Brazil sees an increase of 90% in inflatable doll sales during the pandemic
The male public, who is responsible for this scenario, paradoxically lives another problem: the growth of sexual disorders
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL — During the pandemic, inflatable doll sales increased 90% in Brazil. That’s according to a survey, “Homem & Sextoys: Dicas de Saúde e Prazer Sexual Masculine”, by the sex shop retailer Exclusive Sex. Completed in October, the study collected the participation of 21 Brazilian stores in the erotic sector.
The analysis made by the retailer found that there were a total of 294 inflatable dolls sold in 2020, against 87 in the past year. “This product segment was already used. The inflatable dolls only became more accessible,” said the sexologist and couple psychotherapist, Lelah Monteiro.
That fact contributed to an intense search for inflatable dolls in the pandemic. However, the product wasn’t the only one that had good sales in that period. The same study identified another erotic object also had big popularity amongst men during the isolation time.
According to the verification made by Exclusiva Sex, another sex toy that was widely searched by men is the masturbator. At the peak of the pandemic, the logist sold 70 of these objects in 24 hours. As a whole, since March, the sales of this item had an increase of 61% in Brazil.
Since the start of social isolation proposed by the Federal Government, it has been seven months. In that time, the routine not only of Brazilians but worldwide, was reorganized to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Even so, the search for masturbators continues high because of the people’s fear in relating. “The vast majority single, as incredible as it may seem, after the pandemic, wants to leave and go to pubs and restaurants. However, they still have fear of relating,” said the sales director of Exclusiva Sex, Camila Gentile.
The pandemic ended up bringing changes in the lifestyle and in people’s behaviour. And the act of connecting to one another is just one inside this wide scope of transformations brought by the Coronavirus. Since Covid-19, sex also had changes in the way how it is viewed and exercised.
Through social isolation as a way to prevent Covid-19, casual sex started to be rethought. And the use of imagination, popularly known as sexual fantasy, started to be explored more. And a inflatable doll, for example, could be a sexual partner, even in a casual way, and with a big advantage: no risk of becoming infected, said the sexologist and BAHESTP (Brazilian Association of Health, Education and Sexual Therapy Professionals) president, Paulo Tessarioli.
Objects such as inflatable dolls and masturbators are only one indiction of the male interest in sex toys during the pandemic. But the study identified that this reality is not a result only of social isolation. After all, the purchase of erotic products by men increased, in Brazil, by30% in the last five years.
Nowadays, itis possible to see that men understand that the use of erotic products has the purpose of improving the relationship between two persons. “I believe that the increase in the consumption of erotic products by the male public is assigned by the fact that the man passed for a radical change in thinking. Now, for example, there are men who aim for female pleasure,” said Camila Gentile.
Women, in turn, also searched for more sex toys during the pandemic. Between the months March and May, the research “O Mercado Erótico e a Pandemia”, identified an increase of 50% in searches for vibrators by women. This scenario shows, therefore, that the pandemic also ended up affecting libido.
During the pandemic, we had to learn how to live in social isolation. But not just that. In this period, people discovered other ways to feel pleasure. “From that situation, many people found themselves in the masturbation, a sexual practice discouraged by a pseudoscience that insists on perpetuating sexual myths and taboos, something that is very bad to sexuality”, said Paulo Tessarioli.
However, it was not just the masturbation that was discovered in times of pandemic. Since the beginning of the conflict against the coronavirus, the Brazilian medical community has seen an increase in the number of appointments for men with sexual disorders, such as erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation.
The causes of these diagnostics can be many, after all. And one thing the pandemic raised in people was stress. But there was another reason for these symptoms. “Both disorders have a psychological origin and present a strong relation with anxiety, being caused or even aggravated by her,” explained urologist and andrologist Paulo Esteves.
Although these conditions affect men from adolescence to old age, Esteves said it was clear there was an increase in young adults under the age of 40 who were concerned about sex dysfunction.
The question about sex dysfunction is another tip of the spectrum related to male sexual health. After all, what the increase of the searches for masturbators and inflatable dolls by men showed was a bigger acceptance that men have started to have in relation of the use of sex toys. “See this event as something positive, because it helps to deconstruct the myth that men know everything about sex,” opines Tessarioli.
