I have studied and investigated why sex toys for women look the way they do and what the norms are that affect the design and use of sex toys for women.Through the collected information, I have investigated what can be done better. I have chosen to write about this as I believe that the market that exists now is limited and does not meet the needs that exist from women today. The design is in my opinion outdated and strengthens norms and prejudices from the past and thus inhibits sexual health among women. I have contacted experts in the field to learn more, done user studies and read literature that is relevant and interesting for the work that can strengthen me in my own discoveries. The final product will serve as an example of how design can help strengthen healthy uses and stimulate sexual health in women, and the product will also serve as a response to how sex toys should be designed to suit the needs of the market. The report cannot answer exactly why sex toys are designed the way they do, but I have addressed history and cultural norms that could possibly explain the design and design choices for women's sex toys. I also discuss why it is important to change the look of sex toys for women.

The sex shop has existed as spatially Othered and ideologically transgressive. However, the last decades have witnessed both a literal and figurative move into a position of normalcy and legitimacy. Previous research conducted on this topic has covered this shift, and the importance of a “feminization” of the market for this to happen. While the previous research is extensive on the “new” sex shop, it has partly overlooked the hybridization of the traditional with the feminized. This essay has thus aimed to discern the trends of a “mixed-gender” sex shop, in order to both contribute to the understanding of the Swedish context as well as how class, gender, and past & present work as distinctions within this. The results show that a stereotypical femininity and masculinity is visually used by the store as tropes of distinction. As abstract ideals they converge in a rhetoric of an aspirational class, that sees knowledge as well as consumption as vital to a “sexual health”. However, while the commodities on offer are partly marketed with such sophistication, they are equally advertised as realistic resemblances of genitalia or parts of the body. Thus, the sophisticated consumption is diversified with a realistic, at times vulgar, address. The conclusive observation here is hence that the traditional sexuality-related consumption can coexist with a feminized version within one and the same store. Consequently, this essay sees that a plurality of desires is a part of the market’s continual expansion.

Material artefacts to be used during sex is today commonly known as “sex toys”. This thesis has aimed to understand the discursive practices preceding this late-modern conceptualization, and what the previous historical conceptualizations testified to in terms of sexual morality and constructions of sexuality. The focus has been on a Swedish expert-led discursive context, spanning from the late seventies to the mid-nineties. Despite a general idea of Swedish sexual progressiveness, the results show that the discourse around these objects were all but welcoming. The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) considered the selling of “sexual technical aids” as a difficult topic. Good sexuality was to share an emotional loving connection. Thus, it should not overemphasize sex and the body, which sex aids did by being used for sexual functioning or corporeal sensations. I have shown how a discussion of sex aid-use by men with certain physical disabilities dealt with this problem, by providing a context of enabling sexual activity within a romantic union between the men and their partners. Thus, erective aids were especially in focus. I argue that this shows a somatification of male sexuality, which has previously been discussed as taking place in Sweden after the introduction of pharmaceutical erective pills in the late 1990s. Parallel to this, I show a development of heralding female use of “sex toys” in the early 1990s media. Whereas male masturbation with sexual objects were still ridden with an idea of social inadequacy, women were increasingly championed to consume to masturbate. I argue that the developments of how to conceptualize sex aids in Sweden indicate a larger discursive change regarding sexuality. Not only were men and women increasingly considered as beings with separate sexualities, and thus given separate sex aid-markets to court this – but acceptable sexual expression overall broadened. Good sexuality in the Swedish 1990s had begun to embrace the bodily sensations felt during sex, as well as accept sex itself as an independent aim, and in consequence sex aids – or “sex toys” – as a more acceptable means to this end.

Den sexuella hälsan och sexualiteten utgör centrala faktorer i kvinnans livsvärld. Historiskt sett har bilden av kvinnans sexualitet varit belagd med olika tabu vilket ännu idag återspeglas i samhället. Förlossningsbristningar kan leda till fysiska och psykiska konsekvenser som kan påverka kvinnans sexuella hälsa. Barnmorskan kan hjälpa kvinnan till en bättre sexuell hälsa genom att inneha god kunskap om förlossningsbristningar. Stöd och information före och efter förlossning kan bidra till en ökad Känsla av Sammanhang, KASAM, och främja den sexuella hälsan. Caritativt vårdande kan bidra till att lindra lidande samt använda lidandet som motivation till förändring. Förlossningsbristningar kan påverka kvinnans sexuella hälsa och därmed hennes livsvärld. Syftet med studien var att belysa kvinnors upplevelser av hur deras sexuella hälsa har påverkats efter att de drabbats av förlossningsbristningar. Studien utfördes som en kvalitativ intervjustudie med induktiv ansats där 10 kvinnor intervjuades. Resultatet visar att förlossningsbristningar begränsar kvinnors sexuella frihet. Kvinnorna upplevde en försämring av den sexuella hälsan men ibland även en förbättring då nya aspekter av det sexuella livet framtonades. Dock upplevde kvinnorna sig som begränsade även när deras sexuella hälsa förbättrats. Känslor av att vara trasig, smutsig, ha ett påverkat självförtroende, en påverkad relation och/eller svårigheter att träffa någon ny framkom. Sjukgymnastik, tydlig information från vården samt att utforska nya sätt att utöva sexualiteten till exempel med hjälp av sexleksaker och icke-penetrerande sex främjade den sexuella hälsan. Skamkänslor, nonchalans från vårdens sida samt bristande information upplevdes som försämrande faktorer. Det krävs en större öppenhet kring att tala om sexualitet inom vården samt en bättre samordnad och koordinerad vårdkedja i kombination med förbättrad information, utbildning och uppföljning. Sexuella hjälpmedel behöver lyftas och implementeras i vården. Barnmorskeledd utbildning av olika yrkeskategorier i att tala om sexuell hälsa kan vara av stor nytta. / Sexual health and sexuality are central factors in a woman's life world. Historically, the image of women's sexuality has been covered with various taboos, which are still reflected in society today. Perineal tears can lead to physical and psychological consequences that can affect a woman's sexual health. The midwife can help the woman to a better sexual health by having good knowledge about perineal tears. Support and information as well before as after childbirth can help increase the Sense of Coherence, SOC, and promote sexual health. Caritative care can contribute to alleviate suffering and use the suffering to generate motivation for change. Perineal tears can affect a woman's sexual health and thus her life world. The purpose of the study was to describe women's experiences of how their sexual health has been affected after they suffered from perineal tears. The study was conducted as a qualitative interview study with an inductive approach where 10 women were interviewed. The results show that perineal tears caused a limitation to women’s sexual freedom. Women experienced a deterioration in sexual health, but sometimes also an improvement when new aspects of sexual life emerge. However, the women felt restricted regardless of whether their sexual health had improved. Feelings of being broken, dirty and having affected self-confidence, affected relationships and/or difficulties meeting someone new emerged. Physiotherapy, clear information from healthcare and exploring new ways of exercising sexuality, for example with the help of sex toys and non-penetrative sex, promoted sexual health. Feelings of shame and nonchalant treatment from healthcare professionals as well as a lack of information were perceived as limiting. There is a need for greater openness in talking about sexuality in healthcare as well as a better coordinated chain of care in combination with improved information and follow-up. Sexual aids such as sex toys need to be lifted and implemented in care. Midwife-led training of various professional categories in talking about sexual health can be of great benefit.