Abstract Introduction Pleasure is one of the most notable reasons people take part in sexual activity. Sex toys and devices may improve and broaden sexual pleasure while also adding alternatives and excitement to sexual intercourse. As a result, they are popular among women, men, and transgender individuals all around the world. Objective This study examined the trends about the most popular preferred sex toys by nation/region from 2009 using data from Google Trends (GT). Methods Since 2004, data on the global search traffic for a given Google query, including time period and category trends, has been provided by GT. GT can generate a “line graph” that displays how interest in a certain region has changed over time. The relative search volume (RSV), which ranges from 0 to 100, is used to index search values for certain terms. RSV 100 displays the largest search trends, while RSV 50 represents half of the searches. The top 5 sex toys used globally were chosen as search phrases. These were “dildo”, “vibrator”, “strap-on”, “anal plug” and “masturbator”. From 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2023, the data was included as “worldwide” under the “global” enquiry category. Using linear regression analysis, each polynomial trend line was evaluated. If the p-value was less than 0.05, the result was deemed significant. Results In the linear regression analysis, the trends by strength were sorted as follows: dildo, vibrator, strap-on, anal plug, and masturbator. In 2018, vibrator surpassed strap-on and came in second, while the regression analysis showed a positive trend for dildo between 2009 and 2016 (p = 0.014). It had a negative trend after 2016. Strap-on was the only one to have a downward trend (p = 0.029) Regression analysis revealed positive trends for vibrator and masturbator (p = 0.030, p = 0.045). The upward trends have continued uninterruptedly since 2009 (Table 1).In global trends, the dildo had strong trends in Northern Europe, vibrator in Eastern Europe, strap-on in the Aegean region, anal plug in South America, and masturbator in Central Europe (Fig. 1). Conclusions People from all around the world use the internet to acquire sex toys and devices with increasing interest in order to improve their sexual pleasure and add alternatives and excitement to sexual intercourse. In this sense, various industries can use web trends as a useful indicator for sales policies. Considering their compatibility with technological development, clinical use and side effect profiles, the most important trend increase was in favor of vibrators, followed by masturbators. Future studies should evaluate the balance of negative and positive effects of different types of sexual products and sales policies with objective scales in line with these results. Disclosure No.
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