Rodale News

Researchers used data from online surveys after about 1,050 men and 2,056 women 18 to 60 years old answered questions regarding current and past vibrator use (with themselves or a partner) and sexual function. More than 52 percent of women said they had used a vibrator, with about a quarter of them have used one in the past month. Vibrator users scored highest on the sexual function questions, which included desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, pain, and overall function. Women who used vibrators were significantly more likely to have had a gynecologic exam during the past year and to have performed genital self-examination during the previous month.

Of the men questioned, nearly 45 percent said they had incorporated a vibrator into their sexual activities, with no significant difference in use by heterosexual men and gay and bisexual men. Men who reported using vibrators alone or with their partner were more likely to have participated in sexual-health-promoting behaviours, such as testicular self-exams.

WHAT IT MEANS: “It may be that women who use vibrators are more interested in, or attentive to, their sexual health both in terms of pleasure or in terms of care-seeking,” says Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion. “It may also be that women who use vibrators are women who simply are more comfortable touching their genitals or having them seen by a healthcare provider and that they happen to be more comfortable talking about their bodies and seeking such personal health care,” adds Herbenick

And, surprisingly enough, none of the study participants went blind and grew hair on their palms or knuckles either… 😉