Girls Get Off Co-Founder Viv Conway comes to you from the sex toy trenches in this her column Getting Off, where no topic is off the table, no chat is taboo and everything is just a little unhinged. This week, she chats about perhaps a slightly unexpected Mother’s Day present – a vibrator! But is it as wild as it sounds? She has some surprising stats for you…
Warning: it’s adults-only chat ahead!
The first time we marketed our products as a great option for a Mother’s Day present, we had a bunch of people asking us ‘wait….really?’
It’s okay, we were expecting it because gifting your mum a sex toy for Mother’s Day isn’t exactly what springs to mind when you’re trying to show appreciation, at least not historically. But, the time for change is upon us, queens!
As the co-founder of a company that predominantly sells pleasure products, I’ll admit I’m slightly biased, but I’m also a woman of science, and the facts are the facts: sex toys are one of life’s great underrated wonders.
Not only are they super-empowering and can change your pleasure experience, but they come with a looooong list of benefits.
Studies show their use increases blood flow, reduces cortisol (that pesky stress hormone), you look more glowy thanks to a hit of dopamine and oxytocin – not to mention the potential to lower blood pressure. At this point, sex toys aren’t just a rogue gift idea; they’re like a wellness essential.
Then, as well as the physical perks, there’s also another layer we cannot ignore: our mums made sex cool, and they deserve everything that comes with that.
Baby boomers (1946-1964) cop a lot of flak, and it’s a bit unfair because they’re the generation that basically said ‘actually, no’ to outdated rules and started normalising conversations around premarital sex, pleasure, and personal freedom in a way that shifted literally everything in the pleasure world.
Thanks to them, sex went from something confined to marriage into something that could exist for pleasure, curiosity, and connection.
Currently, boomers sit somewhere between their mid-60s and 80s, and despite contrary belief, they are very much not done yet. In fact, they make up a huge portion of the Girls Get Off customer base, often telling us how much they love having control over their own pleasure in a way they didn’t always have before.
One of my fave stories is a woman who wrote to us last year to say that at 70, she’d just purchased our Missy vibrator and was loving the big-O’s, and more iconically, loved imagining her family’s reaction when they eventually stumble across it after she passes.
If you’re reading this thinking “my mum isn’t a boomer though”, I hear you – and Gen X women aren’t exactly shy about sex either. The news is constantly reminding us that Gen X women (born roughly between 1965 and 1980) are currently having more frequent and more satisfying sex than younger generations.
But I don’t need the news to tell me that because at GGO they’re battling it out with the boomers to become our biggest age demo, especially when it comes to our Afternoon Delighters libido supplements. They’ve been flying off the shelves with the 40–55 crowd, proving that desire doesn’t disappear as you get older and you go through menopause.
As for millennial mums, especially those with young kids, we have received plenty of messages raving about our Missy vibrator. She’s small, waterproof, discreet enough to pass as a face massager, and very efficient when time is not on your side.
One mum told us that when she needs a moment to herself, she’ll pop the kids to bed, hop in the shower, and have a quick five-minute reset with her Missy. Another told us that her six year old found her Missy and all but forgot about it after being told it is mummy’s ‘special face massager’.
All of that being said, before you go wrapping up a vibrator and risking your mum opening it in front of the entire family this Mother’s Day, it might be wise to test the waters first.
Maybe casually drop into conversation that you’ve bought one for yourself and see how she reacts, or send her one of our social posts as a low-stakes way to open the door.
Whatever route you take, whether it’s a bold gift choice or something a little more traditional, just know we’ve got options for days, and if nothing else, at least you’ve now got a slightly more interesting Mother’s Day brainstorming session on your hands.
