How Ann Summers popularized female pleasure through sex parties and rabbit vibrators.

It's hard to picture a time when sex toys were entirely forbidden. Even when we didn't usually hide them in our nightstand or display them with pride. Do you recall when Charlotte was amazed by her first vibrator - a Rabbit that she borrowed from her friend Miranda (it's fantastic that they shared, but it's not safe to share sex toys for hygiene reasons) - that it prevented her from leaving the house?

Thanks to Jacqueline Gold, Charlotte and all of us can enjoy that.

If you gathered with pals in a living area and sipped on some wine while sharing underwear and adult toys, then you can acknowledge Gold for making that possible.

The CEO of Ann Summers, Gold, has left us at 62 years old after a long fight with breast cancer. Gold was responsible for the enormous success of Ann Summers, transforming it from an underwear store into a symbol of female enjoyment. Her relatives refer to Gold as a pioneer and someone who saw beyond the norm.

This post has been sourced from Instagram. It's possible to discover the same information presented in another way or obtain additional details by visiting their website.

Gold achieved many notable feats throughout her career, including receiving a CBE. One of her most remarkable contributions was conceptualizing the Ann Summers' party, which revolutionized the sex toy business forever. As the leader of the Ann Summers team, she innovatively introduced the Rampant Rabbit to the UK seven years before Charlotte encountered one.

Ann Summers welcomed Gold on board as an intern in 1981. Prior to that, her father Ralph Gold and uncle David Gold had purchased the company which, at the time, consisted of two struggling lingerie stores.

The first major move that defined the Ann Summers brand for years to come was the creation of the Ann Summers Party. This concept was inspired by the popular tupperware parties of the 70s and 80s, where housewives could earn extra money by hosting parties for friends and neighbors where they could try and purchase tupperware products. Gold took this idea and applied it to lingerie and sex toys, and the Party Plan quickly became a sensation worldwide. In fact, it was so successful that in 1984, Ann Summers expanded to Germany after one of their party hosts, known as an Ambassador, moved there with her husband.

The popularity of Ann Summers parties has had a significant impact on our culture, leading to numerous imitations, stereotypes, and allusions. In the past, women would invite their female friends over to look at sex toys, and it was common to exclude their boyfriends and husbands from the gathering. Despite the party's subdued nature and the women's self-consciousness, many women bought their first sex toys at Ann Summers parties. Alix Fox, a sex educator and presenter, reminisces about her first toy, Rodger the Rabbit, which provided her with such a powerful orgasm that she saw stars as an 18-year-old.

The information in this section has been brought in from Twitter. It's possible that you could locate the identical information in an alternative layout, or further details could be available at the original source's website.

In addition to being an enjoyable at-home event, Ann Summers' parties contributed to the normalizing of owning and discussing vibrators. Before the advent of sexual wellness products and rose-colored vibrators, going to a sex shop could be an overwhelming experience. However, with Ann Summers' parties, customers were able to purchase lingerie and sex toys in the privacy and comfort of their own homes.

Gold was dedicated to making female sexual pleasure a more openly discussed topic and a part of mainstream society. We owe much of our current receptivity and appreciation towards female sexuality to her efforts. In 2021, Gold explained that she was perplexed about why men could comfortably converse about sex and visit sex shops, while women could not. Sexy underwear was not readily available at the time, and women were too shy to visit sex shops. She recognized that changes needed to be made in this arena.

Gold and Ann Summers completely changed the game not only for how sex toys were marketed, but also for the design of sex toys. This is where the rabbit toy came in. The Rampant Rabbit was introduced in 1991 and was a game-changer. It combined the exciting and effective rotating "pearl" dildo for internal stimulation with the "bunny ears" for clitoral vibrations. Since then, the Rampant Rabbit has undergone many upgrades and now features a wide range of double stimulation options.

The bunny has traveled a great distance.

In a short time, a rabbit vibrator was sold every two minutes in the UK. And even after thirty years, it still holds the title of being the most popular sex toy worldwide. Ann Summers manages to sell one every three minutes, which is quite impressive considering the number of competitors they have.

Ann Summers' parties and Rampant Rabbit have given women complete control over their sexual pleasure. The popularity of the brand has made sex toys a comfortable topic of conversation for women, and given them the freedom to openly discuss self-pleasure and entrepreneurship.

For 40 years, Gold achieved great fame and gained recognition as a prominent female entrepreneur all around the globe. In 2015, she was granted a CBE by the Queen as an acknowledgement of her contributions to entrepreneurship, women in business, and social enterprise.

In 2018, Gold ranked as the 16th wealthiest female in the UK and was taking the lead in promoting women's empowerment not only in the sexual aspect but in the corporate world too. She mentioned, "My original goal was to support women in the bedroom, but now I intend to encourage women in the boardroom." It's difficult to argue that she didn't fulfill both objectives.