All Reviews

Review: ZIOXX Freedom Plus Extra Large Condoms

Kate Sloan

When Zioxx told me they wanted me to review their condoms, I knew I had to wait until my partner was out of chastity – which, truth be told, hasn’t happened much lately. See, while I am their keyholder and can thus remove them from chastity any time I wish, including for brief and frustrating interludes, post-chastity (or mid-chastity) isn’t a great time to test condoms. A crucial part of reviewing a condom is assessing how well it transfers sensation, and my partner’s sensitivity gets turned up so much from time spent in chastity that they wouldn’t exactly be an objective reviewer.

So I unlocked them, we had sex, I went to sleep, they jerked off the following morning while I dozed (I’m not a morning person, okay?!), and presumably their dick returned to its normal level of sensitivity. That night, a dommy growl crept into their voice as they told me, “I’m going to get you off, and then I’m going to fuck you twice to test out those condoms.”

“Twice?” I asked.

“I’ll last longer the second time, so I’ll get more of a sense of what they actually feel like.” Their hypothesis was sound, and the plan went off without a hitch.

Zioxx had sent me their Freedom Plus Extra Large condoms. My partner’s dick is on the bigger side of the spectrum as far as people I’ve been with (in the neighborhood of 7.5″ long and 1.75″ wide), so I figured the standard size wouldn’t work for them.

As it turns out, even these “extra-large” condoms were a bit too small. This has often been my experience with condoms made in Asia (Zioxx is based in China) – for example, I had a more average-sized partner a few years back who found regular Kimono condoms distractingly tight. These Zioxx XL condoms are 7.09″ long – that’s about half an inch shorter than a standard Trojan, and nearly a full inch shorter than our usual go-to condoms, Trojan Magnums or Magnum XLs. The Zioxx ones have a width of 55mm, which is wider than a standard Trojan but 5mm smaller than a Magnum and 8mm smaller than a Magnum XL. Resultingly, my partner found the Zioxx condoms a little tight during application and removal, and had a slightly more difficult time staying hard due to the tightness.

Other than that, though, they didn’t have many complaints. The lube on these condoms, which is water-based and contains moisturizing hyaluronic acid (yes, the stuff that’s in your skincare), seems high-quality but is perhaps a bit too liberally applied – it dripped a little on both of us as I was guiding their cock into me the second time, but honestly, I’d prefer that over the pitifully small amount of lube many companies put on their condoms. Keep in mind, too, that being water-based, this lube likely won’t be enough on its own for anal, despite how much of it there is on each condom.

These are pretty low-scent and low-taste, always good qualities in a condom, IMO. They’re made of natural latex, so obviously avoid them if you have a latex allergy. The elegant black outer packaging looks nice on a nightstand. The individual packaging of the condoms themselves is a bit too untextured to consistently get a good grip on with lubey hands, but if your hands are dry, you should be able to tear ’em open without issue.

Sensation-wise, aside from the sizing issues, my partner noted that these condoms are smooth and thin, and have excellent heat transfer. The overabundance of lube sometimes made it difficult for them to achieve the amount of friction they wanted, but they were still able to come relatively easily both times we tried these.

There’s no mention on Zioxx’s website of whether or not these condoms are FDA-approved, but they do say that they won a sponsorship from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and that “each condom is 100% electronically tested” with “60 procedures of quality-control.” 🤷🏻‍♀️

Overall, aside from the sizing issues we experienced, these Zioxx Freedom Plus Extra Large condoms are pretty good. At $12.50 for a pack of 18, they’re also plenty more cost-effective than a lot of condoms out there. I guess you could say they were worth unlocking my partner’s chastity cage for.

 

This review was sponsored. As always, all writing and opinions are my own (and, of course, my partner’s).

Review: Sohimi Clitoral Sucking Vibrator

Kate Sloan

In preparing to write this review, I went and looked up the Sohimi Clitoral Sucking Vibrator on the company’s website, and was shocked – SHOCKED! – to see they’re only charging $36 for it. (Less, if you catch them on a sale day.) Why did this shock me? Well, this toy is rechargeable, made of body-safe silicone, and an innovative multi-tasker, the likes of which a company like Lelo could crank out and charge $180+ for, easy. Damn, Sohimi. I’m impressed.

As with many toys I get sent to review, I didn’t have much choice about which product from the company’s catalogue I would be sent, and I wouldn’t have necessarily picked this one if they’d let me choose. But that’s because I wouldn’t have understood, just from looking at it, what it actually does.

This incompletely-named “clitoral sucking vibrator” does three things, only two of which are mentioned in its moniker. It’s shaped like an uppercase “J,” with a vibrating shaft meant for vaginal penetration on one end and a clit-sucking pressure wave stimulator on the other. But in the middle is something really neat: a G-spot-targeting bump that, when activated, trembles quickly like a partner intensely come-hithering to make you squirt. Sohimi calls this a 3-in-1 toy and they are not fucking around when they say that.

Of the three functions, the vibration is the least interesting to me, both because I already own a zillion vibrators and because these particular vibrations are pretty buzzy. But the other two functions, especially when used in tandem, are tantalizing. The light clitoral suction produced by pressure-wave technology is a very “treble-y” sensation, high-pitched and pinpointed sometimes to the point of being cloying, but here it is tempered by the comparative “bassiness” of that rumbling G-spot stimulator. The thrumming slows down quite a bit when inserted vaginally, as the motor works hard to fight against my restrictive flesh, but I can definitely still register it. When I use both functions in concert, both these crucial buttons get pushed so directly that a “whoa, I’m gonna come!” feeling creeps up faster than expected. I don’t even need to turn the vibrations on, and they’re so buzzy that I usually don’t.

I love that each of the three functions can be controlled independently; it makes me feel like I’m constructing my own customized masterpiece at a salad bar. Each function has multiple speeds/patterns which you can cycle through by pressing its respective button. This is a quality I always miss in dual-stimulation (or triple-stimulation) toys when it’s not present. My clit and G-spot usually want different things at different moments, so it’s nice to have granular control over what setting each component is on at any given time.

I’m not totally on board with the clitoral suction aspect of this toy, because it doles out a sharper, stronger sensation than many similar toys, and my clit is a sensitive baby. Adding lube helps, but nonetheless, I find myself staying on the lowest speeds because the rest get way too intense way too quickly. If you’re not a fan of pressure wave stimulation, this toy isn’t gonna convert you, the way something more nuanced like a high-end Womanizer might.

The design of this toy is such that you basically have to insert the vaginal arm in order to use any part of it; the shaft doesn’t comfortably bend enough to allow you to use the clitoral portion on its own, should you want to. This definitely limits the usefulness of the toy, as does the fact that (characteristically of dual-stim toys) it has to fit your anatomy or it won’t work. I normally have issues lining up dual-stim toys so that both my G-spot and my clit are getting the amount of attention they want, with the correct angle/positioning for each, but this toy happens to fit my body well in that way. The shaft has some give, but not a ton.

I also noticed that I have a tendency to accidentally bump buttons when I try to thrust with this toy, because of where the control panel is placed. But I think it’s not really meant to be thrusted, so maybe this wouldn’t bother most users.

This is one of those toys I’d only grab when I was craving something very specific – in this case, intense clit stim paired with profound G-spot stim – but that’s actually a craving I have fairly often. The Sohimi Clitoral Sucking Vibrator does what it does quite well, with the exception of vibration, and it’s also probably one of the most luxe-looking vibes you could get at its price point. A decent, rechargeable triple-stimulation toy for $36 is nothing to sneeze at, and I’m glad I gave this one a shot!

 

This review was sponsored. As always, all writing and opinions are my own.

12 Days of Girly Juice 2020: 8 Brilliant Books

Kate Sloan
This is the closest thing I have to a bookstore pic from 2020 since everything has been closed for so much of the year 😭

One minor silver lining of this hellish year: not being able to go to places I’d normally go, or do things I’d normally do, left me with a lot of extra time. Some of that time was funnelled into video games (look, Tom Nook needed my help, okay?!), and some of it went into reading books instead. I spent many an hour this year stretched out in a hot bath, candles lit and Kindle in hand.

So far in 2020, I’ve read 31 books – here’s the full list, if you’re interested – but these 8 really stand out as my faves of the year. Thanks to my Kindle’s highlights functionality, I’ve also been able to pull a favorite quote from each, to give you a little taste. Read on and read up, bookworms!

 

The Mind’s Eye by Oliver Sacks

I had heard stories of people living in rain forests so dense that their far point was only six or seven feet away. If they were taken out of the forest, it was said, they might have so little idea or perception of space and distance beyond a few feet that they would try to touch distant mountaintops with their outstretched hands.

I went through a major Oliver Sacks phase in the early part of this year. Mr. Sacks, if you don’t know, was a British neurologist who also happened to be a magnificent and evocative writer. Typically, his books are filled with eloquent case studies about actual people he’s helped, usually gathered around a particular theme. The Mind’s Eye is themed around all things visual, and profiles people with various disturbances in the visual sectors of their brain, like face-blindness and neurologically-rooted color-blindness.

In the latter sections of the book, Sacks also tells the story of his own loss of stereoscopic vision when a tumor deprived him of the use of one eye. His books are always fascinating to me as someone who is nerdy about oddities of the brain, and this was one of my favorites I’ve read.

 

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

“Has anyone been informed? Who do we call?” “I should call his lawyer,” the producer said. This solution was inarguable, but so depressing that the group drank for several minutes in silence before anyone could bring themselves to speak. “His lawyer,” the bartender said finally. “Christ, what a thing. You die, and they call your lawyer.”

Soon after the coronavirus became an international news story, I started looking into books about pandemics, because sometimes wading right into your fears and worries is the best way to cathartically slough them off. One of the most-recommended pandemic novels on Twitter back in March was Station Eleven, a thrilling story that starts in a Toronto theatre on the opening night of a Shakespeare play, and ends many years later, by which time the world’s population has been decimated and society entirely restructured.

This book felt healing and reassuring to read, because so much of it is about the ways that art, music, theatre, and literature create opportunities for hope, optimism, and connection, even in irrefutably terrible times. It was also just a genuinely fun read, full of unexpected twists, memorable imagery, and well-drawn characters.

 

The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale

By conceptualizing the problem of policing as one of inadequate training and professionalization, reformers fail to directly address how the very nature of policing and the legal system served to maintain and exacerbate racial inequality. By calling for colorblind “law and order” they strengthen a system that puts people of color at a structural disadvantage and contributes to their deep social and legal estrangement. At root, they fail to appreciate that the basic nature of the law and the police, since its earliest origins, is to be a tool for managing inequality and maintaining the status quo.

I reviewed this book just after reading it, so I won’t restate myself too much here. I’ll just say that this book lays out argument after argument for defunding the police in a way that is clear, cogent, and persuasive. If you’re on the fence about this issue – or even if you still think the police are an upstanding institution, despite so much evidence to the contrary – I think this book would be particularly informative and helpful for you.

 

Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

Reader: Wally Cat is many things, but a fool he is not. What he told me that day was a sales lesson in disguise. The quality of an answer is determined by the quality of the question. Quote that and pay me my royalties.

This brilliant debut novel follows a young Black man as he gets plucked from a low-paying job and hired as a salesman at an almost entirely white startup. It touches on racism, and confidence, and capitalism, and the scarcity of opportunity.

It’s also one of the funniest books I read all year, easy. The voice Mr. Askaripour crafted for his protagonist is sharp and witty, friendly yet dark, goofy but sincere. This was a pleasure to read from start to finish.

 

Girl on the Net: How a Bad Girl Fell in Love by Girl on the Net

It’s a bit hard to put sex to one side when I’m talking about romance: to me romance has usually been a route to sex, like a Valentine’s card with surprise dick joke inside. A love story that doesn’t involve the odd knee-trembling grope or sticky-lubed handjob feels as incomplete as breakfast without coffee.

The sex blogger known as Girl on the Net is a legend – easily one of the best writers in my genre, always smart and often hilarious. This book tells the story of one of her long-term relationships, with a man who luckily happened to be pretty chill about the whole “sex blogger” thing. (Trust me, this is a surprisingly difficult quality to find in a man.)

It’s equal parts romantic and sexy, stuffed with life lessons that’ll help you both in and out of the bedroom. And it’s all written with GotN’s signature wit. If I’d been able to take public transit this year, I’m sure I would have turned some heads by laughing too hard on the subway while reading this.

 

Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy by Jessica Fern

I will not lie: the work to heal our personal traumas and attachment wounds and the effort needed to build polysecure relationships are not easy. It takes courage, devotion and perseverance, but please trust me in knowing that it is worth it. As we heal our past, we open up new possibilities for our future.

This year I became increasingly aware of the ways my trauma history impacts the way I feel and behave in my present-day relationships. I took Clementine Morrigan’s online class on trauma-informed polyamory, and I read this book, and between those two things + getting a savvy new therapist, I feel that I’m firmly on the path to healing, though there is likely still a long way to go.

In this book, psychotherapist Jessica Fern (who is totally charming – she guested on a Dildorks episode) lays out the ways that attachment wounds can complicate non-monogamy, and what can be done about it. This is absolutely a must-read for anyone who wants to be non-monogamous but finds themselves continually triggered or re-traumatized by their forays into that relationship style.

 

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen

I understood for the first time that it is possible to lack the experience of sexual attraction without being repulsed by sex, just like it is possible to neither physically crave nor be disgusted by a food like crackers but still enjoy eating them as part of a cherished social ritual. Being repulsed by sex is a fairly obvious indication of the lack of sexual attraction, but a lack of sexual attraction can also be hidden by social performativity or wanting (and having) sex for emotional reasons—and because the different types of desire are bound together so tightly, it can be difficult to untangle the various strands.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is a vitally important contribution to the existing body of work on asexuality. In her clear, incisive prose, Angela Chen explains asexuality and its various facets and forms, discusses some of the biggest issues facing the asexual community today, and hypothesizes on useful lessons non-asexuals can learn from their ace peers.

Even though I’ve identified as being on the ace spectrum for a while now, there’s a lot in this book that I had never really thought about before, or at least hadn’t thought about with as much clarity as Ms. Chen brings to the table. It’s really a must-read for anyone who is interested in asexuality, from any angle.

 

Sex with Presidents: The Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House by Eleanor Herman

There appears to be little difference between the thrills of seeking public power, with crowds of adoring fans, to seeking pubic power, with an adoring audience of one. The same compulsions that send a man hurtling toward the White House can also send him into a foolhardy tryst with a woman. High political office and dangerous sex are, in fact, all about hubris and power.

I just finished this the other day, and it was an absolute delight. Ms. Herman – who has previously written books on the sex lives of queens, kings, and Vatican bigwigs – has amassed a veritable treasure trove of absurd stories about salacious presidential misadventures. I know more about Lyndon Johnson’s penis and John F. Kennedy’s favorite sexual position now than I ever dreamed I’d learn.

Although she’s not too heavy-handed about it, Ms. Herman makes it clear throughout the book that systemic sexism – and often, men being outright cruel to women they claim to love – has played a huge role in presidential sex scandals. It’s hard to even grasp the number of powerful men who have cheated on their wives, fucked over their mistresses, abandoned their children, lied to the nation, etc. etc. etc. This is mainly a book about shitty men, but it’s also a book about strong women who deserved way better treatment than they ever got.

 

What books did you love this year?

12 Days of Girly Juice 2020: 9 Best New Sex Toys

Kate Sloan

It is odd to be writing this from my spouse’s sofa in New York while the majority of my sex toy collection is back home in Toronto. It is odd to have to call upon sense-memories of what these products feel like, instead of just being able to pick them up, place them on my junk, and make a pronouncement borne of concrete reality. But this entire year has been odd, and so have our relationships to places and people and objects that are not located within the tiny rooms many of us have been stuck in.

So here are the 9 best sex toys I acquired in 2020, ranked according to something much more simple than the multi-categoried rating systems some sex toy reviewers adhere to – my list is based solely on how much delight the thought of each product conjures in my mind when I think of it. That has to do, I suppose, with how much pleasure these toys have given me over the year, creating a Pavlovian link between my experience of them and the sight of them, even in photos taken months ago and 500 miles away.

 

9. Dame Arc (available at SheVibe)

I told you about this toy very recently, so I won’t blather on about it here. Suffice it to say, it’s a G-spot vibe that manages to be much more than that – and it looks very pretty on my nightstand, in my hand, and in my holes. I look forward to seeing whatever Dame does in 2021!

 

 

8. Vibratex Magic Wand Plus (available at SheVibe, Peepshow, Come As You Are [Canada], and the Smitten Kitten)

I admire Vibratex for committing so steadfastly to making a toy that is neither flashy nor fancy. The thing about wand vibrators is that they do not need to have either of those qualities; they just need to be strong, rumbly, easy to hold, and easy to operate. This is why the wand category in any sex shop, online or offline, can be one of the plainest-looking sections but can also garner some of the highest customer ratings of the entire catalogue.

The Magic Wand Plus is the Platonic ideal of a plug-in wand vibrator. It does what you expect it to do, and no more, because that’s all it needs to do. It’s not exciting or interesting, nor does it have to be in order to keep its prized spot plugged in next to my bed, where it will likely remain for years to come, called upon a few times a week to deliver efficient and predictable orgasms. It’s like the friend of yours who is never the life of the party but is always the designated driver for whom your heart explodes with drunken love at the end of every evening out. I love it; I think most people would.

 

7. We-Vibe Nova 2 (available at SheVibe, Peepshow, Come As You Are [Canada], and the Smitten Kitten)

Finding a rabbit vibrator that works for your body is like finding a pair of jeans that works for your body: harder for some people than others, and a huge mood-booster when it finally happens. My Nova 2 and my favorite Madewell jeans have in common the ability to make me heave a sigh of relief: My body isn’t weird or broken after all!

The problem of creating a universally-useable dual-stimulation vibe has plagued the sex toy industry since dual-stim toys became a thing, and We-Vibe made big strides with their Nova 2. Its flexible arms give it more customizability and adaptability than any rabbit vibe I’ve ever tried. If you’re determined to get a dual-stim toy (and frankly, I think two separate toys are the better call for most people), this is the one I would recommend.

 

6. Hot Octopuss Amo (available at SheVibe and Peepshow)

Lots of my pals with penises are jealous of the vast variety of vibrators available to people with vulvas; Hot Octopuss’s rumbly-as-fuck dick vibes are some of the only products that’ve ever made me wish I had a penis. So it was thrilling that the company evidently used its profound knowledge of good motors to create such a powerful bullet vibe.

It can feel a bit vulnerable and worrying to be a person who sometimes needs vibration to get off – I often find myself feeling jealous of friends and partners who can get off just about anywhere, using only their hand (or, like, a partner’s thigh). But with small vibrators as powerful as this one on the market, I feel much more equipped to have sexual adventures away from home, even impromptu ones! (…Post-pandemic, I mean.)

 

5. Satisfyer Curvy 2

I’m not sure why this doesn’t seem to be sold at any reputable North American stores, or why I was given one at ANME if Satisfyer didn’t plan on making it available over here, but nonetheless… The Curvy 2 is probably my favorite pressure-wave toy at the moment, and the one that feels the most like good oral sex to me. The nozzle is a good size for my clit, and the shape and size of the toy are ergonomic even for my achy hands.

This toy also has the benefit of being useable as a G-spot vibrator if you flip it around. And the Satisfyer app remains one of the best and most responsive sex toy apps I’ve ever used. While I wish this company would quit plagiarizing Fun Factory so much, I can’t deny that some of their designs are brilliantly unique, and the Curvy 2 is a prime example.

 

4. Clone-a-Willy (available at SheVibe and Peepshow)

Maybe listing this toy here is sort of cheating because what I’m really commenting on is the size and shape of my partner’s dick, not a pre-made dildo… but… the Clone-a-Willy is a fun product in and of itself, because you get to do a science experiment that ends with you owning a brand-new vibrating dildo!

I think this is one of the most inventive products on the market. It has occasionally been imitated but has never been replicated. It is just so cool to be able to make a copy of your favorite dick (or dildo, or cucumber, or fist…), especially so affordably.

 

3. Laid D2 (available at Peepshow)

I mean… it’s a beautiful, smooth, heavy dildo made of 500-million-year-old granite. It can hit my G-spot and my A-spot. What’s not to like?!

This toy has even made its way into the rotation of dildos my spouse routinely uses to fuck me – which is a high honor, because usually they stick to toys I’ve owned forever and that we know work well for me, like the Eleven and Double Trouble. The D2 is just that good.

 

2. Kinklab Power Tripper (available at SheVibe and Come As You Are [Canada])

I bought this for mb as an anniversary present last year, and it was definitely one of those “this is technically for you but secretly it’s also for me” gifts. The Power Tripper is an attachment for the Neon Wand, an electrostimulation toy. When you plug the Power Tripper into the Neon Wand and then tuck it into the waistband of your underwear (or somewhere else on your body), you yourself become an E-stim toy. Every time you touch your partner, they’ll feel a zap of pain wherever you made contact.

This is really fun for sadomasochistic play, because it makes the whole process feel more organic and intuitive. It’s like being able to pick up a slice of pizza with your hands when you were previously trying to knife-and-fork your way through it. I didn’t bring any of my other Neon Wand attachments with me to New York this time because they’re delicate and bulky, but it’s okay because the Power Tripper is basically all we need at this point.

 

1. New York Toy Collective Carter (available at SheVibe and Come As You Are [Canada])

This dildo brings me so much joy, whether it’s strapped into my Aslan Leather harness, or slamming into me while my partner grips it firmly, or just sitting on a windowsill looking pretty. It was a Valentine’s Day gift from mb, in my two favorite colors, and is simply one of the prettiest dildos I’ve ever owned.

But it’s not just pretty. It’s squishy and comfy and flexible and can also hit all my internal spots with aplomb. And I just feel better using it than I do with mass-produced toys from mainstream companies, because New York Toy Collective is a Black-, trans-, and queer-owned business, so I’m happy to support them whenever I can.

 

What were your favorite sex toys of the year?

Review: Dame Arc

Kate Sloan

When I first started buying sex toys as a teen, I wanted a vibrator that could “do it all.” That was my holy grail. And who could blame me? With minimal (if any) income, and limited privacy and storage space since I was living at home, it made more sense to look for versatile toys that could multi-task or do double duty, rather than getting a different toy for each intended usage.

As I got older and learned more about sex toys, I began to see the appeal of toys more specialized in function. There are, for example, some clit stimulators so good that they don’t need to do anything else, and some dildos so inventively shaped that I don’t even care about their inability to vibrate. But there is still something intriguing about the idea of One Sex Toy to Rule Them All – one toy that you could throw in your bag for a getaway or a sex-date and know you had your bases covered.

The Dame Arc, I’m thrilled to tell you, is that type of toy.

I was duly excited when I saw a preview of the Arc at ANME earlier this year. Dame has really stepped up their game these past couple years; once considered a bit of a joke among my sex toy reviewer friends due to their ultra-buzzy, oddly-designed Eva, they later came out with new clit vibes, like my beloved Kip, which boasted robust motors, thoughtful shapes, and cute colors. The pleasure Dame had given to clits worldwide was pleasure that G-spots deserved too, so I was glad to see they were launching not only a G-spot toy, but a G-spot toy that looked really fucking good.

It is really fucking good. My pals at TheVibed sent me one to try, in a lovely ice-blue color (it also comes in a dusty rose), and as soon as I held it in my hands and turned it on, I knew I would like it. The silicone is smooth and soft, the curve is well thought-out, the controls are easy to understand, and the vibrations are – as I’ve come to expect from Dame – impressive.

Dame’s marketing for the Arc explicitly positions it as a toy you can use clitorally for warm-up before moving to penetration. It’s odd how rare it is for sex toy companies to specifically mention the clitoral useability of penetrative vibrators, given that most of the vibrator users I know are mostly using ’em on their clits. The Arc is designed to be comfortable and ergonomic whether you’re using it externally or internally, and as someone with intermittently tricky hands and wrists, I can confirm that this toy is easy for me to handle. The hard plastic panel around the charging connectors on the back of the vibe makes it easier to keep a firm grip on the toy even when it’s lubed up, and the shape of the handle makes sense in my hand.

There’s a seam running all the way around the middle of the toy – a fairly common flaw among vibrators – but Dame has leaned into it by discussing it as a feature rather than a bug. They call it a “beaked tip” ideal for pinpoint clitoral stimulation. I tend to like my clit stimulation a bit broader, but if you prefer the tiniest of touches on your clit, this seam/ridge can focus the toy’s powerful vibrations into a very small area so you can get the specificity you need.

Vaginally, the curve is just right for my body. Not as extreme as a Pure Wand but much more pleasurable than a straight shaft, this is a Goldilocks-level G-spot toy for me. It arcs effortlessly into my spot, but doesn’t press so hard as to cause discomfort, even in the early stages of arousal when that’s always a risk for me. It locks into place fairly well behind my pubic bone, making it easy for me to thrust or rock the toy to my heart’s content, or just leave it stationary while I do other stuff to my clit. This is also exactly the type of toy that makes it super easy for me to squirt.

The motor is, as advertised, excellent. It starts low and rumbly – perfect for warm-up, or a slow and lazy wank – and stays fairly rumbly as you turn up the power. There are 5 speeds, and you can also hold down the “up” and “down” buttons for a more gradual change. (I slightly wish there was an accompanying app, as with We-Vibe toys, so I could have even more fine-tuned control of the settings.) People who need a lot of power probably won’t find this toy strong enough, and for them I would recommend putting a G-spot attachment on a wand instead. The Arc also has 5 patterns, all fairly steady rhythms that work really well for my G-spot. Even leaving the toy perfectly still inside me can feel like motion when it’s set to one of the thrumming/pulsing/pounding patterns.

Since the Arc is also waterproof and pretty quiet, I think this would be a good option for someone who has to keep their solo sex life on the down-low at home, due to kids/nosy relatives/etc. Tell your fam you’re gonna need some time alone in the bath or shower, and you should be fine! It even comes with a cute cloth storage bag bearing the (totally non-explicit) Dame logo, so you can tuck it away when you’re not using it and it won’t draw attention.

The Arc costs a cool $115 – but seems pretty reasonable when you compare it to other G-spot vibrators of similar quality, like the We-Vibe Rave ($113), BMS Factory Swan Wand ($150), and Lelo Mona 2 ($169). Dame offers a 3-year warranty, and that certainly sweetens the deal.

Overall, I think the Dame Arc is a really fantastic vibrator, one that I wish I had been able to own when I was a teen. It’s simple and elegant, yet undeniably effective. If there’s a person in your life who has a vagina and has minimal (or no) sex toy experience, I think this would be a great gift for them, because it’s not overly intimidating but is still plenty great enough to get the job done. But this is also a lovely vibe for someone like me, who’s tried hundreds of toys and just wants something that works well. With the Arc, Dame has created an all-rounder and an instant classic. I can’t wait to see what they make next.

 

Thanks so much to my friends at TheVibed for sending me this product and sponsoring this review! As always, all writing and opinions are my own.