Pleasure economy | Sex, toys and the million-buck feeling

Filmmaker Paromita Vohra’s website Agents of Ishq has been talking about all things pleasure, and safe sex, through articles, podcasts and videos since 2015. Vohra shares an interesting, holistic view on sexual wellness.

“Sex is part of being human and to ignore or feel ashamed of a part of your human self can only damage your sense of self. Further, sexuality is intertwined with ideas about gender, caste, and class. A conversation about sexual wellness is necessarily a conversation about respect, consent, acceptance and openness. It means we are moving towards being integrated beings and that gives us the capacity to treat others that way too. Mental health and sexual health impact each other and embracing our sexual nature is part of embracing our full selves,” she tells CNBC-TV18.

Leeza Mangaldas, a popular social media influencer, also goads her followers to ‘imagine a world where all sexual experiences are consensual, safe and pleasurable’.

The company IMBesharam went live in India in 2013 with Sunny Leone as its brand ambassador. Bangalore-based Love Treats is also among the first homegrown portal in the country for pleasure toys. Mumbai-based MyMuse, which traces its origin story to the Lockdown days, is quite popular for discreet delivery of sex toys. And now, TTK Healthcare too has launched MsChief, a dedicated pleasure brand for women.

Niche brands may have been launched but a lot of talk on the subject still hinges on euphemisms. “The biggest reinforcement that this was something we needed in India were the conversations we were having with people, in particular women, who were telling us that they want to be able to at least access products easily without hiding or having an awkward experience at a pharmacy. It was clear that people were changing their own attitudes and unlearning a lot of long-held stereotypes,” shares Anushka Gupta, co-founder of MyMuse.

“The sexual wellness landscape has changed a lot over the years in India. The taboo on the subject is being broken. Mentions of the phrase ‘sexual pleasure’ on Twitter grew six-fold between 2018 and 2021, as per a report. Among podcasts, The Sex Podcast by Leeza Mangaldas was the most listened to last year. An increasing number of big-screen films, TV series and web series are being written and produced around the subject, year upon year. Interestingly, we have even observed that retailers in the traditional trade segment are catching up with the growing demand for ‘sexual pleasure’ and a greater willingness to talk about it,” says Vishal Vyas- AVP Marketing, TTK Healthcare.

Vyas further points out, “Bedroom pleasure is now becoming accepted as an important aspect of general well-being, regardless of gender. Also, it isn’t considered unbecoming of a woman to be sexually assertive and expressive about what gives her pleasure anymore.”

Raj Armani, founder of IMBesharam, looks back at this decade-long experience in the sector as he points out, “Post-pandemic, we noticed a major shift in acceptance and perceptions. Starting from movies and shows on TV, we were introduced to vibrators and it was OK for a housewife to want to try pleasure gadgets, for wedding gifts to include sex toys and for various celebrities and artistes to talk about their sexuality and preferences when it comes to sex toys.”

Urban women could be getting more expressive, even retailers may be catching up with the term but discretion still remains a prime keyword, with most women placing intimate pleasure orders online.

“We’ve built a brand that is sensitive towards cultural context and people’s needs. Even our own identity is more subtle yet playful in the right ways. Our packaging system is also designed such that the outside is quite non-descript, sleek and minimal but on the inside – there is a pop of colour, whimsy and delight. When the customers open the package, we want to ensure that they celebrate and enjoy this. It isn’t something to shy away from. It’s about maintaining a balance between celebrating the product but also being respectful of people’s needs,” explains Gupta.

TTK Healthcare says its portal has captured the imagination of pleasure seekers and MsChief is certainly in the spotlight on the website, for now.

IMBesharam is perhaps the least discreet brand out there in terms of its online presence but that only helps distinguish it from the crowd. Regardless, when it comes to delivery of products, IMBesharam promises utmost discretion too.

Even as there is a consensus that it has become significantly less sleazy and uncomfortable shopping for sexual wellness products, the Pleasure Economy is decidedly in its nascent stages. Social media numbers are easier to access than actual sales information.

Although social media figures are not entirely compelling indicators of the Pleasure Economy’s growth considering most people are rather reserved about making any public validations about their sex lives, Mangaldas’ 9,09,000-odd Instagram followers make a suitable statistic.

MyMuse co-founder Sahil Gupta shares, “We’ve been surprised by the kind of growth we’ve seen. We started off with a very small Instagram community and today we stand at about 45,000 people. We have a much wider community reach via our newsletters and various other touchpoints as well. Most months, we’re seeing a 30-40% growth. There are some flat months but, largely, we have seen that arrow go up.”

IMBesharam has seen traffic grow by 30%, user base increase over 35% and revenues grow 110% over the last 2 years. “Currently, we have 58% revenue from sex toys for women and 42% from men. In February 2023, we clocked the highest revenues for a single month surpassing over Rs 3 crore and delivering over 4,200 orders,” says Armani.

Armani plucks out some more interesting data, “Bengaluru is the top city in terms of sales, with Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai a close 2, 3, and 4th. Metros make up 62% of our revenue, and 36% revenue comes from Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities and towns.”