I came across this bit of news yesterday: Royal Philips Electronics, the Dutch industrial giant that brings you everything from TVs, to MRI machines, to light bulbs, has decided to bet big on sex toys.
The company estimates that the worldwide sex toy business amounts to about $97 buh-buh-billion per year, which means an awful lots of people out there, mostly women, are turning to vibrators.

The company entered the market a year ago in Britain, according to Reuters report, and things went so swimmingly that it has now launched an “entry level” model for worldwide distribution. I’m not sure what constitutes an “entry level” vibrator — some sort of training wheel apparatus? — but that begs the question what an advanced model might include. Yikes!

Anyway, the reports stated that the toys will cost from about $100 to $214 and be better constructed than your typical vinyl Chinese import known more for breaking down at inopportune moments than for accomplishing the task at, um, hand. They are distributed by companies, often based in the San Fernando or Simi Valleys with names like “California Exotic Novelties.”

As that name implies, sex toys were not taken seriously for many years but all that’s changed. Philips is about as mainstream as you can get and it is promoting its new line with a health message. A U.K.-based sex therapist and relationships counselor, Paula Hall, who helped Philips design the new vibrators, argues in a Reuters quote that sex toys can “actually reduce the chances of getting cancer, heart diseases and lowers blood pressure.”
(There is some research that shows having sex and orgasms may help with blood pressure and that orgasms may — repeat may — add to life expectancy but I’m not aware of any research that shows it reduces cancer and the other supposed benefits of sex are still iffy.)

Funny how they felt the need to make that sort of claim rather than just saying that vibrators feel good and can be fun. I mean, nobody says Philips TVs or MP3 players boost anti-oxidants.

But if a little non-sybaritic justification helps improve the acceptability of sex toys, and if Philips pushes its new products, you are about to see actual, honest-to-God vibrators in your Encino and Woodland Hills Rite Aids, Costcos, and Best Buys.

Go ahead and leave a comment…Will you be a Philips customer??  Are you already contributing to the sex toy industry?

Journalist Brian Alexander is the author of America Unzipped and MSNBC.com’s Sexploration columnist.