Women suffering sexual problems ranging from a general lack of desire to severe genital deformity are being prescribed vibrators on the National Health Service to help them rediscover their sex drive.
One of Britain's most eminent consultants in sexual dysfunction has also begun regularly referring his patients to a London sex shop for advice on exploring their bodies - with the range of sex toys available.
'Almost half of all women suffer from a sexual dysfunction, and sex shops and their accoutrements could be a vital part of their therapy,' said Dr David Goldmeier, consultant and lead clinician in sexual function at London's St Mary's Hospital.
Goldmeier initiated a meeting with Sh!, the women's erotic emporium in London's East End, after discovering its website on the Internet. 'We have a symbiotic relationship,' he said. 'Sh! is a nice boutique that carries our leaflets and, in turn, we recommend women to them when it's appropriate.
'Neither sex toys nor these shops are snigger-worthy at all,' he added. 'Sex toys stimulate areas that nothing else can reach and so, although I imagine there are women who are not dysfunctional and who just like sex toys, for those with a genuine problem such items are enormously important.'
Although one in three women now owns a vibrator - according to recent research by Ann Summers sex shop - the instrument's use in medical circles remains controversial.
'Vibrators are completely a new concept for almost all of the doctors and nurses I come across,' said Sh! manager Angel Zatorski.
'We're trying to educate the NHS about what products are traditionally available through sex shops and how these products can help with patient aftercare,' she said. 'All the current medical implements used for dilating vaginas are frightening, uncomfortable things that look like a cross between toilet brushes and medieval torture implements.
'We've been showing doctors tiny, pink things made from jelly that do the same things and have introduced them to all the different materials, sizes and shapes these things come in,' she added.
Although vibrators started life as a medical tool back in 1883, Zatorski says that the majority of medical experts she has spoken to had never seen a vibrator before she arrived at their offices with her 'party bag'. 'I find their lack of knowledge utterly astonishing,' she said. 'These people have been practically wiping the cobwebs out of their eyes.'
Since Goldmeier's approach last year, Sh! has been contacted by NHS trusts up and down the country; most recently by the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield where Dr Diana Fothergill, a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, last week ordered two different vibrators. She hopes they will help women with genital organs damaged by surgery or birth defects.
'It's something I have never purchased before - and I've been here for years,' said Paula Sleeth, product manager at the hospital, who last week ordered a four-inch, hard plastic Mikro Vibe and a similarly sized Mini Jelly G vibrator from Sh!.
'It seemed quite natural of these doctors to call us,' said Zatorski. 'Doctors jump at these so-called toys because they don't look like penises; they do the dilating job as well as the implements they use at the moment and also work as vibrators, which is an added benefit.'
