Advertisement

'Good news' about sex lubricants

By LOU MARANO
Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- University of Washington sociologist Pepper Schwartz has become Johnson & Johnson's paid lubricant queen, touting a new line of K-Y friction-busters for the pharmaceutical giant.

But you wouldn't know about the product line or Schwartz's apparently sincere enthusiasm for it from the firm's curious ad campaign, which takes the form of a national sex survey. The study's main finding seems to be that (guess what?) "personal lubricants are modern day love potions for many Americans."

Advertisement

It took a phone call to Schwartz at her horse and llama ranch outside Snoqualmie, Wash., to get the inside story. But first, the survey.

Johnson & Johnson, makers of K-Y Brand liquids and jelly, commissioned Harris Interactive "to gather information on the interests, issues and challenges facing couples and the quest for long-lasting relationships," according to promotional materials distributed by LaForce & Stevens, a New York-based public relations firm. The survey was conducted by means of telephone interviews with more than 1,000 couples (women and men) ages 18 to 49.

Advertisement

Of course, the results of all such studies are skewed because of self-selected samples. Many people simply would refuse to talk to strangers on the phone about their sex lives. It's possible those who do agree to talk are less inhibited and more exhibitionist than the population as a whole.

Some of the interpretations in the "study findings" provided by LaForce & Stevens are puzzling. For example, under the heading "Welcome to Fantasy Island!" are the words, "American couples are loyal -- in their fantasies. More than one-third of men (34 percent) and women (36 percent) fantasize about their significant other when thinking about sex." But doesn't this mean two-thirds are thinking about somebody else?

The press release says it's "surprising" that one in four Americans "would give up a perfect body in exchange for lifelong ground-moving sex." Some, however, would find it surprising that three-fourths of the population would turn down such a deal. After all, what good is a "perfect" body (whatever that is) if not to attract cosmic sex?

"Even more shocking is that fact that one in 10 Americans admitted that they would give up a kidney ... if a genie would grant them a lifetime of great sex," it says. Well, you only need one anyway.

Advertisement

In LaForce & Stevens' promotional literature, Schwartz "shares insights on relationships and intimacy." For her these findings show "the extremely important role sex plays in a relationship." How much did Johnson & Johnson have to pay her to tell us this?

"Let's face it -- even great relationships get stale," Schwartz is quoted as saying. So how do couples keep the fires burning? According to the study, 45 percent of respondents use personal lubricants in order to keep their relationship sexy.

"It's very important to keep sex fun in a relationship, especially when you've been together for a number of years," Schwartz continues, helpfully. One way to make sex fun "is with simple romantic gestures such as kissing, bathing together, even massaging one another."

Schwartz, the author of 12 books and numerous scholarly articles, has genuine academic credentials and professional standing in her field. In a phone interview, the cynical reporter asked why Johnson & Johnson had to pay her to tell the world that sex is important in a relationship.

She replied that she was being paid "to get the good news out about lubrication. I want to tell people about that."

News? Lubrication? It turns out the reporter was not so much cynical as naïve. Schwartz said two new products on the market are significant improvements on what has been available until now.

Advertisement

"Lack of lubrication inhibits a lot of sex life and makes a lot of what people do less enjoyable," she said. "Anybody who wants to pay me to go out and talk about lubrication -- I'm happy to do that." She wouldn't do it for a tobacco company. She has to believe in the product, and she used it before they started paying her to promote it.

"It also matters what kind of lubrication you use," she said. "What I really like -- what I think is both sexier and more useful -- is something that feels like it's your natural lubrication."

She didn't like the "old" K-Y jelly, which she associates with fitting diaphragms and proctology exams. But she considers some relatively new products appropriate for sexual use.

"One's called K-Y Silk-E (with vitamin E), another is K-Y liquid, and then there's K-Y Extra Long Lasting liquid."

Does the "long lasting" liquid have some kind of local anesthetic?

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is so if you have a lot of sex, and a lot of thrusting, and you're going to be at it for a while, it's there with you."

The new products "remind you of being turned on. In fact, you can't even tell if it's you or the substance producing the slickness," she said. "There's a psychological element there that's very cool, I think. These products feel like you -- at least they feel like me."

Advertisement

And the new lubricants are not just for those postmenopausal women who are having problems. "Do all pre-menopausal women lubricate enough for a long session of sex," Schwartz asked rhetorically, "or if they got woken up but haven't had time to get to their full aroused state? They're interested. They're just not completely compos mentis.

"I really feel that there are a lot of women of all ages who get abraded and stop sex sooner than they would or associate it with pain."

Schwartz also discussed physiological and psychological factors that sometimes lead to misunderstandings.

"Lubrication is to women as erectile capability is to men," she said. "If a man doesn't have an erection, sometimes it means absolutely nothing. But the woman's thinking, 'What's wrong? What's wrong?' And he's thinking, 'What's wrong? What's wrong?'

"If a woman isn't lubricating, he's thinking something's wrong, and she's thinking something's wrong. But there's a zillion reasons for not lubricating that have nothing to do with where you're going to get to if you don't let it psychologically bother you in the first place."

For example, she said, women don't realize if they are taking an antihistamine "it's not just their nose that dries up."

Advertisement

Schwartz's good news about lubrication is "not to be hung up on this."

Latest Headlines