George Jeffery is on a mission to tackle people’s perception of sex toys.
The London-based entrepreneur has launched a gender-neutral sex toy company called Hicurious to change conversations around sexual pleasure and help make sex toys accessible and pleasurable to all.
“The idea for Hicurious came out of two things,” George tells HuffPost UK.
“Firstly, when I tried to shop for some toys myself, I realised that the way toys and, by extension, sexual pleasure are presented is actually more of a turn-off than it should be. It either felt really sleazy or impersonal, which doesn’t reflect how I, and I hope most people, feel about sexual pleasure.”
The second was the realisation that the practice of selling and labelling sex toys by gender was “self-defeating”.
“I’d like to think that getting off can be a creative experience and by saying to people ‘this isn’t for you’ the industry is really stifling some of that creativity,” George, who identifies as cisgender and prefers not to label sexuality, explains.
“Plus it doesn’t take into account the experiences of trans and non-binary people, who have as much of a right to pleasure as the rest of us.”
George admits he’s found himself deterred from buying toys in the past due to gender-based marketing, which is sad because he says toys have had a hugely positive impact on his sex life.
“I own some [sex toys], and use some, and I’ve found that they’re great,” he says. “It’s a great thing to find products that really accentuate pleasure and, in some cases, add to it in unexpected ways.”
Hicurious aims to sell “as many types of sex toy as possible”. George has spent some time looking for innovative items that could change the game in the bedroom (and beyond).
“There are lots of new manufacturers coming out at the moment who are doing really interesting things, and taking the market in all sorts of new directions,” he explains. “So we’re going to try to bring them to the forefront as much as possible.”
Products aren’t marketed as ‘toys for men’ or ‘toys for women’, instead they are categorised by body part, offering direction on how to use them.
Prices range from £30-£200 and can be shipped to the UK currently, however George plans to expand internationally in the future.
Discussing his hopes for Hicurious, George explains that the number one plan is to change the conversation around pleasure and make sex toys accessible to all.
“We’d like more people who identify as male to buy toys from us and experiment as a result,” he says. “We’d love to invite trans and non-binary folk into the conversation and make a space that’s really comfortable for them.
“And really, more than anything else, we’d like to take as much of the shame of buying and owning sex toys away.”
A spokesperson for relationships charity Relate said that inclusivity is important when it comes to sex toys. Sex therapist and head of service quality and clinical practice at Relate, Amanda Major, tells HuffPost UK: “Many people feel that sexual satisfaction is important to their wellbeing and sex toys can help to enhance sexual pleasure and intimacy.
“It’s a positive thing that the sex toy market is becoming more inclusive and moving beyond labelling products as either for men or women.
“Functionality is also important - what works for some people may not work for others, so it would be useful to have a variety of gender-neutral options available.”
Watch this space.