If schoolchildren in Hong Kong want to get educated about the subject of flora and fauna, they will be given educational videos and reading materials, among others. But when focus starts shifting on reproduction - including disease prevention - nothing is presented, let alone the idea that that sexual contact brings pleasure.
According to the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based couple Alison Tan Ka-kei and Sotiris Tsouris are about to launch a crowdfunding drive to finance Cunni. The latter is an intuitive new sex toy designed with women in mind. "Diving for pearls," "eating the peach," or even "twitching the velvet curtain" - there is a tendency to skirt the subject instead of confronting it head-on, so to speak.
Tan was quoted saying, "The goal of the toy is for people to learn and articulate what they like without the pressure of a partner. It's up to individuals to decide what's good for them as consenting adults with other consenting adults."
The pair hopes to dispel taboos and get couples to start talking about an activity they may have found embarrassing with the aid of their app-linked device, which remotely replicates any pattern the finger draws on the screen of a smartphone.
A millennial Masters and Johnson, product designer Tsouris and Tan, a former art director, extensively tested each iteration of the product before settling on the final design - blush-toned, carrot-shaped and more closely resembling a stylish ear thermometer than any kind of human appendage.
While the device can be used for penetrative purposes, the magic lies in the articulated, silicone nib - a mechanical "tongue" - at one end, controlled using three buttons on the device for preset motions, or operated remotely via the app, where patterns can be customized, SNEWSI reports.
"The goal of the toy is for people to learn and articulate what they like without the pressure of a partner. It's up to individuals to decide what's good for them as consenting adults with other consenting adults," Tan says, emphasising the importance of being able to express one's own desires while accepting those of others: "We want to send the message that you shouldn't yuck anyone else's yums, or yuck your own yums."
Although stigma around women's sexuality is present not only in Hong Kong but also across the globe, Tan believes it is particularly prevalent in Asian culture. She attributes her open-mindedness to a westernized upbringing, having attended international schools in Shanghai and Singapore before going to university in the United States.
"I was always very curious about sex and I never felt outright shame, but that's tied into stereotypes around Asian female sexuality and I delighted in rebelling against that by being promiscuous," she says.
