When you’re expecting, sex is either always on your mind or the very last thing. But whether you want to have sex or not, you may be asking yourself is it safe to use sex toys while I’m pregnant?

Rest assured, if your pregnancy is healthy and you haven’t been explicitly told not to by your doctor or healthcare provider, then you can feel free to have sex with or without toys. 

An avid reader, I prefer the way that the stories are told from a first-person perspective (the literary equivalent of POV porn). I love being able to read about how all the narrator’s senses are being engaged. 

As someone who was assigned female at birth and used to identify as a woman, I found it really refreshing to study pleasure from the point of view of a female narrator(more on womxn-centric porn later). 

To this day, I still love reading erotic stories. Being a part of someone’s fantasy in that way is so much more erotic than watching a bunch of body parts smush together on screen.

At last, I received my longed-after Lioness Vibrator in the mail and she’s been joining me on all kinds of research adventures since. I’ve always been an avid investigator by nature, but my new friend has certainly taken things up a notch—or five!

I set out to see what we could come up with solo—just the Lioness and me—as well as how she and my partner would get along, and in which different ways we could all play together.

The first rule of Masturbation Club is how you masturbate is up to you. Your body, your choice. 

And it’s true that masturbation looks very different for all of us; some of us may be pillow-humpers, some of us may enjoy penetrative sex toys, and some of us may just enjoy some spit and our own hands. 

The second rule, though, is masturbation can be fun when it’s mutual!

Before you ask, yes, mutual masturbation is different than having sex with a partner—even though it is just as fun! 

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is a more aggravated version of Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). PMS feels like bopping to an angsty No Doubt song on the radio, while PMDD feels like being trapped in a Hawthorne Heights screamo concert with no end in sight.

PMDD is a medical condition that causes severe irritability, anxiety, and depression in the week or two before your period(1). Symptoms subside 2-3 days after your period starts. An estimated 5-8% of women and AFAB (assigned female at birth) individuals have PMDD(2).

Those of us that have PMDD can thank our lucky stars that masturbating serves as a fun way to relieve symptoms.

Racing heart, shallow breathing, tensed muscles, and goosebumps. Sounds pretty sexy, right? Not always.

If we look closely, the physical symptoms of anxiety can overlap with some things we experience during sex and arousal. Though they share these physical experiences, anxiety and sex are not happy bedfellows. “Anxiety is a major contributor to diminishing frequency of sex and diminishing capacity for enjoyment of sex,” says Colorado-based certified sex therapist Indigo Stray Conger.

Let’s explore some of the more common ways anxiety can impact your sex life (and some tips to find let go and enjoy sex again!).

We talk a lot about the Lioness Vibrator and its capabilities. We’ve even mentioned how it can help you integrate your sexual health into your overall health in order to understand how the two are linked.

But getting started can feel daunting. How do you take what your Lioness shows you in the app and apply it to your sex life in real life? 

Using help from certified Sex Coach Amy Baldwin, we’ve compiled an easy to follow guide for how you can take improve your own understanding of your arousal and orgasms. 

Ah, weed lube. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by the promise of better orgasms?

I’ve spent the last seven years developing the Lioness Smart Vibrator, which uses biofeedback technology, precision sensors, and data to track orgasms. Of that time, I’ve spent three of those years conducting different projects studying the effects of cannabis on sexual function. Naturally, those two passions intersected into exploring how all sorts of cannabis strains and products can affect pleasure, both with myself and with different people.

That’s why I’m excited to share with you today a review of one of my favorite cannabis lubricants, Quim’s Oh Yes Latex-safe Serum. I’ll show you my orgasm data to show you what made this different compared to everything else I’ve tried.

While I can recognize the energizing power and benefits of a masturbation ritual, I can also see when I’ve become too dependent on it. Instead of finding time for workouts, meditation, or journaling, my masturbation habits carry all the weight of relieving my stress.

With quarantine forcing us to bring our workspace into our homes, it has been too easy to sneak off between Zoom calls to rub one out. I started to get antsy, irritable, and impatient throughout my workday. I had trouble concentrating because I was simply biding time until I could get my next fix.

Orgasms can be addictive when I don’t balance that out with other forms of self-care. I began to wonder what masturbation would look like when I’m not using it solely for stress-relief.

After my first foray with the Lioness Vibrator, there was no denying that orgasms were going to come easily. I lasted a whopping 2 mins and 49 seconds with the actual sex toy and found my original questions answered completely.

But masturbating with the Lioness goes beyond each session. Once I opened the app and synced my session, I found I had a few more questions!

So, like any good amateur Sexual Scientist would do, I took my questions straight to the source: Liz Klinger, CEO & Co-founder of Lioness.

Whether you’re interested in purchasing a Lioness, or have one in the mail on its way to you, I highly encourage reading through my questions before giving your own smart vibrator a whirl.