Knowing this information, researchers Claire Salisbury and Taylor Kohut set out to examine how vibrators play a role in all of this. They surveyed 715 heterosexual men and women to collect their data. Just to note – this study has only just been completed, so the authors have yet to submit it for publishing in a journal!

They found that out of the women who did have experience using a vibrator, 94 percent used them during masturbation, 62 percent used the vibrator on themselves when with a partner and 66 percent incorporated it into their sexual play by having their partner use it on them. Of the men who had experience with vibrators, 86 percent used it on their partner during sex.

They also found that women were most likely to achieve orgasm during masturbation, whether they used a vibrator or not. When it came to sex with a partner, they were least likely to orgasm if only penetration was involved and most likely to orgasm if clitoral stimulation was used. However, they found that vibrators didn’t actually increase the likelihood of orgasm, over and above manual clitoral stimulation. So I guess the take home message of this is if you or your partner have a clitoris, whether or not you want to incorporate vibrators into sexual play, stimulating the clitoris is key. Use your hands, mouth, pubic mound, toys, or anything else you can safely stimulate the clit with.

I don’t know about you, but I always thought that vibrators were a way to significantly enhance one’s sexual experience. Yet some of the results from the study showed lower statistics than I would have expected. Thirty-seven percent of women felt their orgasms were better with a vibrator (almost half felt there was no difference). Twenty-eight percent said their orgasms lasted longer with a vibrator (46 percent stated no difference). Thirty-six percent felt that using a vibrator makes it easier for them to reach orgasm and 52 percent felt that the vibrator use made their orgasm more intense. So these are positive results for the most part, but not quite as strong as I would have thought.

Not surprisingly, those that were more comfortable with the thought of using vibrators were more likely to have used one. However, many people who were comfortable with the thought of using vibrators still hadn’t had any actual experience with them.

Can you think of reasons for this? What would prevent someone from using a vibrator, even if they were comfortable enough with their sexuality to use one?

Some possible answers that the authors came up with include the cost of vibrators. Many are quite expensive and people simply can’t afford them. Another reason is that there’s so much variety that people feel overwhelmed, can’t figure out what to buy and give up on it all.

Accessibility may also be an issue, as not all towns have a sex store and not everyone has the ability to order from an online sex store (internet access, ownership of a credit card, parental monitoring, etc). Many people are also too embarrassed to actually go into a sex store or even access one online.

There’s also the issue of intimidation. Many straight and bi men are terrified of the thought of their female partners using vibrators, for fear that the vibrator will replace them. There’s a lot of pressure for men to be the “provider” of orgasm, and they feel that it is their responsibility to get their partner off, and theirs alone. And they think that this magical piece of silicone is going to turn their partner into someone who doesn’t want to be sexual with a human anymore and just wants to spend time in their bed, alone with their new favourite toy.

It’s incredibly important for men and women to know that in no way will a toy ever replace their partner. You can’t compare an inanimate object to a real, living human being. A toy can’t cuddle you, touch you, respond to you, tend to your emotional needs, interact with you or provide the intimacy that your partner can. A vibrator can only serve to enhance the sexual experience and can quite possibly bring you and your partner even closer to one another.

Some women and men are worried about becoming dependent on their vibrators. They think that once they start using one, they’ll never be able to return to being satisfied with sexual play that doesn’t involve a toy. They also may worry that they’ll become addicted to using their vibrator.

So this brings me to the next part of the study. The authors are actually the first ones to ever examine vibrator addiction. Because this is the first study of this kind, it’s important to remember that these are tentative results and that much more research is needed to verify the results as well as getting a better look at the overall picture.

Overall, 89 percent of men and 87 percent of women reported not feeling addicted to using their vibrators. But that does mean that 11 percent of men and 13 percent of the women studied feel that they do in fact have an addiction. Of the self-proclaimed addicts, 62 percent felt that it is now more difficult for them to reach orgasm without a vibrator (compared to the 13 percent of those who did not feel they were addicted to vibrator use).

The majority of “addicts” also said that their orgasms are better, more intense and last longer when a vibrator is used, whereas the non-addicts who agreed with this were in the minority. So we’re actually seeing that vibrator dependence and compulsive vibrator use may occur with individuals who are addicted to their vibrators. Yes, these individuals are a small minority of people, so in no way should this deter you from trying out a vibrator. But it’s important to know that this does happen with some individuals. And if you’re experiencing this, you need to know that you’re not alone here.

Sex educators, clinicians and therapists constantly recommend the use of vibrators to their clients who want to improve their orgasm frequency and quality, as well as their overall sexual experience. Many of us who use vibrators absolutely love them and have had absolutely no negative consequences from using them.

But the more we know about the overall picture, the better. The last thing we want is for everyone out there to think that a vibrator will completely transform their sex lives in some magical way. It turns out that some of us have better experiences with vibrators than others, so it’s up to you to go out there and figure out what works best for you. No way will you be able to find out until you actually go out there and experiment with trying new things.