Sex News Canada: ‘Historic Moment’ As Sex Workers Unionize, the Kinkiest City, Demand for Quiet Sex Toys & More

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“Maggie’s, Canada’s oldest sex worker organization based in Toronto, has become the first of its kind to unionize in the country under the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

“While the union only represents Maggie’s staff, Keller and other sex workers across Canada told VICE World News they hope the move sparks a nationwide trend. Ideally, sex workers say, unions make it possible for workers to collectively force employers to give them paid time off, paternity leave, and meaningful ways to address violations and abuses incurred on the job.” (via Anya Zoledziowski/Vice)

“Ever wondered how kinky your city really is? Lovehoney, one of the world’s leading online retailers of adult novelty products, launched an interactive sex map of Canada uncovering the steamiest secrets of over 1,933 towns from coast to coast, based on sexual desires, fantasies, and favourite toys. Most surprising of all, the ‘Kinkiest City in Canada’ can be revealed as Lions Bay, British Columbia—a quaint residential town that grabs the #1 spot in multiple categories including bondage and butt plugs. (via Lovehoney’s Sex Map of Canada)

“Matatas, a Canadian artist who hosts the anal sex-themed ‘The Plug Podcast’ trademarked the phrase back in 2015. Since then, she’s put it on coffee mugs, t-shirts, and a sex toy storage case. ‘Peg The Patriarchy’ has taken off enough that Matatas’s assistant regularly surveys sites like Etsy to fight infringements.

“Seeing the phrase at the Met Gala red carpet was a whole new level, especially as it made headlines and went viral. Arguably, the outfit was in service of more than just publicity for the model and entrepreneur: as Vice’s Samantha Cole points out, Delevingne is co-owner of the sex toy company Lora DiCarlo.”

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Luna Matatas (@lunamatatas)

“Companies around the world have reported dramatic spikes in sex toy sales since almost the beginning of the pandemic; according to The New York Times, Wow Tech Group, the parent company of We-Vibe and Womanizer, saw a 200-per-cent increase in online sales between April, 2019, and April, 2020.

“Similarly, the Los Angeles Times reported Lelo, the Stockholm-based luxury sex toy brand, saw a 60-per-cent rise in internet sales in March, 2020. And a 2021 study published in the Journal of Psychosexual Health notes that sales of sex dolls, lingerie and sex toys increased during COVID-19 lockdowns in Australia, Britain, Denmark, Colombia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, France, India, North America and Ireland, possibly due to the same panic buying impulse that prompted toilet paper hoarding.

“It’s not just that people are buying more sex toys – they’re after particular ones. Online sex toy seller Lovehoney says Canadians were particularly interested in quiet sex toys, which led to a 25-per-cent jump in sales of products such as the Whisper Quiet Classic Vibrator.” (via Stacey Lee Kong/The Globe and Mail)

“Student anger was palpable at the demonstration that pulled roughly 10,000 students and staff away from classes to the hill at the centre of campus. It capped a distressing first week of classes at Western, where a first-year student was killed and an investigation continues into rumours of a string of sexual assaults and allegations that young women were drugged during Orientation Week celebrations.

“’I would go as far as saying sexual violence is an epidemic on campuses,’ said Sara Ahmed, president of a sexual assault research group and a member of King’s University College student council. ‘Taking advantage of freshman women in particular is tradition on campuses during this time . . . Let’s teach everyone how not to rape, instead of teaching girls how not to get raped.’”

Image source: Neil Jennings/Flickr



Author: Jenna Owsianik
Jenna Owsianik is a Canadian sexual health journalist and sextech business advisor. She is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Sex For Every Body®, an adult sex ed publication that celebrate sexual and body diversity. From 2014 to 2022, she was Editor-in-Chief of FutureofSex.net, the world’s leading publication on how technology is changing human sexuality, today and tomorrow. A trained journalist with a Masters of Journalism from The University of British Columbia, Jenna’s reporting has appeared on Futurism.com, Al Jazeera English, CTV British Columbia online, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS 60 Minutes, Global News, and CKNW Radio in Canada and the United States.

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