Trojan started advertising their "Vibrating Touch" fingertip vibrator last summer on TV during the Beijing Olympics. They also placed ads in Elle and Cosmo. It's exactly what it sounds like; a small battery-powered sex toy. The official Web site is here. I've linked to one of the commercials above.

I'm fascinated not so much by the product itself (the Fukuoku and other fingertip vibrators have been around for ages) but by the fact that Trojan is presenting it purely as something for sexual pleasure, that it's clearly being marketed directly to as well as for women, that the commercial features a very self-aware mature woman, and that at the end there's a tag line that says "It's good for a relationship." It's refreshing to see a large, familiar, and respected company producing a vibrator that's unmistakenly being presented as something for sexual pleasure, and there's absolutely no attempt to mask it as a "foot massager," for instance. It's also interesting that it's clearly being presented as something for couples, people in "relationships" to enjoy. I note that it's unabashedly heteronormative—I'm quite sure that two women, or two guys, or even a solo guy could find just as much erotic fun, but that particular possibility is not even alluded to.

There's a fairly common misperception that vibrators are just for women; that they're for solo use. Not so with Trojan; not only are they presenting the Vibrating Touch as something for couples, guys needn't feel neglected; Trojan has thought of them too. Trojan also sells an entire suite of Trojan Vibrating Ring condoms. There are models with different vibration intensities available, as well as versions with two motors "for you and your partner," and a version specifically marketed as "Trojan Her Pleasure Vibrating Ring" with "Finger loops for use with or without partner." Interestingly enough, the language on this Web site is written much less specifically for heterosexual couples, and is very just as deliberately directed towards a male audience as the Vibrating Touch copy was written (and colored; even the packaging is lavender) towards women.

Perhaps the most interesting part of all is that while both devices are available online directly from Trojan and from Amazon as well as various retail shops (like Target), there's a disclaimer at the bottom of the Trojan Web sites saying "We're sorry, but some states prohibit the sale of products such as these. These states are Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia.

I guess we haven't progressed as far as I'd thought.