LONDON – In yet another sign of the pending apocalypse, Good Housekeeping magazine — the housewife’s bible since 1885 —recruited a panel of 100 volunteers to test and review a select group of housewives’ best friends: vibrators.Sorry, American women: The testing and reporting was accomplished for the British edition of the ubiquitous magazine, first published in the UK in 1922.
The reviewers range in age from 30 to 65 and were tasked with rating each product on four criteria: ease of use, instructions, noise and — of paramount importance — satisfaction. The results will be published in the October issue, in a feature that will reveal the top five finishers.
According to the publisher, the ever-popular Rabbit vibe placed at No. 4, scoring 61 points out of a possible 100. An S-shaped model known as “Delight” finished in first place with a score of 74. It was followed by the “Bedside Bullet” and a “warming vibrator.”
Not surprisingly, 87 of the 100 reviewers admitted using a vibrator previously, and 52 percent revealed their husbands suggested they incorporate the devices into their bedroom adventures.
“Even though ‘Sex and the City’ has removed the ‘guilty’ tag from owning a sex toy, and it’s widely recognized that many young, single women own vibrators, our survey discovered that they’re just as popular among our readers,” Good Housekeeping Deputy Editor June Walton noted. “Only 13 percent of our testers were vibrator virgins.”
Ninety-five of the volunteer reviewers indicated women do not talk about sex toys often enough (even though most also said they purchase their products online to avoid in-person embarrassment at a store), and 84 percent said the test encouraged them to buy at least one of the vibrators they reviewed.
Good Housekeeping remained chaste until 2003, when the British edition published its first adult-oriented features about sex aids and internet porn.
