Most vibrators, dildos and “love dolls,” for instance — especially the soft, pliable “jelly” type — use some form of plastic. In an effort to make the materials softer and more lifelike, PVC plastics suppliers incorporate one or more members of a family of compounds called phthalates (FAY-lates). To hear some environmentalists tell it, using a vibrator that includes phthalates is akin to bathing in DDT. Alarmed, some sex toy retailers, most prominently San Francisco-based Good Vibrations, are banning toys that include phthalates. But to hear the chemical industry tell it, phthalates are about as benign as mountain spring water. So what is a sex toy consumer to do?
Phthalates are used in perfumes, hair sprays, plastic raincoats, carpet backing, paints, medical devices and many other items. They are responsible for that “new car smell,” which goes to show you how much plastic is used in cars.
Now they are showing up in people. As the fact of new car smell indicates, phthalates “off-gas,” meaning that they escape from the plastic in the form of a gas. So we breathe them. They also can escape their bond with the plastic by seeping out in an oily film, and we can absorb this through our skin, our mouths, our mucous membranes. A 2004 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of urine samples from 2,540 people ages 6 and older found phthalate metabolites (what’s left after our bodies chew it up) in more than 75 percent of the subjects.
Concern over phthalates has created a quiet revolution in the sex toy business. Fueled by Internet chatter and some media stories , sex toy consumers are asking questions of store owners and managers.
“When you open a jelly toy that reeks you have a visceral response to it,” says Anne Semans, marketing director of Babeland, a chain of sex shops based in Seattle. “And people say ‘Well, why take a chance?’” Semans says that in lieu of reliable expert opinion, the employees try to educate consumers about the ingredients of toys and point out alternative options, but leave the ultimate decisions to shoppers. Given the preference some consumers have for the jelly-style toys, she says, there are no plans to ban phthalate-carrying items from the shelves.
Not so at Good Vibrations. Since 1994, Good Vibrations has recommended the use of a condom over many phthalate-containing toys not only because of the phthalates, but because they can be difficult to clean, and has decided to phase out the material.
Options
One of the most popular alternative materials is silicone. Not only are silicone toys phthalate-free, but surgical grade silicone is dishwasher safe and practically indestructible. Still, there is a downside.
Phthalate-containing materials are used not only because they can be soft and pliable, but because they are cheap. Toys using them tend to be on the low end of the price scale. Silicone toys can be expensive by comparison because they can be difficult to manufacture and the material costs more. Tantus, a California-based company, for example, makes a wide range of high quality silicone toys. But vibrator prices start at around $50 and run up to $116.
“In two years’ time, there will be fewer products with phthalates on the market,” Longhurst predicts. “But there will still be a demand for the cheap-and-cheerful jelly vibrators and dildos. Manufacturers and retailers that are progressive and who want to improve will phase out use of phthalates. There are plenty of better alternatives.”
Lack of oversight
Regardless of how the debate over phthalates works out, there is an interesting side story about how consumers of sex toys have taken the initiative. There is no government oversight of sex toys because, officially, sex toys aren’t meant to be used on people — they're “novelties.” So neither the Environmental Protection Agency nor Food and Drug Administration has any oversight of their marketing or manufacture. And there seems to be no official research by government or universities on sex toy manufacturing or ingredients. Because of this, there’s no way to be sure how much of the chemical there is in a particular sex toy.
Both manufacturers and retailers, and probably most sex toy consumers, like not having the oversight for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that nobody wants to give the government any control over sex. So sex toy consumerism exists in a parallel universe, trying to find its own way. Now that it is dealing with a science question, though, it is faced with the need to conduct some research.
So the non-profit Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco is about to launch its own testing program with the aid of chemists. Whether or not it will arrive at any reliable answers remains to be seen, but the move, and the larger discussion about the quality of sex toys, shows average consumers are not just willing to talk about vibrators and dildos — still illegal in some places, like Alabama — they are now demanding quality from adult toys just as they do from toys intended for their children.
