Throughout history, female pleasure has been censored, hushed or wholly ignored. A topic considered shameful; the conversations closed. The Awakening, a story exploring female pleasure from the female perspective is one of the earliest novels that focuses on women’s pleasure without condescension. Now widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism, when written in 1889 by Kate Chopin the book and the author were vilified by critics for the subject matter and condemned for being too explicit.
And now, in 2021, female pleasure is still seen as less important than male pleasure. Female desire and the female body are heavily censored on social media – where adverts for male sexual wellness products are acceptable, similar female wellness products such as vibrators are often subject to censorship. From art to culture, education to pornography, the female perspective on pleasure still takes a back seat. But not at Coco de Mer.
Coco de Mer are reclaiming the narrative around female pleasure for all women with the new “Reveal Your Pleasure” campaign, which aims to remove the censorship of female pleasure still abundant today. The brand is recruiting female influencers from across the world who champion sexual wellness and female pleasure, and each of them will receive a copy of The Awakening, which contains an encrypted bookmark. By holding their mobile phone over the bookmark, words from The Awakening will be revealed using BlippAR augmented reality technology. Women are invited to share on Instagram the things that bring them pleasure with the hashtag #RevealYourPleasure & #CocodeMer.
Coco de Mer has also curated an exclusive Reveal Your Pleasure Collection including some of the brand’s favourite toys, lingerie, and intimate play items designed exclusively for female pleasure. 10% of all sales from this collection will go to The Five Foundation, a global partnership to end female genital mutilation (FGM), a cause that Coco de Mer has long supported.
Although not socially accepted, women do think about sex as much as men, with 80% of females thinking about sex up to five times day, with a further 10% having it forefront of their mind up to 10 times each day. That’s not a surprise when modern-day women now own their sexual wellness, with 60% declaring it is an important part of their lives and an additional 30% claiming it as highly important. The nationwide lockdowns over the past 18 months has seen the need for sexual pleasure increase, now with 68% of women claiming to have a greater need for sexual pleasure than before the pandemic.
So often the label ‘pleasure’ has connotations of a sexual context, as believed by nearly 60% of the women Coco de Mer spoke with. These subtexts have bred censorship in mainstream media, with 76% of women stating female pleasure has been covered up. Even with such a high number of women feeling that female pleasure is not getting in the limelight, still only 54% of women ‘sometimes’ discuss pleasure with friends, while 12% said they would never discuss this area with their peers. Out of those who are happy to dive in on the topic with their friends, 66% claim not to feel embarrassed at all and find it a very normal topic for discussion.
Coco de Mer Owner and CEO Lucy Litwack said: “Coco de Mer has spent 20 years focusing on championing and celebrating female pleasure, but still it faces censorship. We know the important of implementing change and are focusing on gaining attention in mainstream media, alongside male pleasure which is socially accepted. The Reveal Your Pleasure campaign empowers women to reclaim their pleasure and we are proud to support The Five Foundation and their incredible work against FGM.”
