Sex blanket or dog blanket?
May 10, 2020 2:00 AM   Subscribe

I want to buy a waterproof sex blanket like the Liberator Fascinator. The Fascinator as a product marketed for sex purposes is very expensive (£110-120) compared to products that appear similar but are marketed as pet incontinence blankets (£15-20). Is there any reason why I should pay an extra £100 for the sex-specific version? Some TMI inside.

I've increasingly become a squirter as this life goes on, even more so since I bought myself a Lelo Sona Cruise 2 as a pandemic treat. Cramming a towel between my legs beforehand and hoping for the best is no longer cutting it, and I'd like the option of some idle before-bed funtime without having to worry about sleeping in the wet patch.

So, is there any specific benefit to the Liberator Fascinator or its ilk (this seems to be the only brand of waterproof sex blanket available in the UK, where I'm based) that would justify spending an extra £100 on it compared to a washable pet incontinence blanket like this one (or even reusable puppy pads like these)?

I can't tell if the Fascinator comes with features worth the price tag (...blanket features?) or if this is one of those times where the manufacturer feels they can command a high price compared to what the product actually is/does because people are willing to pay a markup to feel fancy/sexy?

For what it's worth, I'm generally fairly impervious to marketing that isn't based on actual value that I can perceive, and I'm not the kind of person who is going to get £100 extra value out of a blanket that has sexy branding vs a blanket designed to stop dog urine from leaking on one's stuff. I want something with a reasonably soft and pleasant texture, but it looks like many of the cheapo dog pee blanket options would do this as well as the Fascinator would.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's used a Liberator Fascinator (or, indeed, a dog incontinence solution!), as well as any other ways folks have solved this problem that I may not have thought of. In case this is relevant to anyone's responses, I'm AFAB non-binary, a person with a clitoris rather than a woman.
posted by anonymous to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Chux are fairly common in certain circles for this use; they’re kind of the human version of disposable puppy pads.

There are non-disposable options as well - when my husband had surgery a few years back, I got a plastic-backed blanket-type thing to put under him in case of any incision leaks; it would work really well for what you’re describing. I think it was just called a “bed pad”. It was *not* expensive.
posted by okayokayigive at 4:30 AM on May 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


Coming at this from a slightly different angle, as a life-long epileptic. The short answer is “not a damn thing”. I’ve used all sorts of under padding, and the dog ones are just as good as human grade. Mostly it’s about how willing you are to hand wash it. Re-usable ones are way more absorbent, but one-and-done has it’s place.
posted by whowearsthepants at 5:16 AM on May 10, 2020 [2 favorites]


Ironically, I bought myself a couple of Liberator throw blankets several years ago specifically for protecting my bed from my cat's unfortunate tendency to poop on my bed when she was having butt pain due to persistent issues with her anal glands getting impacted. But they weren't as insanely expensive at the time (also I'm not sure I even thought to search for pet-specific or incontinence-specific blankets, because apparently I had less brains than money after being surprised for the umpteenth time by cat poop on my bedding too late at night to be able to run the laundry).

I agree that there's no real significant advantage to the Liberator over an inexpensive dog blanket, the price is just for the aesthetic, and the 'stealth' nature in that they look nice and have both a fuzzy side and a satin side.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:23 AM on May 10, 2020 [1 favorite]


I remember someone claiming that a plain microfleece blanket was sufficiently water-resistant for this use for her. That seems like a big YMMV but microfleece throws are very cheap and much easier to wash than blankets that have PUL in them so it seems worth a try.
posted by needs more cowbell at 6:28 AM on May 10, 2020 [1 favorite]


As oh yeah! points out, the Liberator has a satin and a fleece side. The big difference (depending on the brand of pet blanket) is that you may find a blanket designed for fur is too coarse for soft skin of the human butt.

There's no reason why you couldn't get a cheap pet blankie and put a satin sheet over it, or something softer, if you found it coarse. But that's part of the appeal of the Liberator - it feels really nice on the skin.
posted by Jilder at 7:16 AM on May 10, 2020


Years ago when I worked as a care assistant in an old folks' home (also in the UK), we used sheets known as Kylies on the beds of folk with incontinence. They have a nice soft cushiony (absorbent) top layer and a waterproof backing, and are designed to be machine washable. The soft fabric top layer is much more comfortable and gentler on the skin than the disposable version - tissue paper against your skin can be rough, especially once you've moved around on top of it and got crinkles in it. They don't cover the whole bed, you just put them over the middle section where the damp is likely to be. Google 'Kylie sheet' and you'll find plenty - I'm seeing them costing about £15. For some reason they're always pink or blue. Now I google it, I learn that apparently Kylie was just the leading brand of these and became the generic name.
posted by penguin pie at 9:30 AM on May 10, 2020


Softness and pliability, as others have mentioned; there's also difference in acreage. In your links, the Liberator is 72" x 54", the Glenndarcy Minkie pet blanket is 57" x 39.5", and the PI mat is 35"x32". If anchoring the material (with your body, or by tucking one end under the mattress or chair cushion) is important, maybe look into "oversized/XL" pet blankets and mats.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:16 AM on May 10, 2020


+1 that the blankets designed for (human) incontinence are absolutely fine and effective for this purpose and are much cheaper! I usually put the blanket down, then a towel on top of that so it's a softer surface.
posted by ITheCosmos at 12:18 PM on May 10, 2020


Liberator manufactures their products in-house, and pays their employees very well, if that makes a difference to you.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 5:44 PM on May 10, 2020


i've used disposable puppy pads and reusable adult incontinence pads and a liberator throw. they all work about the same in terms of absorbancy, but the liberator throw feels nice. it's not scratchy like the incontinence pad and it's not a literal fucking puppy pad from petsmart. i bought my throw on sale and got it for about $100 and they run sales often. i do feel it is a bit overpriced, but it feels more like a "sex accessory" than "you need an incontinence pad so you don't ruin the sheets and bed" thing which makes me feel not sexy.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 7:54 AM on May 11, 2020


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