Women’s History Month, Liberation & the Power of Pleasure

In the midst of everything happening in the world right now, we want to pause and reflect as we enter Women's History Month. And when we say women, we mean all women.

Women’s liberation has always been about more than legislation or actions. It’s about autonomy — over our voices, our labor, our bodies, our community, and yes, our pleasure. During Women’s History Month, we honor not only major political victories, but also the quieter cultural shifts that transformed how people understood themselves and their right to exist fully in the world.

At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge that the women’s movement has not always been inclusive. Historically, mainstream feminism centered cisgender, white, middle-class women while sidelining BIPOC women, trans women, queer communities, disabled women, and others whose experiences of oppression and liberation look different. As we celebrate progress, we both recognize the harm caused by exclusion and the commitment many of us now have to doing better moving forward. Education about intersectional work and what inclusive spaces look like still needs to be prioritized.

Liberation must mean liberation for all.

One unexpected thread in modern feminist history hums (excuse the pun) in the background: the story of the Magic Wand.

Pleasure as Liberation

In the 1970s, the women’s liberation movement challenged deeply ingrained ideas about women’s roles. Activists fought for equal pay, reproductive rights, and protection from discrimination. But liberation was also about something more intimate — confronting the belief that women’s bodies existed primarily for others.

For generations, pleasure — especially women’s pleasure — was treated as taboo or irrelevant. Many people were raised without accurate information about their own anatomy, desire, or sexual health. Wanting pleasure was often framed as shameful, selfish, or unimportant.

Feminist educators and activists pushed back against that narrative. Bodily autonomy includes sexual autonomy. The right to make decisions about our bodies includes the right to understand our bodies, explore them, and experience joy within them.

Why Women’s History Month Exists

Women’s History Month exists because traditional history has long overlooked the lived realities of women and marginalized genders. Not just their public achievements, but their private lives — how they love, survive, heal, create, and find pleasure.

Honoring this history means reclaiming what has been dismissed. It means recognizing that pleasure, curiosity, and self-knowledge are not trivial. They are foundational.
Which brings us to an unexpected cultural artifact.

The Magic Wand

The Hitachi Magic Wand was introduced in 1968 as a “personal massager” for muscle soreness. By the early 1970s, it had quietly found another use. Though sold in department stores and marketed innocently, it became a powerful tool for self-exploration.

Sex educator Betty Dodson — often called “The Mother of Masturbation” — recommended the wand in her 1974 book Liberating Masturbation. Through workshops and education, she encouraged women to understand their bodies without shame.
What started as a back-of-the-shelf appliance became something more radical: a symbol. A tool that allowed people to access pleasure independently, without gatekeeping, without permission.

By the 1980s, the secret was out. Sex educators and activists spoke openly about vibrators as tools of empowerment and bodily autonomy. The cultural conversation had shifted.

Why This Story Matters

We don’t just share the story of the Magic Wand because we are a sex toy store. We share it because it represents a turning point — a moment when claiming pleasure became an act of resistance.

Pleasure is not frivolous.
Pleasure is not shameful.
Pleasure is not exclusive.
And pleasure is not just for one kind of body.

As we reflect during Women’s History Month, we honor the people — across races, genders, and identities — who pushed for a broader understanding of liberation. We celebrate the educators who spoke openly when it wasn’t safe. We recognize the activists who challenged stigma. And we recommit to building a movement rooted in inclusivity, curiosity, and collective growth.

At As You Like It, we believe that pleasure is part of wellness. That education matters. That diversity makes us stronger. And that moving forward together means making space for every body and everybody.
This month — and every month — we celebrate autonomy, joy, community, mutual aid, and the power of knowing yourself.