A beginners guide to sex toys
Zee Krstic is a content strategy manager for Hearst Magazines viberator, leading audience acquisition and affiliate revenue growth for Country Living, House Beautiful, ELLE Decor and VERANDA. He previously served as Health Editor for Good Housekeeping between 2019 and 2023, covering news, wellness trends and executing product reviews in conjunction with the Good Housekeeping Institute. Prior to joining Hearst, Zee fostered a background in women’s lifestyle media with seven-plus years of digital editorial experience, including as a site-wide editor at Martha Stewart Living. Zee currently produces design and lifestyle service content as a contributor; he has written about food and dining for Time, among other publications. If you plan to travel with your vibrator, look for a sex toy with a locking system and a carry case to avoid any embarrassing buzzing suitcase moments. Plastic is the firmest option, while silicone has a more velvety feel.
It wouldn’t qualify for a spot on this list without a powerful clit sucker, but this toy goes above and beyond. The flexible silicone shaft sends rumbly goodness to the G-spot (choose from 10 vibration settings) and it also has a licking tongue stimulator to mimic oral sex. The Tango X is an all-time favorite bullet, due to its multiple speeds and settings, super-powerful and rumbly vibrations, convenient finger grip, and surprisingly low noise output. For an under-$100 vibrator, We-Vibe’s feels like it’s packed with everything.
The speed control receives mixed feedback, with some praising the variable speed feature while others mention the very low speed setting. If you’re bullet-curious and don’t want to spend a ton on something you might like, this affordable vibe could be a good first foray into the category. “Unbound’s chic mini-vibe is as portable as it is powerful,”Bezalel says. It features a pointed tip for perfectly targeted stimulation, and despite having only one speed, it’s extra powerful for target stimulated. They’re typically smaller than your average handheld vibrator or wand, with one blunt or flat end and another that’s more tapered or pointed like a lipstick.
High-end sex toy company Lelo is known for its toys’ elegant aesthetic and luxe feel, and this cock ring is no exception. Simple to operate, easy to wear—it’s no surprise that the best vibrating cock rings tend to make for some of the best couples’ sex toys. The trick, then is finding just the right model in a sea of shimmying, shaking cock rings that can all look similar—while hiding plenty of fun surprises.
The Dame Fin has three different vibration speeds, with the highest speed being super powerful. I was actually shocked by how rumbly it was — it stimulated just as well as some of my larger vibes. And it’s slim enough that you can slip it between you and your partner during sex. This G-spot stimulator is similar to the tapping vibrator above that tapes on the G-spot once inserted, only instead of a bunny shape it features a beautiful butterfly on a mission to deliver pure pleasure to the clitoris. It has four flapping and nine vibrating modes that work in tandem and a beautiful rose-shaped base. Made famous by Sex and The City over 25 years ago, The Rabbit vibrator is known for its ability to stimulate the clitoris with impeccable precision.
Its slim profile is ideal for pinpoint stimulation of the clitoris or nipples, and its metal construction means you can play with heating it up or cooling it down for some sexy temperature play, too. It’s rare to find a bullet vibe that’s made to be used internally, but this one is, which makes it a standout in my collection. It’s got a small curve to hit the G-spot when inserted vaginally, but that same curve also makes it useful for applying targeted pressure to different parts of the clitoris. The motor is thrillingly rumbly, too, meaning it’s less likely to cause the numb or itchy feeling that some buzzier (i.e. higher-pitched) vibrations can cause. Doctors or midwives applied vegetable oil to women’s genitals and then massaged them with one or two fingers inside and the heel of the hand pressing against the clitoris. With this type of massage, women had orgasms and experienced sudden, dramatic relief from hysteria.
The controls are accessible and easy to use , and the long battery life won’t let you down. It’s on the larger side but if you’ve got space in your bedside drawer then we would recommend treating yourself to this one. While vibrations can feel good just about anywhere, you may want to prioritize rabbits with an internal arm that offers rotation, thrusting, or some other kind of motion.
A lot of toys have multiple settings, and that often allows you to turn up and down the intensity, speed, and/or pattern of vibrations. While it might be tempting to crank your toy all the way up (and you should totally do that when you’re ready to, even if that is, in fact, right away), you can also experiment with bumping up the intensity gradually. Though most people refer to the bean-shaped area at the upper crest of the vulva as the clitoris, New York City-based board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist Monica Grover, MD, says it’s just the beginning of this sensitive zone. “The external clitoris is located above the urethra and where the bilateral inner labia meet,” says Dr. Grover. This toy has a whopping 10 contraction rings inside it, for some serious stroking. The Onyx+ can be used for long-distance play, like the Lovense Max 2 above, by syncing up with another Kiiro sex toy (like the brand’s Pearl 2 vibrator) and replicating how your partner’s using it.
If you’re looking to treat yourself in the bedroom there are millions of sex toys to choose from, but one of the greatest things about masturbating is you’re totally in control. Ensure that it’s wide, narrow, or long enough to align with the circumference of your clit, advises Stone. If you want to pair the panty vibe with tighter clothing, it’s best to avoid “bullet-vibe-lookin’ bulges,” says Queen. One of the biggest benefits of panty vibrators is their discretion and versatility.
Prior to reading the result, do you care to guess the percentage of women who claimed to have used a vibrator? Herbenick and her colleagues cited several studies wherein the figure varied wildly, from 1 percent up to 47. Several years ago, in one of my undergraduate consumer behavior classes, a group of students decided to study sex differences in browsing behavior at sex shops (as the topic of their semester-long project). This was a fortuitous topic as Montreal is replete with such retail outlets, especially in the downtown area. I don’t recall all of the specific findings but I suspect that vibrators constituted perhaps the most common sex item that female consumers checked out whilst in the stores.