From filthy to healthy and beyond: finding the boundaries of taboo destruction in sex toy buying

Taboo in consumption: Social structure, gender and sustainable menstrual products

“…Taboos have existed in society for a long time and are likely to affect consumption choices (Larsen & Patterson, ; Michelson & Miller, ; Sabri, Manceau, & Pras, ). Consider for example, buying gender toys (Piha, Hurmerinta, Sandberg, & Jarvinen, ), food consumption censured by religion (Muhamad & Mizerski, ), or the purchase of condoms (Nguyen, Parker, Brennan, & Clements, ). Each of these products while used by several consumer groups remains shrouded in taboo.…”

“…Despite the significance of consumption taboos, consumer research on the topic remains patchy (Larsen & Patterson, ; Larsen, Patterson, Sabri, & Walther, ; Michelson & Miller, ; Piha et al, ; Sabri et al, ). Extant literature on taboo in consumption focuses on three topics—taboo products, communication of such products and taboo trade‐offs (see Table ).…”

“…Extant literature on taboo in consumption focuses on three topics—taboo products, communication of such products and taboo trade‐offs (see Table ). Research in taboo products has received the most attention (Amos & Haglund, ; Broussard & Harton, ; Diana, Rachmayanti, Anwar, Khomsan, & Christianti, ; McGraw, Schwartz, & Tetlock, ; Muhamad & Mizerski, ; Nguyen et al, ; Piha et al, ; Yalkin & Veer, ). Studies on this issue identify either how individual consumers have broken away from taboos and divorced themselves from shame and immorality or how taboos have deleteriously affected the consumption of taboo products.…”

“…Studies on this issue identify either how individual consumers have broken away from taboos and divorced themselves from shame and immorality or how taboos have deleteriously affected the consumption of taboo products. In regard to the confounding nature of taboos, some studies suggest that such consumption facilitates transformation (Piha et al, ; Yalkin & Veer, ). In other situations, taboos are well‐entrenched and cannot be transgressed (Broussard & Harton, ; Muhamad & Mizerski, ).…”

“…Menstrual products are of an intimate nature. Studies related to taboos surrounding intimate products also suggest that marketing such products is challenging (Nguyen et al, ) as there are multiple forces operating at the individual and societal level which need to be overcome to break taboos (Piha et al, ). However, the focus of studies on intimate products has been on understanding how the destruction of taboos at a societal level or individual negotiations of taboos, have facilitated consumption, but neglect how such taboos can inhibit consumption.…”