Why Sex Toys Are Going Mainstream
Most people assume their own hesitation about buying a toy is somehow unusual — like they’re a small, slightly embarrassing minority doing something niche. The numbers say the opposite. This has become one of the fastest-growing categories in consumer wellness, and it’s not close.
The market is bigger than most people assume
Estimates vary depending on which research firm you ask and how they define the category, which is normal for a market this size — but the direction is consistent across all of them. ReAnIn’s global sex toys market report puts the market at roughly $33.8 billion in 2024, growing to over $54 billion by 2031. Global Market Insights puts current-year figures even higher. The exact number matters less than what every one of these reports agrees on: sustained, high-single-digit-to-double-digit annual growth, year after year, in a category most people still assume is small and niche.
Broken down further, the female-focused segment is the larger of the two by revenue, but the male-focused segment is growing at a faster rate — which tracks with what’s happened culturally over the last several years (more on that in why more men are buying toys than ever).
What’s actually driving it
- Retail normalization. These products now sit on shelves at Target, CVS, and Walmart, next to lubricant and condoms — not hidden behind a curtain in a specialty shop. That alone changes how people perceive the category.
- Wellness reframing. The marketing language shifted from “adult novelty” to “sexual wellness,” putting it in the same mental bucket as skincare or supplements rather than something separate and taboo.
- E-commerce. Buying online removes the single biggest historical barrier — walking into a physical store and being seen. (We cover exactly how discreet that actually is in buying online discreetly.)
- Visibility. Sex educators, health professionals, and mainstream media now talk about this category in ordinary, matter-of-fact terms, which does a lot to normalize something that used to only exist in whispered conversation.
The takeaway
If you’ve been putting off buying something because it feels like a bigger deal than it should be, the data suggests it stopped being one a while ago. You’re not part of some small, unusual group — you’re part of one of the largest and fastest-growing wellness categories that exists right now.