If you’ve ever read my blog before, you know I love sex toys. This past weekend at the Adult Entertainment Expo (yes, I’m still not done talking about it), I got to both moderate a panel on the future of the sex toy industry and participate in a panel on $ex Ed. What a lucky goyle…

Because of this, I’ve decided to write down a few things I’ve learned from the first panel about the sex toy industry (you can read a lot about the $ex ed panel here):

• When it comes to sex toys, green just isn’t sexy, but purple and pink are.
• The we-vibe far outsold any other sex toy this year. I think it’s because the couples market is exploding right now and the toy is just that good.
• Besides the couples industry, the toy industry is taking off for men - gay, straight and everywhere else on the Kinsey scale. You may know this already, because I wrote this post on gadgetry for guys just last week.  Part of the reason is that the prostate is a hot topic and the whole penis is an even hotter market for creativity and technology right now. Aneros (check out this great price for their MGX toy) was a trendsetter in the field years ago, and the market for the love of penis has grown so much that I can’t stop talking about it.
• It’s important to support small, local companies making quality products. It’s scary when big companies like Trojan are getting more and more into the sex toy market because the see potential for the industry to generate 1 billion dollars a year for them (condom sales make them only a “measly” 450 million). Support products from companies like Ohmibod, njoy and Je Joue that are in this to make money, sure, but they also care about your pleasure more.
• On that same note, it’s imperative to support local sex shops like The Pleasure Chest that are providing a community service by offering free classes to all. Education, sex education, which we talked more about on my other panel (read about it here), is a course that doesn’t stop once you’re done with school, with dating or even with the act of sex. Sexuality is something we all must continue to develop around, whether we masturbate, procreate or choose celibacy and abstinence.

I learned so much more over the course of the weekend, but for now, that’s all you’re going to get. Happy Hump Day!