F*ck Around and Find Out with Anna Lee: Why do dildos only come in two colors?

Welcome my sweet hotties! It’s officially the 30th article of F*ck Around and Find Out with Anna. Dirty 30, if you will. Saturn’s first return (did anyone else get thrown into the biggest existential crisis of their life, or was it just me?). I’m so grateful for all of you sticking around and giving me the chance to poke my fingers through all these sexy nooks and crannies so far. For this very special article, I came across a question submission that tickles one of my biggest fancies. It’s a topic I love and have spent way too much time deep-diving into over the years, so I thought it deserved its very own article. Here’s to a lifetime more of your fun questions!

Why the hell are sex toys always pink and purple? -Phillip

When we were first building prototypes of the Lioness Vibrator, we wanted to launch with a slate grey and a banana yellow. And guess what? Every distributor and retailer told us that if we didn’t launch with pink or purple, we’d be shooting ourselves in the foot. I remember thinking about how sick I was of having a bin of all pink vibrators, and surely I couldn’t be the only woman who felt that way. So began my deep dive into why sex toys are always pink and purple. (They also told us yellow would be a ridiculous option. We did actually take that advice, but that’s for another storytime.)

Somewhere in the late 20th Century, when the sex toy industry was extremely male dominated, someone decided women only loved pink and purple. And apparently we only wanted to masturbate if our vibrators looked like magical cotton candy unicorns.

The pink-and-purple thing isn’t biological or magical. It’s marketing. In the 70s and 80s, when vibrators started showing up outside shady mail-order catalogs and in the back corners of department stores, companies realized flesh-colored dildos freaked people out. They were considered too obscene. To avoid legal crackdowns and consumer backlash, manufacturers leaned into pastels and non-threatening hues instead. So instead of “this looks like a severed penis,” they went, “what if…Barbie’s Dreamhouse?”

At the same time, the toy industry had already trained consumers to see pink and purple as “for girls.” Elizabeth Sweet’s sociological work and even the Smithsonian’s research show how deeply pink-for-girls/blue-for-boys got embedded in products by the late 20th Century. By the 80s and 90s, when sex toys were marketed more directly to women, companies borrowed straight from that playbook. Bright, playful colors softened taboos and helped escort vibrators into the mainstream. What seemed obscene in beige suddenly looked approachable. Pink and purple equaled “feminine” and “safe.”

By the early 2000s, as the industry took off and saw mainstream love in shows like Sex and the City, pink and purple became the signal colors. Walk into a Spencer’s Gifts back then, spot a hot pink vibrator, and your brain went, “Oh, sex toy.” You saw the pink vibrator, you bought the pink vibrator, and the companies went, “See! Women love pink vibrators. Make more pink vibrators.” And that’s how we ended up with rows of neon-pink rabbits and sparkly purple bullets.

There’s also a reason from a manufacturing standpoint worth noting. Pink and purple pigments were already standard premier pigments for all kinds of products, making them widely available. They were cheaper because the formulas were pre-validated, premixed, and stocked in most silicone factories. Compare that to trying to custom-make something like earthy clay brown or periwinkle cloud blue, which is more expensive and time consuming.

And since we are already this deep in my favorite nerding out topic, my final fun fact: darker, more vibrant silicones (like purple and bright pink) hide flaws way better. Things like seam lines, specks, or unevenness are less noticeable compared to light pastels. Plus, light colors require more pigment loading to cover silicone’s natural translucency. In other words, pink and purple are cheaper, easier, and prettier to a factory eye.

So why are vibrators pink and purple? It’s not biology. It’s a mashup of historical censorship (no flesh tones) + borrowed gendered marketing (pink = women’s aisle) + strategic mainstreaming (softening taboo) + practical manufacturing.

For the people who are sick and tired of the pinks and purples, the good news is that newer brands, especially women-founded ones, have pushed into colors that actually look chic sitting out on your nightstand. Think blacks, emerald greens, and cough cough a beautiful slate grey.

And now, for six years in a row, I can proudly say the Lioness’s best-selling color has been slate grey since day one.

I promise you that there is truly NO question too unhinged for F*ck Around and Find Out with Anna Lee. Have a question you’d like me to answer for the next article? Submit them anonymously here!