Walk into any supermarket, pharmacy or convenience store here and you are likely to come across a mind-boggling range of sex-enhancing products such as vibrating rings, flavoured lubricants and condoms designed to 'stimulate'.
In recent years, not only have these products become more easily available, but there are also more people willing to experiment with them as well.

Ms Christy Soh, a spokesman for condom brand Durex, says that 'attitudes are changing and Singaporeans are becoming more open-minded about purchasing such products publicly'. The shift in attitudes has led to rapidly increasing sales of Durex's pleasure-enhancing vibrators and lubricants.

They are easily found in stores. But you can also order them on the Internet.

There are specialised websites dedicated to providing these products, such as www.shopintimates. com and www. durexplayshop.com.sg, which went live on Feb11 this year.

The family-friendly FairPrice Online also sells a whole range of condoms, from the 'Sensation' range to 'Vibra Ribbed', while Cold Storage Online offers tingling lubricants.

These online stores accept payment through various methods such as cash-on-delivery and PayPal, which means that anyone, even a child, with an Internet connection can buy them easily.

While condoms, vibrators and lubricants are easily accessible, such products are relatively tame compared to what 'hardcore' specialised adult novelty shops have to offer.

These shops sell a menagerie of items, from handcuffs and whips to underwear made of candy.

Previously mostly clustered in Orchard Road or in Geylang, they now spill over into the heartland, with shops opening in Woodlands, Bukit Timah Shopping Centre and Holland Village.

The first Sexpo exhibition in 2005 was labelled groundbreaking, but now hardly anyone bats an eyelid at activites that were formerly considered risque, such as bar-top dancing, pole dancing or dirty dancing at nightspots.

Ms Mabel Chan, a co-founder of the adult novelty shop Shop Intimates, says that Singaporeans are certainly becoming less inhibited.

Shop Intimates started off as an online business but has since moved to a showroom in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre as 'the less shy customers said that they wanted to touch and see the size of the product before buying'.

She adds that the purchase of adult novelties is not restricted to the younger crowd, and 'there are even old aunties who come to buy'.

But does this truly mean that Singaporeans are ready to accept pleasure-enhancing vibrators in supermarkets?

Ms See Su Ming, 40, a secretary and mother of an eight-year-old and a five-year-old, does not think so.

'I never noticed that supermarkets sold these things, but I don't think that it's appropriate,' she says.

'Supermarkets should be family-friendly. Perhaps such products could be sold at specialist shops.'

Ms Belinda Chan, 48, a secretary and mother of two teenagers, 16 and 17, agrees.

'Of course I'm concerned about my children experimenting with such gadgets. It would be better if they were sold in more controlled environments, with age limits,' she suggests.

lting@sph.com.sg

This story was first published in The Mind Your Body supplement on Apr 2, 2008.