6 Women-Led Sex-Toy Companies Changing How You Think About Pleasure

“We felt for too long that pleasure had been segmented and categorized: separate toys for men, for women, for couples, G-spot toys, clitoral toys...the list goes on,” says Alys. “We wanted to make something that better represented the huge diversity of human bodies and the ways that we experience pleasure.”

MysteryVibe Crescendo

Lioness cofounder and CEO Liz Klinger has a different way of facilitating discussions around sexual health and pleasure: She wants to track them. Her company's smart vibrator collects data about users' vaginal temperature and movements through an app, which keeps them informed about how their body works and what techniques work best for them personally. Think of it as an Apple watch for your vagina.

Once they learn what's normal for them, many users stop comparing themselves with others and feeling inadequate, says Klinger. One woman, for example, took longer to orgasm than her boyfriend's previous partners, which he initially took personally. Then she showed him Lioness's graph of her orgasm pattern, and he finally got that this was just how her body worked.

“Lioness is built on the premise that if we have more ways to learn about ourselves and our own unique bodies, that knowledge will benefit your self-confidence, relationships, and health—basically, your entire life,” says Klinger. “All the questions you've had in your head forever but never realized you could explore or ask, you can actually start exploring more.”

The Lioness Vibrator 2.0

Given how popular sex toys are among both men and women, why are sex-toy purchases still considered something that should be kept to yourself?

That's why Unbound sells surprisingly subtle sex-toy-inspired jewelry and thoughtfully curated subscription boxes, with everything from lingerie to tampons. The aim, the company says, is to make sex an everyday conversation topic. Plus, the monthly box concept makes pushing your own sexual boundaries a little less intimidating.

“We want to eradicate the taboos associated with female sexuality and allow women a chance to explore and feel comfortable with something that has historically caused them shame,” says Polly Rodriguez, who founded Unbound with Jackie Churchwell and Lorraine White. And can you name a more fun way to do that than by wearing a nipple-clamp necklace? We'll wait.

Unbound Puff

Unbound Cum Together Set

Unbound Nipple and Clit Clamp Necklace

Unbound Quarterly Subscription

For Tiffany Gaines, the key to a more harmonious sex life starts with which condoms you're using. After noticing that her friends were embarrassed to buy rubbers, Gaines wanted to make women proud to take responsibility for their sexual health. Her Lovability Condoms come in cute tins with slogans like “Babe With the Power” and “Talk Feminist to Me”—to give women an incentive to carry condoms and maybe even show them off.

“Safe sex is a commitment not only to our physical well-being but also our emotional and mental well-being,” says Gaines. “We're determined to expand and contextualize the subject of sexual health to focus on self-esteem, mutual respect, and the importance of making choices that support our desires—in the bedroom, in the boardroom, and beyond.”

Lovability 3 Condoms + Tin

This article was originally a part of Summer of Sex, our 12-week long exploration of how women are having sex in 2017 and has since been updated.