How Purple Became The Sexiest Color

Society doesn’t urge every female-identifying person to keep a good, little purple dress in their closet. Jessica Rabbit didn’t make young children confused about being attracted to a cartoon character via a glittering purple gown with an impossibly high slit. However, a recent customer survey sex shop Babeland conducted suggests purple is the sexiest sex toy color. It kinda makes sense, though, because purple is also the sexiest color in general. It represents a departure from binary, hetero norms, a creative openness, and duh, royalty. (See also: Prince.) And purple’s rising popularity in regards to mainstream sexuality is a win for sexual progress.

Purple has many cultural correlations. One of which has the color tethered to queer culture, a tie that originated from the "Lavender Scare," during which the federal government instituted a program targeting gay Americans in a purge in which more than 10,000 people lost their jobs. Since then, purple has also been a color worn to show support for LGBTQ youth during GLAAD’s Spirit Day and other occasions. As more and more of society grows to accept the fact that gender is part of a spectrum rather than a binary, purple is the perfect blend of the heteronormative colors associated with specific genders: blue for male, pink for female. In that sense, purple would be situated smack-dab in the middle of the spectrum. 

Additionally, with rising popularity of imagery like unicorns, mermaids, and glitter, millennials are embracing the mainstreaming of queer culture. Meaning, more young people are rejecting hetero norms, even if purchasing goods to be used in heterosexual scenarios. Roles are shifting and traditional hard lines blurring; frankly, that’s healthy for anyone exploring their sexuality in a safe, consensual way, be it through some lavender lacy thong or a collection of violet butt plugs.

Purple represents the sixth chakra (sometimes also referred to as deep indigo, which, tuh-may-toe, tuh-maw-toe), which is the chakra centered around the third eye. This chakra harnesses powers of intuition (certainly helpful while changing up positions and drafting inventive dirty talk on the fly), inner wisdom (if you don’t know where your G spot is, how can you expect a partner to find it?), and extrasensory perception (hello, it’s polite to get your partner[s] off, as well).

Crystals aside, anyone who grew up in the conservative claws of Christian youth group outings, knows “making purple” is shorthand for co-ed mixing, i.e. what happens when male-identifying (blue) and female-identifying (pink) kids get to hang out together. Something is kinda fun about breaking the rules long after your final Jars of Clay sing-along—it adds the feeling of scandal, which, is pretty hot, TBH.

Purple also rarely occurs in nature, making it inherently exotic. What we can't easily have is always desirable, right? This could be why the color is also frequently associated with royalty. And while sex is in many ways available to everyone, depending on your socioeconomic status, the freedom to explore sex without potentially life-altering consequences is something often reserved for the elite few, unfortunately. Which is perhaps why sex toys, which though expensive are risk-free when it comes to diseases, unwanted pregnancy, and emotional attachments, are most popular in purple. They are a healthy, if luxurious, avenue for self-discovery; yes, a $100 lavender ball gag is potentially financially prohibitive, but that kind of decadence can feel super-sexy, which is often just what we need in our lives.