Who to Avoid? – The Disgusting World of Sex Toys

Today I discuss my sad and infuriating research on sex toy companies and retailers. I will provide a list of retailers to be wary of, and companies I would definitely avoid! I haven’t tried all the companies listed, but I refuse to buy from them if their morals are shitty.

Sex toy companies are disgusting. Two months ago, I started my blog joyfully excited to spread my love of sex-positivity. Imagine how horrified I was when I realized I have not only been reviewing companies with questionable morals, but also questionable quality. 

I have now updated all of these reviews, with warnings about these companies. I am not here to tell you what companies to support, and if you choose to buy these products, that’s up to you.

Companies I’d Ban

Pipedream

This company’s actions are gross. Pipedream sells sex-toys that are generally not body-safe and advertise them with rapey judgemental sayings on their boxes. In case that wasn’t enough to make you hate them, they also made a sex doll of Jennifer Lawerance based on her leaked nudes, without her permission. This company has a nasty background seeped in racism, homophobia, sexism, and so much more. In my opinion, it’s best to avoid them altogether.  

FIFI

I will never support a company that uses hate as their marketing ploy. This company constantly fat shames on their social media and makes inappropriate edgy memes. I support inclusive marketing, and I choose only to support companies that do so. 

Proceed with Caution Retailers

Proceed with Caution retailers are retailers who haven’t particularly done anything problematic but they do have items on their websites that aren’t entirely body safe, have sketchy advertising practices, or they carry products from the “Companies I’d Ban” manufacturers.

Lovehoney

Lovehoney is a lot of people’s go-to sex retailer, but a few sources say that their product descriptions are not accurate and that they sell toxic toys. When Shopping at Lovehoney:

• Try to pick out a name brand, then go to the company website and see their claims. 
• Look up sex toy reviews on the product. Many bloggers will put a toy through testing to see if it’s real. 
• Don’t trust what the website says. Personally, with my new knowledge, I don’t think LoveHoney puts enough detail in their descriptions for me to make an informed decision on if it’s body-safe.

Amazon

Amazon is a company I always see floating around on sex blogger’s blacklists. Even before my research, I would put disclaimers on my amazon links. I can’t stop you from ordering from Amazon, but I will always warn consumers of the risk of getting a knock off product. When buying on Amazon:

• Read Reviews
• Check if the company has a real amazon selling account

When it comes to in-store sex products, there aren’t usually a lot of options. I don’t want to completely avoid them, because regardless of my thoughts on these retailers, at times they’re your only source of sex products. Hell, I shop at them sometimes. 

Adam & Eve

Even though they ship discretely, customers have reported getting ads via mail about other sex products that were not so discreet. They also carry brands/toys that aren’t body-safe and use questionable promotion methods. When shopping at Adam & Eve:

• Don’t give out your information! 
• Stick to in-store purchases if you want to avoid being mailed inappropriate flyers.
• Don’t trust their signs, pick-up the product, google the brand, look at the ingredients.   

Conclusion

All of this has been an important reminder to be informed as a buyer. If a company has bullshit morals, it probably doesn’t care about its customers; therefore, I recommend avoiding them. Remember, just because it’s in a sex-shop or has a website doesn’t mean it’s a safe product. It’s hard to know which companies are telling us the truth, but if they were found lying or posting ill-intended content, it’s fair to say they belong on this list, even as a warning.

This page will continue to be updated as I learn more and do more research. If I review a toy in the future from these wary retailers, I’ll be sure to link my readers to this page.