This month's Stellar is a whopper of an issue! Rosemary McCabe interviews several women whose lives will be directly affected by the outcome of the upcoming Marriage Equality referendum; there's a great guide to box-sets and Netflix recommendations; and their fashion spread has got me lusting after a nice big pair of 70's sunglasses. 

Most importantly though, as it's their Spring Sex issue, they've gathered up their top sex toy picks. I was delighted to find that 3 of their 6 toys were from my shop! The touch-sensitive, programmable Minna Limon; the Tenga Iroha mini-vibe, which they accurately described as looking "like a lip balm"; and everyone's favourite bum toy, the Fun Factory Bootie!

However I was really troubled by the results of their reader sex survey. A whopping 30% of respondents say they never masturbate and the top 3 sex acts amongst readers are: vaginal intercourse, hand job, and blow job. From what I gathered from the responses, there seems to be a huge focus on the pleasure of male partners, but not so much the other way around.

When you own your own sex shop, it's sometimes difficult to get a real feel for how our culture, as a whole, views sex, because I'm constantly presented with confirmation bias. The folks I get to talk with most, would be customers who have already made the decision that they'd like to buy a toy, and self pleasure is a priority for them. So it's quite shocking to see stats like that (in 2015 no less!) from a wider reaching audience, and I'd be really curious to find out the reasons why 30% of readers never masturbate. Is it because they think it's "wrong;" or the sexual desire just isn't there; or is because of external factors: too busy, just had a baby, painful medical condition like endometriosis, suffering from depression or anxiety, etc?

As ever with these sex surveys, they always end up raising even more questions in my head than before. But in saying that, I'm great that Stellar are doing them and dedicating whole sections of their magazine to promoting healthy, happy sex lives.