“Remember back in the mid-1970s, when women’s groups would hand out little plastic speculums and we’d all get together and examine ourselves and each other?” I asked a girlfriend my age the other day. We laughed. “What we were thinking?” Oh, we young feminists were so earnest as we gazed into one another’s nether regions.
It sounds so odd and anachronistic today, but back then, women were just getting to know our bodies; our Bible was the book, “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” Boomer women, do you remember? We were explorers of a foreign terrain, encouraged to take responsibility for our own pleasure and to know our bodies well enough to do it ourselves. A girlfriend from college gave me my first vibrator as a birthday gift and I finally had my first orgasm. Before then, it was all boys stumbling around down there trying to figure it out. After? It was “oohhh, I get it!”
Fast forward 40 years: sex toys are an established industry and sex shops can be found everywhere. Instead of hairy-legged women getting together pretending to be gynecologists, we have “pleasure parties” where we can check out the latest in toys and lingerie. Now, we have our favorite toys and can wax eloquent on the difference between a battery-operated vibrator and an electrically powered wand. I have my preference, how about you?
I’ve celebrated National Masturbation Month before in this very space and couldn’t let the month end without a mention.
As you know, I’m not a fan of the current need to say clitoris, penis and vagina every five minutes just because you can. But I am a big fan of masturbation and think it should be done often and well. When I read Boomer blogger Walker Thornton’s post on masturbation and saw this, I laughed in agreement:
… if you’re single and in a dating relationship with a guy who can’t really figure out how to pleasure you, you might just dump him and buy yourself a new sex toy. I’ve had better sex with myself then some of the men I’ve found myself in bed with. And, when you’re done—wash up, put it in the back of the drawer and get on with your daily life!
Indeed! So, National Masturbation Month is half over, girls. Time’s a wastin’!
Oh, and if you’re anywhere near San Francisco, ever, check out Good Vibrations flagship store, that includes a little vibrator museum. Yes, women have employed vibrators for way longer than our lifetimes. As the saying goes, where there’s a will….right?
Uh, no. Don’t remember speculum parties. Must not have had them in Winter Haven…or Tampa. Do recall the delightful scene in “Fried Green Tomatoes” where the ladies were sent to the bathroom with a mirror to examine their own vaginas.
Next time you visit, which I hope is soon, we should take a ride up to the Good Vibe store and museum. Or we could go to Amsterdam and visit the Sex Museum, which is a kick. But maybe that’s too far. xoxo
Well, helllloooo, ladies! We definitely should not be afraid to embrace our sensuality – and we deserve to be happy in our nether regions! And we shouldn’t be afraid or embarrassed to talk about it either, god knows men aren’t! Thanks for the post Carol!
I’m sad to that month is over. Masturbation is a wonderful thing one can do for themselves. I also think that understanding how my body works has helped me teach a man or two.
[…] prior posts on National Masturbation Month, posts that have actual words and not just images, go HERE and HERE … even though where masturbation is concerned, a picture really IS worth a […]
[…] Here are a few of my past posts on sex and menopause education. I write about comedian Kathy Griffin’s take on the ‘pause HERE. And then, National Masturbation Month in 2013 is handled HERE. […]
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Uh, no. Don’t remember speculum parties. Must not have had them in Winter Haven…or Tampa. Do recall the delightful scene in “Fried Green Tomatoes” where the ladies were sent to the bathroom with a mirror to examine their own vaginas.
Next time you visit, which I hope is soon, we should take a ride up to the Good Vibe store and museum. Or we could go to Amsterdam and visit the Sex Museum, which is a kick. But maybe that’s too far. xoxo
Heck yes I remember speculum parties! And yes, vibrators were a revelation!
Thank goodness someone else remembers!!! LOL
“HALF OVER”?! Man, I’ve got A LOT of catching up to do in May!
So true. I have a blog about my vibrator coming up next week!
Well, helllloooo, ladies! We definitely should not be afraid to embrace our sensuality – and we deserve to be happy in our nether regions! And we shouldn’t be afraid or embarrassed to talk about it either, god knows men aren’t! Thanks for the post Carol!
I’m sad to that month is over. Masturbation is a wonderful thing one can do for themselves. I also think that understanding how my body works has helped me teach a man or two.
I absolutely love the concept of masturbation month.