Not only are we living in a world in which sex toys are becoming more mainstream, but we’re also fortunate enough to live during a time where getting crowdfunding for sex toys is easier than it used to be. Once upon a time, if you dreamed up a sex toy, no matter how innovative it might have been, no one in their right mind was going to back you financially. Sex toys? Like, for women? Yeah, the concept likely fell on deaf ears, but all that’s changing and the couple’s vibrator, Eva, is leading the charge.
Alex Fine, who has her master’s from Columbia in psychology, and Janet Lieberman, who has her degree in engineering from MIT, had an idea for a sex toy and weren't about to let the idea go up in smoke. So they did what many innovators do these days and took their concept to the online world in the hopes of getting it funded. In a matter of no time, Eva became the “most highly funded adult product in the history of online crowdfunding,” making it Indiegogo’s top campaign by a team of all women. Not too shabby, huh?
Through research and testing, Fine and Lieberman created Eva, a wearable, hands-free vibrator that works both during intercourse and if you’re rolling solo. With three levels of vibrations (very powerful ones, I might add), Eva hasn’t just revolutionized wearable vibrators but, in some ways, revolutionized how sex toys creators are finding the financial backing they deserve to get their products out there for everyone’s enjoyment. Basically, everyone wins.
Not sure what I mean? Here are four ways crowdfunding is changing the sex toy industry.
1. It’s Taking The Shame Out Of Sex Toys
Before we had sex toy shops like Babeland, finding even a vibrator wasn’t exactly easy. You’d have to head to shady, dimly lit stores off highways and basically hope for the best. This was also a time when sex toys weren’t exactly the beautiful things we have today. Every time someone comes up with a new idea for a sex toy and they take the crowdfunding route, whether or not they get the necessary funds they need, they’re still helping to take the shame out of sex and masturbation — which is infinitely important.
2. It’s Introducing New Players To The Game
Despite their awesome invention, one in which clitoral stimulation is really the focal point, even just five or 10 years ago it probably would have been difficult for Janet Lieberman and Alexandra Fine to even get a sex toy on a crowdfunding site. But today, access to such great online resources allows more people to show off what they have to offer by tossing their hat in the ring.
3. It’s Putting The Creators Directly In Touch With Their Consumers
When you’re setting up a crowdfunding page for a product, you’re selling the idea for a product and relying on strangers to essentially buy into it. In doing so, the creators get to interact with prospective investors and it becomes sort of team effort. Feedback is exchanged and there’s a sense of community behind each product, with everyone rooting for the product they’ve chosen to fund to get up and off the ground, and into stores.
4. You’re Getting A Top-Notch Product
Where there’s lots of competition, creators are forced to step up their game ― and there’s lots of competition in the world of online crowdfunding. For example, I have a lot, and I mean a lot, of sex toys coming through my office (aka my bedroom), and none of them have been crowdfunded until Eva. Because Eva is being born from a place of competition, it has to be great and deliver.
Not only did Eva truly deliver on a satisfactory, awesome orgasm level, but it delivered in aesthetics, the fact that it’s made from phthalate-free body safe silicone, and that Eva lived up to the hype of being one hell of a delicious ride of a sex toy.
Yes, Eva gets my seal of approval, as does crowdfunding for such important sex-positive products.
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