you: over a year ago I stopped following AAG because I just don’t particularly care about most things she blogs about (no offense intended to her, she blogs about broader subjects than I care to read in this corner of the blogosphere). Yet here she is, apart of the same in-crowd and we’ve never spoken 2 words to one another.

Anonymous, you missed the point. Entirely. It’s not that there are no cliques on the internet, it’s just that sharing an opinion does not a secret club, make. No one can name others in this group because we all associate with many people on a frequent basis, including some people who don’t get along so well with others we like. As grown ups, we can do that.

But can you? Can you look beyond the “them” and “not us” and see us as real people? Or is it okay for you to abuse your invitation because you’re so much better than me? Because you’re a real person but none of us are?

When I made this room, I considered myself a no one at EF, even though I’d been around over a year. I’m past the 2 year mark, now, and I still feel like a nobody because of some frustrating staff interactions (but that’s not exactly irrelevant). I’m certainly no sex blog celeb, either. So you can’t go around talking about how there’s some special group intimidating other people. Did you ever think that you might be intimidating us? Using your logic, I can easily label you as apart of the in-crowd, a crowd I most certainly can see because I am not apart of it. Funny how the works, isn’t it?

And if you took the time to talk to me, you’d know I’m planning on re-inventing the room, so to speak, after everything cools off. Here I was looking forward to a room where more reviewers would feel welcome, where we could have a fresh place to chat. Shit, I’m not very good at this in-crowd thing.

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Categories: internet

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Lelo Lily

April 6th, 2010

Lily

Lily
N/A from

Lelo is now on the Lily 3, which you can buy here.

Now, I have never had one of those hot stone massages, but I’ve seen pictures or maybe seen it in the movies, and the Lily by Lelo absolutely reminds me of those small, ergonomic stones. Except this tiny vibrator is designed to caress your most intimate parts while in the palm of your hand, not to do whatever it is that hot stone massage actually does. The black version, which I bought, does remind me quite a bit of a small stone. Granted, Lily is much lighter than any stone would be.

Lily is my first vibratory purchase from Lelo. I had admired it for quite some time but the complaints of low power turned me off. Still, I could not distract myself from a vibe that might work perfectly during sex.

Lily does not come charged, and because I like to use toys right away, I was a bit miffed to have to break out the charger, which sits beneath the tray. Charging was easy; there was an indicator light on the charger itself, and the buttons on Lily flash during charge. The manual indicates that Lily should not be charged for more than 24 hours, and the charge should last up to 2 hours. I took a quick look through the user manual, but Lily is incredibly easy to operate, so it’s probably not necessary.

Right out of the box, I was surprised by Lily’s size. It is only 3″ long and 2″ wide, so it easily fits in the smallest of hands. The Lily is displayed in the box so the side with the buttons faces up. There are two soft, plastic buttons: one button turns on/up the vibrations while the other turns them down/off. When the Lily is charged, the buttons will be ringed with white light. This light turns red when the vibrator needs charging. I like that the buttons are just shy of finger width which makes them easy to find and press.

Below the buttons, the world “Lelo” is embossed. Further down, on the rounded edge is the charger port. This port seems incredibly large to me so I always make sure to cover it when washing (although, a wipe or damp cloth is probably smarter than using soap and water). It would be nice if there were some cover over this port, however.

The exterior of Lily is plastic, which feels almost silky. The appearance is matte as opposed to Nea, a similar vibe that is slick, shiny plastic. I chose Lily specifically for that reason (added friction) but might have been better off choosing Nea.

Lily’s shape reminds me something of a giant bean. The back, which will sit in the palm of the hand, curves softly, while the front is more angular. The functional end comes to more of a point than the curved end where the port is, and Lily’s lines are sleek and contemporary. In use, I can hold Lily so that my thumb can reach both buttons, but the most comfortable and functional way for me to hold it actually prevents me from reaching the buttons. In addition, if Lily is cupping my mons, this completely blocks button access unless I angle it up and away from my body. This seems especially problematic when you consider how many people use vibrators like these during sex. In missionary position, with Lily between two partners, it would be difficult to push the buttons. Otherwise, Lily is only about 1/2″ thick, which makes it pretty unobtrusive during sex.

Lily’s curved shape is generally body-friendly, but I think it would be friendlier to a less fleshy body than mine. If I simply lay it over my mons, Lily will barely graze my clit. I have to apply pressure for it to fit more comfortably between my labia. I am not super fond of pointed toys, generally preferring a broad surface that I can use to stimulate my pubic bone area as opposed to simply my clit. If you like pointed toys, however, Lily might be right up your alley. Quick, wrist movements can somewhat imitate oral sex; however, this leaves me incredibly sore. So sore, in fact, that my arm muscles will hurt the next day.

Once I got the Lily situated and started playing with the vibrations, I was quickly accosted by a high-pitched whine from the motor. As I understand it, this is pretty common for digital motors but, FUCK! it’s annoying. I feel like I now know what it feels like when dogs hear noises people cannot. Aside from that, Lily only ever operates at a low hum, even on the highest setting. You might even get away with using it in the same room as someone else!

Lily does not have an amazing amount of power. The high-pitched vibrations match the high-pitched whine quite well and are entirely focused on the pointed end (another plus for pinpoint lovers). There seem to be multiple levels of continuous vibration (around 7), but they’re so close together that it’s hard to tell. There are also additional pulsation and escalation modes. For the most part, these modes lack the oomph of stronger toys. Lily is definitely best for sensitive clits or warm-up.

One of the nice functions of Lily is that it can be locked when not in use by simultaneously pressing both buttons for 5 seconds. However, I think it might be far more practical to be able to lock it during use because it’s small enough that my fingers struggle for purchase. Still, when Lily is locked and in its storage bag, it’s pretty easy to hide or even travel with.

Lily is incredibly well crafted, without a doubt. Yet, the size and strength of vibrations are not as rewarding to me as the more affordable Layaspot. I cannot honestly see myself reaching for this one frequently – a shame, considering how much I spent on it.

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Categories: Reviews, Vibrators

Isis

March 30th, 2010

Isis

Isis

This is an archived review of a discontinued product.

Isis is one of the few non-glass products by Luxotiq but, like all their products, is made with the same gentle curves which make it both incredibly attractive and functional. This silicone dildo is soft but vibrant pink and sports not one but two functional ends to meet all needs. Although I am not a connoisseur of dildos by any means, I do find Isis to work splendidly; in fact, I think this piece of certainly worthy of a goddess’ name.

Isis is made of silicone which is firmer than it is soft but still has some flexibility. It’s not as firm as Tantus toys but remains more firm than most Fun Factory silicone. The particular composition of silicone feels noticeably dense to me. The shape could be described as a loose and long “S” but it is not symmetrical. One side has a gentle curve while the shaft gradually increases in size and the other side is generally smaller with a flatter head angling off from the shaft. The entire piece has a velvety texture and while there is a seam which runs around the toy and can be felt by a finger, it is not felt internally.

I first experimented with the thicker end, inserting it with a little water-based lube. The shaft grows to about 1 1/2″ in girth so it’s neither tiny nor gigantic. It falls right into my comfortable range and a lot of people consider that about “medium” sized. However, the size increases toward the end so you can’t work your way up to it; it’s the other way around. I found the curve and size to be absolutely perfect for stroking my G-spot which, as you might recall, it fairly shallow. I sometimes have difficulty with angled G-spot toys and much prefer the curve of the Isis. It’s also interesting because I usually have more success with G-spot vibes, not dildos so I was a bit surprised how easy it was to “milk” my G-spot. I achieved ejaculation within a minute or two and the girth helped stimulate exactly the right spot.

Used in this way, the angular end is great for a handle and there is plenty of length to grasp (unlike the Dai-Do #5 which I just tried). I didn’t have to insert it very far at all but Isis’ design seems ideal no matter how deep your G-spot it. I didn’t opt for any fancy maneuvering simply because the girth was comfortably snug for me but I am sure you could.

If the curved end is too thick or doesn’t offer the stimulation you prefer, Isis can be inserted the “opposite” way, too. The angled head is smaller (1″ diameter) and offers a bit more precise movement. It doesn’t personally fit me the best, but that is part of the appeal of having a double-sided dildo.

Those are not the only perks, of course. This dildo can easily be cleaned with soap and water, as the included “business” card instructs. There is even a soft cloth for drying to because silicone has the tendency to pick up lint. It’s only a few inches long and wide, though so it’s not as practical as it could be. I just use a regular towel or you could let Isis air dry, too. These are nice touches, though.

I also appreciate that the dildo came in a sealed plastic bag which I actually had to cut (okay, I probably ripped it) open. Very few toys come this way, and I admit, even when they are settled in a pretty-looking box (and Isis does come in a nice white and pink box that ties shut with ribbon; it sits on pink satin over a foam-ish core), I don’t know how clean the box/fabric is for the dildo to be returned to it for storage (or vice versa). It just gives it a cleanly feeling but it might just be me. If you are a neat freak, Isis could be boiled or submerged in a deep solution to sanitize but most folks probably do not need to do this.

Although it’s versatile, I don’t think Isis would really work perfectly between two bodies at once and I would not advise anal use (unless you’re super advanced) because the lack of a flared base. It is certainly long enough that a partner could use it on you, of course. (=

My review seems short but, the truth is, dildos don’t do much. Their either work or they don’t and, for the most part, I am not a dildo girl. Still, I can say that Isis is a quality dildo that does work for me and will probably work for many.

7 Comments

Categories: Dildos, Reviews

Make love to your long distance lover online

Liberator Fascinator Throw

March 28th, 2010

Liberator Shag Throe

Liberator Shag Throe
$89.99 from SheVibe

I recently got a gift from someone awesome and by “someone awesome,” I mean myself. That gift was a Liberator Shag Throe because I was sick of wet spots on the bed (from sex) and washing all my towels (from squirting). I was apprehensive about my purchase the shag throe was only available in purple, while the microfiber is available in more colour choices. People seemed to like both just fine, but I had such a difficult time deciding whether colour or texture mattered more, especially because I am not a big fan of microfiber (but I wasn’t sure if the microfiber throe felt run of the mill).

Note that Liberator currently only offers Throws in one material: “microvelvet.” I believe this is less plush than the blanket I own. Nevertheless, my general thoughts apply to the overall product.

The Shag Throe comes packaged in a plastic box and is neatly folded. I noticed immediately that the shag is softer and plushier than microfiber, so I think I made the right choice. I got what some retailers call “regular” size, and the blanket is really quite large at 72″ x 54″. It just covers the top of a queen-sized bed, which is why Liberator bills it as queen sized. I personally never use it extended to its full size. It is always folded in half or thirds because I simply do not need that much area. I could probably get away with the smaller Travel Throw, which measures 53″ xs 36.”. But if you want a blanket that covers your entire bed, they also make a king-sized option.

The size alone is not the only factor that makes the Throe seem quite large, perhaps even bulky. It is obvious that there are several layers to this blanket; of course, that only makes sense because the Throe has to contain something special to keep moisture from our furniture and linens. According to Liberator, that is an “inner moisture barrier.” In layman’s terms, it seems like a sheet of plastic and sounds like it, too. When moving, folding, or otherwise breathing on the Throe, there is a noticeable sound of fabric-covered plastic. It’s not necessarily detrimental to the experience, especially if you’re louder than the Throe (nor will it give you away to the roommates or neighbours) but it is a little.. unsexy.

So, those outer layers? Shag and satin. The shag is a short fur which is fairly soft to the touch but not like cashmere or anything. It’s definitely more appealing than “shag carpet” which is what had always come to my mind before. I mean, who wants to have sex on that? Besides cheesy 70s porn stars, that is! For whatever reason, the shag side feels better to my hands than my body, which feels a little suffocated by it, but it doesn’t feel bad at all.

And the satin? Well, it’s satiny, but the outer layer is much thinner than that of the shag so it’s easier to feel the moisture barrier inside. Because of this, I don’t really like the satin side as much. If it were just satin or satin over something softer, it would feel better, but it just feels too plastic-y for my tastes. I never use it silk-side-up. However, it’s smoother and cooler feeling, which some folks might prefer in hot temperatures. There are two other downsides to the satin side: it can slip around on surfaces and it runs (like pantyhose). I found out the latter after leaving the satin side up on my bed for a short time, and, when I returned, it was obvious my cat(s) had walked over it. 

The exterior is finished with a secure border/trim around the edges, which holds everything tightly in place. 

In use, the Throe performs as expected. I have read accounts where the Throe was not enough to contain fluids of some people, but I am no super soaker, so I am satisfied. In fact, a product like this can really help someone who is worried about the mess of ejaculating or the difference between urine and FE. I wouldn’t even care if it were only urine, except that I don’t want that on my sheets or bed, so the Throe is a lifesaver. The shag side not only soaks up my fluids but even makes them a bit difficult to see. However, if you’re looking to use the Throe as a towel for cleaning up after the fact, it doesn’t perform so well in that manner, partly because it’s stiff and partly because it doesn’t absorb moisture as much as it holds it. As a result, larger amounts of fluid will pool on the Throe instead of being soaked up by it (but they will not soak through to whatever is beneath it).

Nevertheless, I have found my Shag Throe helps me be a procrastinator (whether or not that’s helpful, you can decide). After playtime is over, I can roll up my toys in the Throe and toss it in the corner overnight or until I am ready to deal with clean up. I find it so handy in that way because I didn’t think of this as a versatile product, really.

The Fascinator Throw is machine washable on delicate/cold. You might even be able to get away with a regular cycle, but I didn’t try. It kept its shape well, and I tossed it in the dryer on low heat. Some folks have let it air dry on the line or shower rod, which is also an option. I found that I had to run it through the dryer multiple times before it was actually dry, which is a bit perplexing. I have no idea how long it would take to air dry, but now that I am back home with paid laundry machines, I guess I will find out. The Throe is in great condition after being washed and dried, and the colour is still vibrant.

But I have to say, I don’t feel the need to wash it every time I use it, thankfully. It doesn’t pick up smells nor does it seem necessarily dirty after a use or two. Like I mentioned, it’s really big so I can just fold over a previously used spot and there’s still plenty of clean surface left.

However, my original blanket seemed to have a defect as the trim started to come undone. I contacted Liberator, which replaced it. I now have two of them, with the original demoted to a cat blanket. The trim hasn’t broken down anymore, even with washing. Because I’ve had it in the window, it has become noticeably sun-faded. My replacement has held up well with no stitching issues, though!

I definitely look forward to spending more time with my Shag Throe!

While I recommend the Fascinator Throw to anyone who wants to make cleanup easier and experience that security during playtime, I understand that not everyone can justify the cost. This is especially true because the price has nearly doubled since I got my first Throw (and I believe it is more valuable than the current microfiber option). To that end, I’ve created a list of alternatives to the Liberator Throw that can save you money.

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