started with famous HBO’s series Sex and the City (1998-2004) which normalized casual sex and popularized sex toys and vibrators for an entire generation of women. According to Report Buyer, by 2024 the global sexual wellness market (including above mentioned sex toys) is projected to grow to $39bn. Link: Sexual Wellness Market – Global Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025

Sex and the City

We can see the highest demand in countries like the US, China, the UK, Japan, and Germany, that comes hand by hand with increase in online sales (particularly, via Amazon). On the surface it looks like women have become more liberated and empowered but many authors and scientists insist it contributes to sexism.

Young women who engaging in sexual relations in 2020 are expected to be savvy in a variety of sexual behaviors and practices, hold their partner’s orgasm in higher regard than their own and even enhance their desirability to men by faking they can reach it quickly and efficiently. Global hit that popularized BDSM Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) is another example of the “mainstreaming” of sex, in other words, on how sexual imageries previously considered obscene became norm in within media culture.

In her book “Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualisation of Western Culture” (2009) Prof of Cultural studies in Middlesex University Feona Attwood analyzes this curious Western phenomena. Read more about Feona and her research. 

Canadian sexologist, neuroscientist, and Playboy columnist Dr Debra Soh received her doctorate from York University in Toronto but left the academic research field to become a journalist and debunk the myths about the science of human sexuality and gender, and censorship in academia: she is worried about the misuse of science for political purposes and writes a lot of non-fiction, feminism-gender stuff about her concerns.

This book is a valuable, research-based and timely-written work on complex issues of sex and gender in the Anglo-Saxon world. While not supporting the conservative views on sex and gender identity, armed by science and facts the author also opposes extreme gender activists.

Take a sneak peek on her book and her opinions on pornography and porn addiction by watching the following YouTube podcast with Joe Rogan

You can follow Dr Soh on Twitter at @DrDebraSoh and visit her at DrDebraSoh.com.