Cover (Clockwise from top left) Simona Xu, Diana Lin, Winxi Kan, Eden Chiang of The Oh Collective (Photo: courtesy of The Oh Collective)
(Clockwise from top left) Simona Xu, Diana Lin, Winxi Kan, Eden Chiang of The Oh Collective (Photo: courtesy of The Oh Collective)
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On International Female Orgasm Day, we look at the challenges facing Asia’s sexual wellness industry, from social media bans to being associated with pornography—and how its stakeholders are forging ahead undaunted
Sexual health and wellness were long thought to be within the purview of our most private, innermost lives—but not anymore. In recent years, the global success of Netflix shows such as Sex Education, the social media popularity of pleasure-positive content creators such as Leeza Mangaldas and Vera Lui, as well as the 2020 law reforms in China that mandated schools provide children with age-appropriate sex education, all point to the fact that sexual wellness is well and truly entrenched in the public domain.
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But those who work in the industry will tell you there’s still some way to go, especially as female and LGBTQ+ sexual pleasure remains something of a taboo, especially in Asia. Take, for instance, the experiences of the founders of sexual wellness start-up The Oh Collective, which sells intimate wellness products and sex toys. The four friends—Eden Chiang, Diana Lin, Winxi Kan and Simona Xu—are all women of Chinese descent who grew up in the west, and met each other in Shanghai while working for Nike. They decided to launch the collective in 2020.
“Even though we grew up in the west, we were raised by conservative Asian parents. Sex was considered shameful,” says Kan. “When we left our amazing corporate jobs at Nike to start The Oh Collective, our parents were really worried. They didn’t understand why we would take such a risk.”
At first, the reaction they got on social media proved their parents right—and not because people didn’t respond positively to their initiative, quite the opposite. But mostly because many people couldn’t even access their content because of social media censorship.
“Our Chinese social media accounts have been reported dozens of times, and I can’t even count how many [times] our blog posts have been taken down from [Chinese Twitter-like platform] Weibo,” says Lin, the only member of the group still living full time in mainland China.
But the four friends remained undaunted. From podcasts to blog posts, the women are not only selling sex toys but also offering a comprehensive understanding of sexual education and sexual pleasure through their platforms.
“It’s specifically because of censorship and taboo that we decided to launch our platform,” says Chiang. “So many women around us didn’t know anything about how their bodies worked, about sexually transmissible diseases … We knew there was so much we could offer.”
But one of the challenges that the sexual wellness industry faces is around advertising, as sex toys are more often than not associated with porn, especially in East Asia.
Mabel Lau, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan territory manager at Lovehoney Group—which owns sexual wellness brands Womanizer, We Vibe, Happy Rabbits and more—agrees that it’s difficult to sell and advertise its products because of the taboo.
“Sex toys and vibrators are perceived as ‘porn’ by traditional advertisers,” she says. “Even when our advertisement is simply an image of women smiling, we face rejection from drugstores, pharmacies, beauty and lifestyle shops. We can’t even use billboards in Hong Kong.”
The Lovehoney Group instead collaborates with influencers—who are “more open and give honest feedback”, says Lau. But even then, she points out that there are limitations, as influencers who endorse sex toys face backlash from users and get banned from social media platforms.
For Lau, Hong Kong remains one of the most traditional markets in East Asia, which means she has to redouble her efforts and creativity to penetrate the market here, not only in terms of advertising but also in terms of product discreetness.
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“One of the unique factors in Hong Kong is that residences are very small, and people—especially young ones—have less privacy in their own homes,” says Lau. “That’s why we’ve been developing new products to incorporate healthy sexual practice into their daily lives.”
One such product is the Womanizer Wave, a shower head combined with a clitoral stimulator. “We’ve realised that the bathroom is often the only place where Hongkongers—and others—can enjoy some private time,” Lau says.
By offering an innovative product that combines two functions in a discreet design, Lau is hoping to “bridge the gap between mainstream products and sex toys”.
“Sexual pleasure is inherently linked to wellbeing,” she says. “And it’s time to normalise this in Asia. No more taboo.”
Salomé Grouard was Digital Editor and Front & Female Content Lead at Tatler Hong Kong. Primarily focused on managing Tatler Hong Kong’s digital platform and content, she also covers gender equality, the music scene and sports through interviews with industry leaders, experts and trendsetters.
Interview highlights include renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, Korean actor Park Seo Jun, singer Jorja Smith, Chinese TV host Yue-Sai Kan, YouTuber Kimono Mom, Japanese rapper Awich, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Mikey Musumeci.
She has also produced stories on revolutionising sexual wellness in Asia, activism within the surfing community, Asian trans musicians reclaiming their narratives through music and looked at the toxicity of gym culture through the lens of the plus-size community. She also covers music festivals, such as Hong Kong’s Clockenflap and Bali’s Suara.
