The majority of us probably spend little time considering the lives of our sex toys or how they came to be, however, after looking into the history of the Hitachi Magic Wand, it became clear that most popular sex toys have lived interesting lives, with histories that go beyond the need for self-pleasure. Arguably, after the magic wand, the rabbit vibrator is the most iconic vibrator. According to Cosmopolitan, “...the Rabbit vibrator is one of the few recognizable sex toys out there.” This sex toy was featured on Sex and The City, leading Charlotte into a masturbatory sexual awakening.! The rabbit vibrator is one of those sex toys that offer both clitoral and penetrative stimulation, making it a great toy to have in your arsenal. The vibrator is composed of “...an internal shaft for vaginal stimulation, and an external set of Rabbit-ears (though more modern design sometimes goes with a singular, wider, clitoral stimulator fin) that stimulate your clitoris.” There have been multiple different versions of the Rabbit but every model contains this sort of dual stimulation that allows for intense pleasure. Overall, this vibrator was revolutionary as it was the first dual stimulating vibrator that was on the market. The history of the Rabbit is one that involves obscenity laws, revolutionizing female pleasure, and normalizing female masturbation.
The Birth of the Rabbit
The Rabbit was born in 1983 out of a loophole in Japan’s obscenity laws, though it was not available for purchase until 1984. Shay Martin, the owner of the company Vibratex which initially created the Rabbit vibrator. Vibratex, a sex toy company based in Japan, began creating animal-shaped vibrators in 1983 as a workaround to a rule stating their manufacturers weren't legally allowed to make sex toys. This distinguished the company from the manufacturers in China, who mainly used anatomically penis shapes that most resembled uncooked hot dogs. The cheerful colors and cute shapes of the animal vibrators turned out to be a hit. Vibratex created other models based on members of the animal kingdom—the Kangaroo, Beaver, and Turtle, to name a few—but the Rabbit, which launched in 1984, was the one that became the most popular. Vibratex allegedly chose to manufacture the Rabbit because the rabbit is a lucky charm in Japan, and in honor of ShayMartin, Vibratex’s founder and owner, who was born in the year of the rabbit on the Chinese calendar.
All of these animal-shaped toys were able to stimulate the clitoris and offer penetrative stimulation and other companies began to copy the dual stimulation model. One specific company called Ben Wa copied Vibratex’s Beaver vibrator, though this model no longer exists today. Ben Wa focused their efforts on “copying the Beaver vibrator, thinking that would’ve been the better seller. Little did they know, the one item they didn’t try to knock off would wind up being such a household name.” A woman named Susan Colvin actually developed a version of the Rabbit called the Jack Rabbit and with her team, sold it at adult magazine and novelty distribution company, CPLC. Her product was very similar to Vibratex’s Rabbit. With copies emerging seemingly overnight, the production of the original Rabbit turned towards its first design tweaks. Vibratex made the bold choice of adding rotating pearls to the shaft of the vibrator and named it Rabbit Pearl. This allowed for even more stimulation internally, and the model was marketed as the Rabbit Pearl. This model of the Rabbit did great sales-wise, but the vibrator had not yet become the icon that it is today.
Babeland was one of the first stores to carry the pearl Rabbit when it opened its doors in Seattle in 1993 and it’s still available for purchase today. In 1994, Susan Colvin purchased a small portion of the company called Swedish Erotica and renamed it as CalExotics. Susan brought the design of their Jack Rabbit toy to CalExotics. Vibratex and CalExotics were ultimately the companies that benefited most from the Rabbit’s success in popular culture. In 1997, Babeland opened its New York City location and began offering the new model of the toy, the Rabbit Habit, which had its battery pack and controls in the base of the toy, rather than a separate attachment as is on the Rabbit Pearl. This innovation was revolutionary l when you think about how annoying it would be to have a cord flapping around—and potentially getting tangled—while you're trying to get off!
The Rabbit and Pop Culture
Arguably, the Rabbit would not have become the icon it is today without a little help from popular culture. Interestingly enough, the Rabbit’s history intertwined with popular culture more than once. One of the most notable intersections was when the vibrator became “...Sex and the City’s most memorable guest star after Miranda gives Jack Rabbits to her friends and normally uptight Episcopalian Charlotte disappears with it, not to resurface for weeks.” Initially wanting to tie in some kind of vibrator in an upcoming episode of Sex and the City, representatives from HBO visited The Pleasure Chest in New York City to find out the store’s best-selling vibrator. Low and behold, the Rabbit Pearl was the winner and the teams at HBO were connected with Vibratex. HBO approached Martin and although she had never seen SATC before, she agreed to work together. HBO promised that they would show the vibrator in a good light and sent Vibratex a copy of the script to make sure the toy was depicted properly. Ironically, Martin and her husband did not have HBO at the time, so they didn’t even see it when it aired. Eventually, though, a retailer of theirs sent them a VHS tape of the famous episode. In "The Turtle and the Hare," which first aired on August 2nd, 1998, Miranda lends Charlotte her Rabbit. Charlotte’s life practically changes overnight as we see her avoiding plans to have a night in with the Rabbit. When Charlotte goes to buy her own Rabbit she exclaims:“‘Oh, it’s so cute! I thought it would be scary and weird, but it isn’t. It’s pink! For girls!’” In this sense, Charlotte opened the world of vibrators to women who had a more traditional attitude toward sex, emphasizing love rather than pleasure.
While the original SATC is definitely problematic in its depiction of sexuality, specifically how the characters exist in a white-washed heteronormative bubble—there are some things the show does well. In the case of the Rabbit, SATC was able to start a cultural discourse around masturbation and female pleasure. They used the character of Charlotte as a vehicle to communicate the message that masturbation is feminine and introduce once skeptical women into the magical world of sex toys. Charlotte’s character is often labeled the most traditional and a bit “prude” when it comes to topics like sexuality. Samantha, acting as Charlotte’s foil, is the most sexually explorative of the group, branding herself as a “try-sexual”- a person who will try anything once. While Samantha is a pro with the Hitachi Magic Wand, Charlotte seems to fall in love with the Rabbit and her use of the toy became so obsessive that Carrie and Samantha had to stage an intervention. After the episode aired, “...the Rabbit Pearl became as coveted as Carrie's Manolos.” Sales of the toy shot through the roof and the Rabbit became not only a pop culture sensation, “but a case study in sex-toy product placement that ushered in a new era of sexual consumerism, one in which female shoppers boldly strutted into sex-toy stores looking to purchase the vibrator they’d seen on Sex and the City.” In 1999, copycat rabbits started popping up immediately as sex companies rushed to capitalize on the popularity of the original. The Rabbit's crazy success can also be attributed to the beginning of online shopping, which completely changed the sex toy industry by making vibrator buying discreet.
By the mid-2000s, many thought the Rabbit craze would’ve started to die down, but this was not the case. In 2005, Desperate Housewife star Eva Longoria upped the Rabbit's cred by mentioning her love for the toy in a 2005 interview with SELF. "I give Rabbit vibrators to all my girlfriends," she had said. "They scream when they unwrap it. The best gift I can give them is an orgasm." (Her praise for the device boosted Babeland's sales of the toy alone by 30 percent.) In 2006, there was a UK mockumentary created about the Rabbit called Rabbit Fever. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the film one out of five stars, calling it "tacky and depressing," while the BBC found the depictions of female masturbation "embarrassingly inadequate." Unsurprisingly, Rabbit Fever did little documentary didn't do much for the sales of the Rabbit, and though it exists as a piece of pop culture to analyze, the documentary chose to use a stereotypical lens but it’s still a piece of pop culture that looked to analyze the toy’s impact on society. However, it used a stereotypical lens that did not accurately depict female masturbation. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with using sex toys daily as long as it’s not interfering with the structure of your day-to-day life. I wouldn’t call myself a “rabbit addict,” but going off of the label, I would venture to say that I may have a “healthy addiction” to my Satisfyer Pro 3. Regardless, toy sales continued to skyrocket in 2006 when Oprah called the Rabbit “‘the Rolls Royce of sex toys.” A how-to guide was also published in 2006 that taught users how to use the Rabbit to get them off to the best of the toy’s ability. This 124-page guide—which helpfully came with free lube—was designed to inspire women to get the most out of their Rabbits with tips on finding your "blended orgasm," using the vibe for nipple-play, and introducing your toy to your partner.
The Future of the Rabbit
The Rabbit almost had no future when in 2008, some US legislatures looked to end society’s love affair with the Rabbit once and for all. Alabama Attorney General Troy King announced that he would single-handedly enforce his state's "official" sex toy ban, which no doubt would have affected the Rabbit, the top-selling toy of the time. King believed that sex toys were “immoral,” and it was his duty to arrest—yes, really—anyone who used them. In response, former Alabama gubernatorial candidate Loretta Nall started a counter-campaign called Toys for Troy, encouraging women to mail their vibrators and dildos directly to the attorney general's office. The Rabbit survived King’s wrongful attack and continues to thrive in 2022. Sex toy manufacturers continue to produce new versions of the Rabbit, some of which are slightly different from the original model. For example, it’s becoming more and more common to see Rabbits coated in non-porous silicone. With the industry's emphasis on body-safe sex toys, non-porous silicone is the new go-to material. Another change to the Rabbit is removing the battery pack altogether and adding a rechargeable feature. More recent rechargeable Rabbits are not only better for the environment and longevity of the toy but also allow more functionality with the motor through thrusting and G-spot “rocking” motions. The innovations of the Rabbit do not stand still in design and application. For example, LELO came with the Soraya Wave, which makes a “come hither” movement and is much sleeker than the original Rabbit. One of the most exciting Rabbit innovations was a model with anal beads attached to the back, making for a 3-in-1 toy that allows for double penetration and clitoral stimulation. I did not know this toy existed until writing this blog, and I may just need to add another vibrator to my arsenal!
By Alyssa Morterud