Seeking to change the conversation around female sexuality, Polly Rodriguez and Sarah Jayne Kinney co-founded sexual wellness brand Unbound in 2014. The duo began creating affordably priced, fashion-forward vibrators, lubricants and sex accessories for women, and the latest edition to their lineup, Palma, continues the trend.
The $128 waterproof ring features five unique vibration settings that utilize a patent-pending haptic technology (you know, like your iPhone). Available in two body-safe finishes — silver and electroplated 14k gold — the bauble looks more like a piece of sculptural costume jewelry than anything else, which is entirely the point.
“We wanted to create a piece that stood on its own as a beautiful accessory, but also packed a punch,” Rodriguez told Vogue. “After over a year of sketching and drawing, we landed on a geometric-shaped ring. From there, we had to put together the circuit board and feature settings that would distinguish it as more than just a motor-based ring vibrator.”
The bauble joins Unbound’s extensive collection of wearables, accessories and personal care products (think: handcuffs that double as bangles, mantra-emblazoned blindfolds and glycerin-, paraben- and petrochemical-free jellies). There is also a magazine and quarterly subscription box that thematically curates a few of the brand’s offerings and ships them directly to members’ doorsteps.
Unbound was born out of Rodriguez’s own sexual health experience in the aftermath of the her colorectal cancer diagnosis in her early 20s that dramatically changed her body and relationship with it.
“Each of us is motivated to change the stigmas associated with sexual health for different reasons. For me, it was going through menopause at 21 as a result of radiation treatment for cancer and ending up at a seedy shop on the side of the highway trying to buy lube and a vibrator,” she told TechCrunch. “My doctors didn’t tell me I was going through menopause, only that I wouldn’t have children. As I got older, I realized that had I been a man, that conversation would have gone very differently … because we view male sexuality has a health need and female sexuality as a vice.”
Rodriquez said that she knew Unbound had struck a chord when the brand’s initial line of wearable sex accessories sold out, and she’s still on a mission to chisel away at the stereotypes.
“Our dream at Unbound is for female sexual health to be viewed through the same lens as male sexuality,” she told TechCrunch. “[It should be seen] as a part of our overall health that deserves a conversation, platform and shopping experience that doesn’t feel like a flaming pile of garbage.”
