For five years, TikTok has had one favorite sex toy: the rose toy. It’s just what it sounds like—a sex toy designed to look like a cartoonish red rose. Not only have videos about the toy gone viral, it’s referenced in comments for thirst trap videos, clips from Heated Rivalry, and smutty—sorry, “spicy”—romance novel recommendations. The rose emoji has even become a kind of shorthand for all sex toys, as in “how i be literally 9 seconds into using my 🌹.”
The rose toy is so popular that it inspired dozens of lookalike knockoffs; many of them better-reviewed than the original design. These knockoffs are carried by multiple dropshipping companies and are potentially made from unsafe materials. They all work similarly: The rose toy is essentially a type of suction vibrator with a cute design, pulsing air to create a sensation some say feels like oral sex.
Whether the rose toy will blow your mind depends solely on how you feel about suction vibrators. While some people love the sensation, for others, it just doesn’t do much. Suction toys are a relatively new invention—the first version was created by German brand Womanizer in 2014. So some may be less used to them than they are to traditional bullet vibes, rabbits and wands.
In my years as a sex and relationships writer, suction vibes are usually the kind I see go viral. In 2019, Tracy’s Dog, a rabbit vibe with a suction setting, came out. Back in the ’90s, the Sex and the City generation had the rabbit—the Season One episode, “The Turtle and the Hare” made the bunny-eared toy an instant classic (and gave the brand Vibratex an over 700% jump in sales). Today we have emoji-shaped suction toys we learned about from 30-second TikTok videos.
If suction vibes are your thing, they’re likely really your thing, and you might even pen elaborate odes to their mind-blowing powers in Amazon review sections and TikTok videos. You’d describe how they changed your life; made you leave your unsatisfying marriage; or brought your libido back from the dead.
“It would feel wrong to gatekeep how f**ing good it is,” said one TikToker in a video that’s been viewed over 250,000 times. “I have put all my friends on, and they’ve all thanked me. But I will also warn you, it will never be the same with a man again, OK?”
However, suction toys can be polarizing. While many adore the sensation, others describe it as an itchy or tickly feeling. It’s simply a matter of knowing what kind of feeling you prefer. For those who prefer direct stimulation, the Maude vibe—which went semi-viral in 2021—might be a better choice.
After years of rose-toy dominance, a new and just as cutesy sex toy is becoming TikTok’s new favorite this year: the lemon toy, a vibrator that looks just like a lemon. Like the rose toy, this isn’t a particular brand but a genre of toy. Two of the more popular versions are the Le’Moan by Good Vibrations and the Lem by Nancy. The Good Vibrations product page even has a “as seen on TikTok!” note.
Like the rose toy, the lemon toy is a suction vibrator with many different settings, and it, too, is easily represented on TikTok via emoji.
“The 🌹 be having me praying to God now they got a 🍋 toy??? I’m finna have a whole garden on my dresser 😩😩😩😩,” reads one TikTok video.
The cutesy emojis may be exactly why the toys are going viral on TikTok. The platform has a reputation for filtering adult content, leading to the proliferation of “algospeak”—code words, like “unalived” for killed and “seggs” for sex.
Adam Aleksic, author of The New York Times bestseller Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language, told The New York Times: “Algorithms are really affecting every aspect of modern language change.”
It seems like they may be affecting sex-toy design too. Showing more phallic toys like rabbits or dildos might draw negative algorithmic attention in a way that a fruit- or flower-shaped toy doesn’t. So what’s next: a tomato toy? The broccoli? We’ll have to wait and see how long it takes for TikTok to fill a whole grocery aisle with buzzing, pulsing, viral products.
