Danish sex toy retailers and a marketing expert say men still face stigma around owning sex toys, even as sales of products for male bodies rise sharply.
DR published a report on September 9, 2026, examining why the sex shop Sinful used only women in its recent advertising campaign. According to DR, the posters showed clitoral products and women with dripping ice cream, and no male bodies or products for male bodies.
Amina Jenayah, intimacy expert at Sinful, told DR the company ran several tests before the campaign went up. She said audiences responded best to images of women, and that Sinful could not say exactly why.
The posters were placed on city buses last month and drew public debate. DR previously reported that one bus poster featuring vibrators and an orgasm guarantee was removed after complaints, with some calling the ads indecent and others calling the criticism puritanical.
Jenayah said Sinful has heard from men who feel a stigma about what kind of person owns a sex toy. As she told DR, there appears to be a barrier for heterosexual men buying toys for their own bodies.
Marketing expert Jacob Holst Mouritzen, a strategy consultant and owner of the firm Holst Mouritzen, said male and female sexuality are viewed very differently in public. Per his account to DR, male masturbation is seen as sad, while female masturbation is framed as empowerment.
Sales of products for male bodies rising
Clara Filippa Andersen runs the sex shop Peech, which opened in 2019, and works with sex education. She told DR that sales of products for people with penises have grown by more than 30 percent since 2022.
According to Andersen, penis rings are the single best-selling item. Penis sleeves, products for prostate massage and high-tech devices are also popular, she said.
Andersen told DR that toys for men were long associated with being alone, having a high sex drive or needing an aid for a physiological problem. She said the products are now designed to look attractive and can be used in more ways than earlier items.
Bodil Skovgaard Nielsen, a critic and culture writer at Dagbladet Information, discussed the topic earlier this year on DR P1’s program Brinkmanns Briks. She described male sexuality as being treated as ridiculous, while women can capitalize on their sexuality, for example on OnlyFans.
Andersen said the culture is shifting, but that men’s toys are not fully normalized. She noted that some people would still react negatively to finding a penis sleeve at a one-night stand’s home. DR’s reporting is part of its theme series Porno uden grænser.
