Hi Yana!

I have a general question about a couple or a person beginning to add anal play into their repertoire. Do you have any advice on how one keeps toys and/or fingers clean/separate so the toys for buttplay are kept far away from the vagina or vice versa?

Thanks so much,

Squeaky Clean Cheeks

Dear Squeaky Clean,

Embarking on an anal adventure is exciting and can also be daunting if it’s something you’ve never done before. Anal sex is becoming less taboo in the mainstream sexual conversation for sure, but it’s also still ripe with misinformation, rumors, and hesitations.

In regards to your question about cleanliness, the general rule is that you can go front-to-back (so, vaginal penetration to anal penetration) but you can’t go back-to-front (anal to vaginal penetration) without cleaning your utilized toy/body part and/or changing the condom/glove/dam/etc. that you were using for protection.

This is because though the booty can adapt to vaginal bacteria, the vagina cannot adapt to the certain bacteria unique to the butt. Anal bacteria in the vagina can spark yeast infections, UTIs, and other ailments that occur when the vagina’s pH balance is thrown off. Similarly, you want to keep toys and body parts that have been playing in and around your bum out of your mouth and eyes (I mean, maybe don’t put a dildo in your eye at all, but I suppose that’s a different column entirely).

Cleanliness can be maintained in several different ways. The first is to use toys that are made of a non-porous material such as medical grade silicone, stainless steel, glass, or TPR plastic. These materials are easily cleaned between orifices with soap-and-water. You can also buy a toy cleaner from a sex toy shop that comes in a spray bottle for easy bedside cleaning (spray, let sit, and wipe down with a clean cloth). Easier still, use condoms or gloves on your toys/body parts and switch them out for clean ones before switching activities or moving to vaginal play.

Sex toy materials that are made out of porous materials like jelly rubber or cyberskin are getting more rare now that the sex toy industry is becoming more mainstream, however they do still exist. These porous materials act like a sponge in the sense that they absorb dirt and bacteria that the material holds onto indefinitely. This means that even if you wash porous toys, you can still be transporting harmful bacteria where it shouldn’t be. Use condoms on porous toys or don’t use them at all!

My other suggestion is to have discard towels available bedside if possible…continue reading…