This story was originally published on June 12, 2015.
Refinery29 and Make Love Not Porn agree: The hottest sex isn't in the movies or porn; it's the sex we actually have with and for ourselves and our partners. Created by advertising maven, entrepreneur, and all-round badass Cindy Gallop, MLNP is a platform for sharing and viewing videos of "#realworldsex" in a community that is "pro-sex, pro-porn, pro-knowing the difference." Together, R29 and MLNP are innovating a never-before-seen kind of sex-toy review, in which real-life individuals and couples try different sex toys for the first time, on camera, and describe their experiences. Click through to discover MLNP's mission and then meet our stars and their new bedroom accessories, and then click through to MLNP for their full, uncensored videos. When it comes to sex toys, this is as close to "try before you buy" as you can get.
Sarah Beall, curator and community manager for MLNP, introduces our stars.
Toy: LELO TOR 2
Image: Courtesy of LELO.
MakeLoveNotPorn Stars: "Colin/Gray "
About us (Gray): We've been together 3.5 years. We're new to sex toys but prefer the versatile, vibrating variety.
About our sex-toy experience: The TOR 2 by Lelo is such a beautiful toy, in an equally beautiful box. It’s classified as a “couple’s ring,” but I found it works great on your own, too (on any part of your body, using the loop as a handle). My partner and I preferred to use it for foreplay as we spent a lot of time exploring how and where to use it. Going from a barely noticeable shudder to an intense pulsing vibration, this toy is very fun and versatile.
View our video here.
Toy: We-Vibe 4 Plus
Image: Courtesy of We-Vibe.
MakeLoveNotPorn Stars: "DirtyPair" Vivi Marie and Sal Marquez
About us (Vivi): I'm Mexican, and my partner is Colombian. We've been together six years. We are expert sex-toy kinksters — we love toys and use them all the time. We are into BDSM, which is heavy in gear and toys. There are few types of toys we haven't used.
About our sex-toy experience: Overall, we had a great time with the We-Vibe 4 Plus and would recommend it to our friends. We used it every way we could think of: manually, vaginal/clitoral, and vaginal/anal. Our favourite things about the We-Vibe are that it's remote-controlled and easily worn under clothes, you can use it anally, and you can have penetrative sex while wearing it. The cons: The remote and phone app constantly disconnected, causing interruptions, and at least for us it was a bit irritating to use for a whole session.
View our video here.
Toy: Revel Body SOL Sonic Vibrator
Image: Courtesy of Revel Body.
MakeLoveNotPorn Star: "Annie Ochs"
About me: I'm a queer femme artist in Canada who studies craft history and representations of sexuality in culture. I've become an amateur historian on ancient, handcrafted sex toys. (I know a little bit about modern ones, too!)
About my sex-toy experience: The Revel Body SOL is a sci-fi-looking, round-shaped external vibrator that works on magnetic power. Its first three settings are its most powerful, using the magnetic motor to rock its core back and forth, while the last three settings buzz more like a traditional vibe. The free motion of the vibe means you have to resist the urge to push the toy onto your body too hard, but once you're used to this, it packs a powerful punch, kind of like the fastest little flitting tongue.
View my video here.
Toy: Jimmyjane FORM 2
Image: Courtesy of Jimmyjane.
MakeLoveNotPorn Star:Valentine and Ember
About me (Valentine): I'm definitely a connoisseur of sex toys at this point in my life... I have quite the collection built. It's hard to find functional and sexy storage for all of these amazing things. I love sharing my knowledge of how things work and what's fun, new, and innovative.
About our sex-toy experience: The FORM 2 vibrator by JimmyJane is a powerful yet uniquely shaped toy. Not much use for penetration, however, it fits nicely around the clitoris, and you can also pinpoint it using one of the "ears." Along with the use of fingers (even better if they're someone else's) or a dildo, this adds a nice punch to an already good plethora of sensations.
View our video here.
MakeLoveNotPorn Stars: Beau and Flora
About us: Hi! We are Beau and Flora. Flora is a queer femme and Beau is trans. We've been together for about a year and a half and live in NYC.
About our sex-toy experience: We both really liked the smooth, silicone feel of the SHAREVIBE and loved the removable bullet vibrator that you could use separately or within the toy itself (making the whole thing vibrate). The curve of the toy that was to be worn in the one doing the "penetrating" was a little too intense for us to navigate comfortably — but, that doesn't mean this would be [the case] for everyone. We both thought that it felt great internally for the one receiving the less-curved end, and the super-smoothness of the toy made for comfortable insertion.
View our video here.
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