NEW YORK—To further normalize and break the stigma around masturbation, as well as the sex toy industry, sexual wellness brand Lelo has launched a petition to Unicode to create a sex toy emoji.
Lelo is asking for support by signing the petition via Change.org. The goal is to reach 1 million signatures in time for the submission of the petition next year.
In 2021, the pleasure market was valued at USD 34.95 billion and is expected to rise to 75 billion by the end of the decade.
More importantly, the rise in the use of sex toys points to the changing attitudes towards pleasure and sexual wellness and the effect it has on mental health and overall wellness. Various Lelo surveys revealed:
• 78 percent of people own a sex toy as of 2024, the number almost doubling when compared to pre-pandemic.
• The share of men and women buying sex toys is 49:51.
• 84 percent of women own at least one sex toy, 55 percent of those are clitoral stimulators.
• Europeans buy more sex toys than Americans.
• Three out of four agree that sex toys and masturbation are still a taboo in society.
• Sex toy owners are 45 percent more likely to report that they are happy with their sex life.
• 98 percent agree that an orgasm causes the biggest surge of happiness naturally.
• There are numerous articles online about the benefits of masturbation, summarizing the pros of the practice.
Earlier surveys conducted by Lelo on the use of emoji revealed that:
• 76 percent of respondents say that they use emojis when communicating about sex.
• Half of those participating in the survey use emojis regularly, not just for sexting.
• The most popular ones are water droplets.
• 54 percent agree there should also be an emoji for safe sex and sex toys.
"No matter how much we have all started paying attention to our bodies and minds, there's a worrying trend concerning sexual wellness. It is the silence. We can talk about supplements, about mental health, but at the same time dread talking about masturbation. Both in the context of self-care, and the context of pleasure!" Lelo CMO Luka Matutinovic said. "This also makes masturbation incredibly difficult to study. People get increasingly uncomfortable with disclosing such personal and intimate details of their lives. As a sexual wellness brand, Lelo is acutely aware of the lack of conversation surrounding the topic of masturbation.
"And the ability to talk about sexuality in every medium is essential when it comes to personal wellbeing. This prompted Lelo to submit an official application to Unicode to create the first official sex emoji and now we want to take this cause even further and petition for the creation of the sex toy emoji," Matutinovic added. "For us sexual wellness goes beyond just making the best possible products. For us, sexual wellness is also spearheading this cause for the entire industry and general public, creating spaces and tools for unencumbered sexual expression. It is said that shame disappears when you create safe spaces for stories to be told. We would like to add that having adequate words or substitutions for words, like an emoji, further helps erase the shame. It is because of this that the next milestone in fully liberating the discourse on sex is this sex toy emoji."
