Josh Ortiz of XR Brands, via his “Dear DadBodDom” SE column, answers retailers’ most pressing questions. In this issue, a retailer asks about the function of positioning aids, so that they can recommend the shapes and sizes best suited for the end-consumers’ pleasure pursuits.
(Note: This story appears in the April 2024 issue of SE Magazine)
D
ear DadBodDom: My store has started selling positioning aids, but I have no idea how to market them. What positions should one use for what? How does a pillow heighten pleasure? Please explain the logistics of positioning aids! – Confused (Location anonymous)
A: Dear Confused: Thank you so much for this question! Positioning aids are some of my favorite tools in my personal arsenal of pleasure. There are far more uses than just one or two positions during sex, so thank you for giving me a moment to highlight some of them!
“The greatest feature of positioning aids has infinite possibilities — they hold their shape indefinitely without flattening.”
– Josh Ortiz
There are a plethora of shapes and sizes in positioning aids, making the variety of their uses absolutely endless. One of the first questions we’re going to want to answer is, “What makes this different or better than just a regular pillow?” And the simple answer is that it’s different by design. A standard bed pillow is meant to support your noggin during sleep, and its varieties are based solely on the different positions in which we sleep. A side sleeper is going to look for a specific pillow designed for just that position — on their side, sleeping.
During intimate acts, I’d like to think we’re moving more than when we are while sleeping and with greater pressure applied to the pillows. Think about it for a second: when we’re ready to prop up in bed and watch a movie, we’ve got to hunt for every available pillow in the zip code and create a nest of them for one major reason — the weight flattens them out! Pillows for sleeping are filled with feathers or foams and meant to cave in and cradle, not stay rigid and hold up.
The wedges and aids on the market today are meant for use in all levels of intimacy and comfort. During penetrative sex, placing a wedge under the bottom of the person being penetrated helps raise their body up to meet their partner’s. It helps reduce the amount of times our partners have to readjust or realign their bodies, as well as reduce the frequency of the ol’ slip and slide.
A single cushion not only makes positioning more comfortable for one partner, it does so for both. Being able to rest your entire body weight, and not worry over how many centimeters they need to lift their butt off the sheet, allows a person to get lost in the sensations of the moment.
Positioning aids make every intimate act so much more comfortable for every kind of body. My age starts with a 4, and at that age, our backs replace every vertebrae with a poorly stacked tower of shale pebbles and broken bottle glass. And for folks with other forms of limited mobility, sometimes the extra few inches of support from something sturdy is the difference in their ability to remain independent.
Let’s move outside of the intimate scope for a second here, and back to the movie time pillow example. These wedges and cushions are STURDY, and an absolute game changer for simple relaxation, as well! Tucking a wedge against your lower back, one up under your knees or under a hip can help make relaxation and recovery far more comfortable. On days when I experience significant pain levels and finally force myself to rest, positioning aids are what I reach for. They can support my weight, while pressing a heating pad or ice pack into my back. The greatest feature of positioning aids has infinite possibilities — they hold their shape indefinitely without flattening.
If we can open our horizons to ideas outside of the bedroom, we can make these products far more relatable to our end consumer, while also offering them something that can impact their lives for the better overall.
If you have a question you’d like to see featured in Dear DadBodDom, please send them via email to TheDadBodDom@gmail.com and you may see yours answered next! Josh Ortiz is a Sex Educator & Brand Ambassador in the pleasure product industry.
