Sex Toys on TV - Sometimes They Get it Right and Sometimes.....
I'm always very happy and super-interested when sex toys suddenly turn up in the tv shows I'm watching. Sometimes, as in the case of the first episode of Easy, they get it so right. But often, as in the case of the show I just started watching, Trinkets, they get it soooo wrong.
Trinkets is a new Netflix show about three high-school aged young women who form a bond around their shared love of shoplifting. I used to facilitate groups for women who shoplift and now I own a store where people occasionally shoplift, so I figured this would be right up my alley. Besides the fact that, once again, 17 year olds are being played by 23 and 24 year olds, and they seem to be able to get into bars with no problem whatsoever, it started out well. It has some interesting character development and its got an angle, the whole shoplifting thing, that I haven't seen before. I thought it might be okay.
I had high hopes when the characters walked into the sex shop - even though stealing in a sex shop isn't terribly amusing to me. But they totally blew it.
They were on the right track when the one who is less experienced outed herself as such by picking up a vibrating cock ring and suggesting her girlfriend might like it. The other two made fun of her lack of knowledge and explained to her that it's a vibrating cock ring, not much good unless there's a cock around, unless you're planning on putting it on a dildo. Character development, and a bit of sex and toy education all rolled into one.
BUT THEN - they opened up a display case and picked up a Lelo Sona. They told the less experienced one that if she really wanted something for her or her girlfriend, this was it. Lelo Sona, if you're not familiar, is a knock off of the Womanizer. It is a clit sucking toy. These types of toys, not the Lelo Sona, but the ones Lelo attempted to copy, the Womanizer and the Satisfyer, are amazing. But I usually don't recommend them as a first toy. They are super intense and very specific. They work best for those who have had a chance to get to know their body a bit and best, I think, for people who've already played with vibrators.
I was willing to forgive this. Perhaps, I thought, these two more experienced ones already know that and they are suggesting this based on their experience (although Lelo Sona is $99 CAD so not likely something a 17 year old would purchase for themselves, but then again, these young women shoplift a lot so........). They steal two of the Sona demos. These are rechargeable toys! They are not going to get a lot of use out of it before it dies and can't be used again. Not a very smart move. But then again, people steal rechargeable demos from my store so......
Lelo Sona - not a vibrator!
Anyway, I digress. As I said, I was willing to forgive the questionable choice of toy and the boosting of a toy that needs a charger. I thought I would give the writers a chance and see where they were going. Maybe this scene was meant to show that they aren't as worldly and smart as they think they are. This seemed to be the case when the first young woman showed the Sona to her boyfriend and suggested they use it together. You certainly can use these kinds of toys with a partner - you can use any toy with a partner - but these are really better as solo toys. If she wanted to introduce toys to this guy, a simple inexpensive bullet would have been a better way to go. If we are operating on the premise that she has some toys experience already, she probably would have known that. But they didn't talk about the choice of toy, or show anything about it at all. The scene was about her having a toy, not about the kind of toy she chose.
In the next scenee, the less experienced young woman is in her bedroom and you see her get an idea and reach into the jacket pocket where she hid the Sona she stole. The camera pans away off outside her window and you hear the sound of a vibrator. Yes, a vibrator!! A loud, buzzy vibrator! The Sona is not a vibrator!! It doesn't make that noise!
I was willing to give this show the benefit of the doubt - to give the producers some credit and assume that there were good reasons for their choice of toy. There weren't. This was just a case of them not knowing or caring anything about sex toys and just assuming a toy is a toy. I know, most people are not sex toy geeks like me. I know a lot of people won't care. But it takes so very little to get this right. They could have chosen any vibrator. Why did they have to chose a toy that's not even a vibrator? Perhaps Lelo paid for a product placement on this show. But if that's the case, why could they not have used any one of the many, many vibrators that Lelo makes?
This could have been a very good scene. With just a little more care and attention, they could have made the points I think they were trying to make. But passing this toy off as a vibrator when it most definitely is not just took me out of the whole thing. I'm so disappointed now, I'm not sure I'll continue to watch the show. If they can't get their sex toys right, how can I trust they'll get anything else right?