Pandemic affects peoples’ sexual activity in Brazil and around the world
For specialists, social isolation transformed the libido manifestation
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL — The pandemic, since it manifested itself on the planet, has transformed all aspects of society. From the financial sphere to that of coexistence and interpersonal relations, the reality imposed by the Coronavirus, previously unimaginable, is now becoming something concrete and routine.
However, one of the aspects of the social life that was transformed completely is the sexual. “When you are in social isolation, we do have a problem because I don’t have anyone new to put in that scenario. We can’t go out, we can’t have social coexistence. And for those who are married, the intense coexistence can get in the way because sex and desire presuppose a bit of admiration and space,” explains the writer and specialist in human behaviour, Gabriel Carneiro Costa.
Along with Costa, sexologist Mariana Farina, who believes the social isolation created a situation in which singles were prevented from finding sexual partners and people living with their partners, in turn, had to be together 24 hours per day. “The context changes, and so the libido has a new and unusual structure to manifest itself,” she explains.
In this way, people began to look for ways to reinvent and adapt their sexual activity to the new time imposed by the pandemic. And one of these alternatives was found in the acquisition of erotic products, something that was verified by the research “O Mercado Erótico e a Pandemia.”
Made by the expert in erotic marketing, Paula Aguiar, during the months of March and June and published on MercadoErótico.org, the research shows that there was a 50% increase in the sale of vibrators during the pandemic in Brazil.
With 124 shopkeepers in the erotic branch, the study identified that, in the period of its realization, the product category had sold a total of 1 million items. In the same period of time in 2019, the sales volume reached 500,000 units.
The data corroborates with the expectation of growth of the national erotic market, which provides an elevation of 4.12% in your recipe of 2020 in relation to the one that was reached in 2019, when the balance obtained was R$ 2 bi.
According to the expert in the erotic market Paula Aguiar, the quarantine has caused couples and singles to look inside themselves and to have more time for their own sexuality. “This obviously increased sexual contact and also generated a monotony. People started to fall into the routine after a certain time,” she says.
In this way, besides the erotic products, people started to search, by other means, new alternatives to get out of the monotony and, consequently, to be able to innovate in the relationship and be satisfied with the sexual activity.
For this reason, the Sexlog adult social media observed an increase in the numbers of subscribers in Brazil during the pandemic. From March, when the isolation measures started in the country, until the arrival of July, there was a jump of 5.3% in the volume of registrations, reaching 13.2 million. In the pre-pandemic period, that amount was 12.5 million.
But it wasn’t just the number of users that caused the company to observe a jump. According to the marketing director and spokeswoman for Sexlog, Mayumi Sato, the social media’s revenues expanded 20% compared to the period before the pandemic.
In addition, since March 15, the Sexlog team recorded a 30% increase in the number of photos and videos published per day, which represents an average of 13.5 images and 850 recordings in the period of 24 hours. And one of those responsible for these numbers is Janaína.
A social media user for five years, who has participated in a women’s threesome, she and her husband started to watch live feeds from other people and to make their own videos. According to Janaína, the couple has already performed a live of four hours of duration. “For me, I would do lives everyday! That has greatly increased my self-esteem and I feel very well!”
Another couple registered in Sexlog is Josias (48) and Cris (30). After 10 years of being in a relationship, it was decided that it was time to change up their sex routine. However, the registration on the social network was only eight months ago. Since then, the duo says they access the site every day. “Sometimes, we enter even more than once a day. But we do our lives at least once a week,” she says.
However, every relationship that is made via a virtual environment needs caution, be it professional, friendly or even, as is the case, sexual. That’s why Sexlog’s marketing director and spokesperson, Mayumi Sato, stresses that it’s important that people don’t get carried away by the excitement of the moment and reflect on the risks they’re willing to take before the act itself occurs, be it via text message, by sending photos or even in a live conversation.
If the reflection is on a positive conclusion, the next step is in regards to security and privacy in the virtual environment. According to Mayumi, Sexlog images cannot be downloaded or copied. Moreover, the social network allows the application of watermarks that identify who accesses each photo.
In addition to these initiatives, the social network has some basic rules such as not showing your face. Even so, there are people who choose to do so. “For those who make a point of showing themselves in full, it is necessary to go through a verification process, with the sending of personal documents, only then to receive a stamp that warns that that the profile is released,” explains Mayumi.
Whether or not you want to risk your privacy in the virtual environment to find pleasure, it is important to understand that the relationship that each one has with sex is something very particular. However, it is important to understand that the relationship between each other with sex is something very particular. For the writer and specialist in human behaviour Gabriel Carneiro Costa, just as one can find people who, in levels of anxiety and stress, seek in the sexual act a point to relieve tensions, it is possible to observe the opposite. “People with high anxiety and stress don’t want sex and lower their libido,” he explains.
That’s what an English researcher identified. Lee Smith, from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and one of the study leaders which had collected responses from 868 adults living in England, noted that the lower level sex activity can be explained due the fact that people are feeling anxious and stressed. Therefore, the analysis conclusion is that people are taking part in less sex during the pandemic.
In an attempt to rejuvenate in the relationship, therefore, the couples have to resort to other means to get out of the sameness. The research “O Mercado Erótico e a Pandemia” has detected that it is the couples themselves that are responsible for pull the sales of vibrators and consoles, representing 27.8% of the total users of this product category.
Although, the increase in sales of these items was not stimulated just by the couples. According to the expert in erotic market Paula Aguiar, the singles were concerned about the lack of sex and social contact too, holding 13.9% of sales of these products.
To get into the erotic market, however, the singles, whether a man or a woman, must break barriers of prejudice when choosing to consume erotic products. In the case of men, no matter how much they have more social permission to speak about their desire for sex, they don’t have the sexual permission to do something different.
Despite the research “O Mercado Erótico e a Pandemia” found that the male public holds 21.1% of the search sample for erotic objects, the writer and specialist in human behaviour Gabriel Carneiro Costa observes the men can also speak about innovations in the sexual scenario, but they don’t do much about them.
For him, the man doesn’t open up to make big fantasies. In relation to the female, Costa identifies that the social pressure in relation to women’s sexuality is even greater and problematic. One of the main reasons involves the sexual desire of women, who are often judged and slandered for expressing their desires. “So men and women suffer certain repression,” he concludes.
Regardless of whether or not it involves the sexual area, the fact is that the pandemic has transformed the society. The doubt that arises is about what she will leave of legacy and lesson. “For me, this pandemic is not a phase of reinvention. She is a phase of adaptation! All of us are finding a way to survive without dying , literally, by the disease, without dying financially and without dying emotionally,” reflects the writer and specialist in human behaviour.
