Part two of Anna Hennings's interviews with Ethan Imboden, founder and chief creative officer of Jimmyjane (a San Francisco adult accessory company), and award-winning designer Yves Behar. If you missed part one, you can read it on BitchBuzz Sex first.
As part of their mission to take the raunch and risque out of mainstream sex toys, Jimmyjane is not only overhauling vibrators' aesthetic and functionality but also their materials. For so long, consumers have been settling for the jelly toys that often contain toxins — like phthalates, parabens and lead — and that hardly lasted beyond a few uses.
"Nobody had been asking, pushing for anything better, so who was going to make changes to a system that seemed to be working just fine?" says Imboden.
Simply by labeling their packaging with features like "body safe materials" and "phthalate-free," Jimmyjane has started a dialogue between the consumer and the retailer about why other products are not labeled in the same way. Consumers can question, contemplate and eventually vote with their dollars about what they do and don't want in and around their private parts. Their voice raises the bar for the industry's best practices and manufacturing choices.
Would you buy the cheapest helmet you could find? No. The cheapest condom with a reputation for breaking quickly and easily? I certainly hope not! Then why would you buy a toy for the most private and sensitive parts of your body that contains materials banned in baby teethers? ...You wouldn't.
Unlike many other in vogue vibes, this new wave of products, as Behar notes, "actually delivers on their promised material integrity, product longevity, and technical innovation. There is no reason to make these products in any less of a responsible manner than, say, an iPhone, and give them a true design sense that is about intimacy and personality."
Conversational shift: changing how we talk about sex and sexuality
With our iPhones, email, texting, and the like, we can keep in touch with each other with unprecedented frequency. But from the lack of talk about sex, you might think we never actually touched each other. Sexuality, and especially masturbation, are typically not dinner-table or date conversation topics (though, on occasion, the outcome).
"While sexuality is common to all of us, it is unique to each of us," says Imboden. "And it's our belief that everyone who is interested should have access to exceptional products to support the exploration and enjoyment of sexuality. Regardless of what anybody else is doing, or what products someone else is trying, it's really important for you to find your own opinions and have your own experiences around exploration. Fundamentally, that's in the DNA of the company."
Recognizing a need to change the conversational paradigm, the company has put consumer feedback at the center of its design process. Their Ask Jimmyjane online form lets consumers share what they want from their night stand favorites. Jimmyjane's in-house designers rely on this feedback to develop the next generation of products. They're giving consumers a voice where they've never before been encouraged to speak up.
This feedback loop is something few, if any, others in the industry offer, and is one of many ways in which Jimmyjane is demanding higher standards from the industry and pushing its competitors to follow suit.
"This is about real people, and the only way to understand what people want is to talk to them, to engage with them, to listen and to be really open and humble about how much you need that interaction to deliver something that's relevant," says Imboden.
The consumers are now in the driver's seat of the design battle for positive change and positive sexuality.
Pairing human conscious design and open communication with consumers, Jimmyjane has started a grassroots campaign to change the conversation around sex products and sexuality. No longer do consumers have to settle for the unsexy, for the dirty little secret. They are encouraged to get involved by voicing what they want in the bedroom and to have fun exploring their desires in the process.
Defined by a refined and classy aesthetic, this shift is strengthening connection — whether with oneself or a significant other, and enhancing comfort with the product and enjoyment of sexuality. This, in turn, is fostering more open communication, and ultimately creating more personal, provocative possibilities.
Future of sex...toys
So what can we expect as the industry continues to follow Jimmyjane's lead?
Imboden predicts a three-fold development:
1. Marketplace correction, where manufacturers can only compete if they are creating products that are high quality, safe and effective.
2. Mainstream brands (can you imagine an Apple iDick?) will start exploring the space, exposing more people to and normalizing the conversation.
3. Technology from other markets will be applied and leveraged in the sex product category — from material technology to electronics (battery life and charging) — but only once the consumer values the features and has asked good, hard questions of the manufacturers.
The industry has to continue educating and informing consumers as they go, but it'll only prove useful if, as consumers, we commit to learning what's important for our parts down there and voting for them with our shopping dollars.
"The future is healthier, more fun, more playful, more beautiful, more natural, and more personal," says Behar. "And design will contribute to getting us there."
Want to join the conversation yourself? Don't hesitate submit feedback and ask questions in a safe, friendly and non-judgmental environment to Ask Jimmyjane.
For more from Anna, you can check out her magnificent personal blog, TallAnna.com or follow her on Twitter as @tallanna.
All images © Jimmyjane