Working women's toy packs pleasure, health

For long, sex toys have been perceived as vulgar playthings of hypersexed beings outside the mainstream. Newly launched Monster Pub, made in China, will likely change all that and more.

It is an intelligent women's sex toy - a multipurpose smart device, if you will.

Xiao Xue (not her real name), 26, a designer at an advertising company, liked the toy and said it can be "concealed", which makes it "exciting".

Priced 399 yuan ($60), it packs in a load of feminine health applications that even the most conservative and shy women will find hard to resist.

There are signs to that effect already. Nearly 450 units of Monster Pub were bought last month on Taobao.com, Alibaba Group's online marketplace.

Reasons are not far to seek. The product's sophisticated sensor system accurately detects fluctuations in a woman's body temperature during menstrual cycles and ovulatory period.

It enables users to make sense of the measurements by linking with a smartphone application.

Liu Bo, founder and CEO of Sistalk, maker of Monster Pub, said: "We help working women find a balance between sexual pleasure and health."

Sistalk tapped crowdfunding platform JD Finance, which is affiliated to online marketplace JD.com Inc, on March 8. Within 72 hours, it reached its target of 100,000 yuan. And in 120 hours, it raised more than 1.5 million yuan or 15 times its target, well beyond its wildest dreams.

Encouraged by investors' unstinted support and consumers' positive feedback, Sistalk is nursing big plans for future. "We plan to launch more women's health monitoring products," said Liu.

Such business expansion may well dovetail with China's sex toys market, which has grown rapidly and is still showing potential for enormous growth.

Consultancy Analysys International said that the business-to-customer sex toys market in China is expected to increase to 8.55 billion yuan this year and 13.25 billion yuan next year from 5.41 billion yuan last year. That's a growth rate of 55 percent year-on-year. Clearly, the Chinese sex toys market has entered a relatively mature period.

Analysts estimate the global intelligent wearables market will be worth up to $50 billion in the next two to three years.

Wearable devices, homes, healthcare products, sex toys... all will go smart.

But Ma Xiaonian, vice-chair of the China Sexology Association, strikes a note of caution and provides a proper perspective.

"The intelligent toy is just an auxiliary tool for enhanced sexual life. It can't replace the emotional input and psychological connect that human beings alone can provide."

fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn