LELO Mona: Elegant Instrument of Pleasure!
It’s rechargeable, which means you plug it in for a while to charge the toy, then it will go unassisted for hours. No cords or batteries to fuss with while you’re concentrating on your sensations. Yes, the Mona is expensive. It’s a luxury toy: beautifully designed, easy to hold and a pleasure to use, made of medical-grade materials, velvety smooth, quiet, with six modes of stimulation and a variety of intensities. If you can afford to give yourself a special gift of pleasure, go fot it. Or direct a generous friend to this review!
Orgasm Inc.: stunning expose of drug for fake disease
I just saw the film Orgasm Inc. You must see it. It’s a powerful expose of the medicalization of female sexuality, specifically the development and marketing of female sexual enhancement drugs based on a made-up “disease”: Female Sexual Dysfuncton (FSD). The “disease” was created by drug companies so that they could sell drugs and procedures that have not been proven to work and have not been proven safe!
Filmmaker Liz Canner was hired by one of these drug companies, and what she learned was so apalling that she went on to make this expose. I was stunned by it. Some of the reviews call it funny. Though there were some hilarious moments, the aftertaste isn’t funny.
How did the drug companies invent a disease? They asked women questions designed to unearth if they ever had trouble becoming aroused or reaching orgasm (duh, who hasn’t?) and labeled those dysfunctional who said yes to any of the questions. Although women’s sexual responses are complex and based on relationship, health, energy, worries, other medications, and emotional issues as well as physical function, these issues were neither addressed nor ruled out.
The result: a new dysfunction and a drug to address it, both of which were then promoted by highly paid health “experts” on TV news and talk shows. I’m itching to name a visible, well-known “expert” who — although she denied any financial interest in the drug — was paid $75,000 a day for her media appearances on Oprah and other shows. You’ll see her identified in the film.
Below is one video clip — see the official trailer here (I couldn’t embed that one).
6/7/10 update: When I wrote this post a few days ago, Orgasm Inc. was available on Amazon, and today when I checked it, it has disappeared from the listings. This is odd indeed. I’ll keep checking for its return. It is listed on Netflix, but the available date is unknown, as a reader commented. How frustrating — I really want you to be able to see it. I’ll update the info when this changes — keep checking back.
Cloud 9: German film takes risks portraying senior sex and love
Inge (brilliantly acted by Ursula Werner) has sex with her husband (Horst Rehberg), with herself, and several times with her lover (Horst Westphal). The film is graphic by US standards — you see all three characters’ naked bodies, both during lovemaking and just standing or sitting. The film seems to say, “These are the bodies we wear all day, so what’s the big deal? Why hide them?” The sex scenes are tender and erotic, and I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed them.
I have to applaud this film, not only for its refreshing and realistic treatment of senior sex and love, but because they didn’t make Inge an aging sex bomb. Rather, she’s a plain, frumpy woman with a chunky body and pendulous breasts, who sings in a choir and never seems to comb her hair. She’s not beautiful by any means, but she is radiant when she’s sexually turned on — which happens throughout the film — or laughing.
I’m skirting around the plot details because I don’t want to spoil it. Please see it. I welcome your comments (but please don’t give away the ending.)
You won’t find this film in your local movie listings, but Netflix has it, and so does Amazon
Little Chroma: tiny, elegant, and waterproof
The Little Chroma claims that although it has only one vibrational intensity, it’s the only one you need. I don’t go along with “one speed fits all” any more than “one size fits all,” but it is a very nice intensity, despite being powered by just one AA battery. I’m spoiled by my super-strong vibrators, but this one is stronger than I expected — maybe a 4 out of 5. The motor is replaceable should it give out after many uses, so although the price is hefty, you’ll get a lifetime of pleasure from it.
Here’s what I expecially like about my Little Chroma:
- It’s beautiful. It’s slim, designed to please the eye and hand as much as the pleasure spots it touches.
-
It’s made of aluminum and holds temperature well. So if you like it cold, as I do (is that weird?), or hot, you can warm or cool it first under running water.
-
It’s very smooth, feels splendid against tender tissues.
-
If you want to use it in your vagina and you are one of the many women our age who experience vaginal tightness, this can be a lovely way to re-open up an arena of pleasure.
-
The slim design makes it perfect for clitoral stimulation during partner intercourse — it won’t get in the way.
-
It’s small enough to travel with you, even in a purse.
-
It’s waterproof!
Although other reviewers have said this toy is silent, I didn’t find it so. It’s much quieter than most vibrators, yes–just a subdued hum–but it would probably wake up a lightly sleeping partner, if that’s your concern.
It’s always recommended to remove batteries when a toy isn’t in use, to prevent the toy from accidentally turning on and wearing itself out. I don’t usually bother to do that, but I certainly have to remove the battery from this one, because the vibrator turns on just by closing the cap. There’s no on-off switch — no controls at all, in fact. Open is off; closed is on. (That’s why the cap is partially unscrewed in the photos; otherwise it would be buzzing away.) That’s not a bad thing — the tight seal and lack of seams make it waterproof.
It’s also sturdy, despite its delicate look. I was testing it in the shower, and accidentally dropped it. It buzzed away on the floor until I picked it up without missing a beat. Of course I don’t recommend dropping it on a hard surface, but I was pleased that I did no damange.
Many thanks to Eden Fantasys for sending me this lovely toy to review.