Next to Goop’s vaginal jade egg and a candle called “That smells like my vagina”, a vibrator looks almost, well, old-fashioned.
But that hasn’t stopped fans of Gwyneth Paltrow’s often mocked wellness company, Goop, from snapping up her new double-sided wand vibrator, which looks like a candy-colored gelato cone.
In an interview on Tuesday, Ms. Paltrow expressed disappointment at underestimating demand (the vibrator is out of stock). After all, the pandemic meant a lot of time indoors and alone, and a boom in sex toys.
And the Goop vibrator is perfect for fighting boredom. With a massage ball on one side and a wand on the other – and eight pulse patterns for each – this means 64 possible combinations (or a different daily sensation during two quarantine months). For $ 95, it can even be considered affordable, at least compared to the $ 15,000 gold console that Paltrow once recommended in a Goop newsletter.
“We have always been really interested in sexual well-being as a really important pillar of well-being,” said Paltrow.
Why a vibrator now?
For many people – not for you and not for me – a vibrator is still considered a very sassy thing. This has obviously changed a lot in the past decade. Even so, people are triggered by sexual content or triggered by their own sexuality. Women do not learn a certain vernacular and how to express what we want. We are not good at being vulnerable about our own sexuality.
I think unlike “Why a vibrator now?” is a kind of “How can we make a vibrator that helps to reduce the stigma around these things?”
Talk about your design.
Many vibrators look hypersexualized. They are really phallic or look like something you would buy at a sex shop. I was really intrigued by the idea that this would be something that looked very nice and cool, and that you could leave it on your nightstand without embarrassing yourself or someone else. There is something very self-confident about this.
Explain?
I think we were just trying to do something … maybe a little more intellectual.
Female sexual pleasure is less stigmatized. Is it a growing market?
You see it now with incredible new emerging female care products like the Honey Pot Company, or other consumer companies popping up around the vagina and vulva. There are celebrities who have signed contracts with vibrator companies to help promote them. It is wonderful that visible, strong and popular women are saying, “It’s okay. This is not shameful and you are not shameful. “
Goop was definitely a partner in building that path and creating a culture around women’s health, sexual health and sexuality. That’s why we made a vagina candle. Let’s dispel all of that. Get your projections off me. Let me experience myself, my body and my pleasure in my own way.
Have you tested the vibrator?
I’ve never been asked that question before. I think you made me blush. I’ll leave it at that.
A little less personal: Any new hobbies during the pandemic?
I wouldn’t say that I developed new ones, but I definitely committed myself again or redoubled some, like meditation. I do this every morning. Before, it was maybe once every two weeks, or maybe not at all. Besides, I’m cooking all the time, like everyone else in the world.
You played Patient Zero in the movie “Contagion”. Did this prepare you for the pandemic?
I remember being on the set and people saying, “It can really happen and it will happen during our lifetime”.
Last February, long before face coverings became the norm, you posted a selfie on Instagram wearing a mask.
This is a familiar pattern in my life. I do something early, everyone is like, “What is she doing? She is mad. “And then it is adopted by the culture.
I had to make this trip to France when it was all starting. I used it on the plane, but I didn’t use it for the event I was going to, and in fact I ended up receiving Covid and returning home, and being one of the first people I heard about who had it.
Are you planning to get the vaccine?
I still have antibodies. I want everyone else who is not protected to go first.
Goop was criticized for making dubious welfare claims and in 2018 he had to pay $ 145,000 to make unfounded health claims about your vaginal eggs. Why should customers trust Goop?
This happened a few years ago, when we were still a small company curating and buying brands from third parties that made statements about their products. We have come a long way since we are a small start-up. Even with Yoni’s eggs. This did involve claims, but it did not involve the product. This egg is not dangerous. We still sell it.
This interview has been edited.