South Africans love sex toys, a new survey says.
Online adult shop Désir commissioned a survey of 700 people after finding that South Africans had the third-highest search volume for sex toys in the world, according to Google searches.
"We quickly realised that something had to be done. So, a few months ago Désir set out on a crusade to answer those lingering questions on sex toy attitudes and use — the likes, the loves, the ugly truths — it's all revealed in the largest sex toy industry survey ever conducted in the South Africa," said the shop in the results announcement.
"Some 76.7 percent of our respondents indicated that they have in fact used a sex toy in their lives, with 23.3 percent of the group stating they have never used one at all."
The survey found that South Africans don't like to talk about sex. "Our sex toy users indicated that 49.2 percent of them have sex multiple times a week, 23.8 percent do it 1-5 times a month, with 6 percent doing it daily, and 21 percent of them not doing it enough."
The survey found that the main reason for not using sex toys was ignorance about what options were available, while most South Africans who use sex toys are doing so to "spice up" their sex lives. "The majority of South African sex toy users (40.9 percent) use their toys regularly or often, followed by 26.6 percent using them 1-5 times a month, 19.6 percent of people using them on special occasions only and 12.9 percent using them at least once a week."
Couples frequently use sex toys together. Most people surveyed reportedly preferred to do their sex toy shopping online, and the vibrator remains the trusted favourite among sex toys users.
The Times quoted Désir CEO Brodie Meyer saying there was still much shame around sexuality in South Africa and that that needed to change.