# Ladies: Are Ben Wa balls all that? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260 "2009-06-09T22:24:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/21 "2009-06-10T22:54:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think _somebody_ needs some Ben-Wa balls. [Fry]Is it me?[/Fry] ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/22 "2009-06-10T22:59:52Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I was an unintending participant in a conversation between a bunch of female nurses recently, where the majority (3 of 3) of those speaking declared that Ben Wa balls really were not terribly fun to play with. Their auto-erotic qualities were dismissed pretty much across the board. > > The accompanying opinion asserted by two of the RNs was that those vibrating ‘bullets’ on a string were however, quite prized and delivered a lot of ‘bang for the buck’. The other RN had not tried that particular variety, having been disappointed by the Ben Wa performance, so offered no opinion. > > It was at that point that my ‘expert’ opinion was solicited as to the physiology behind the whole dichotomy. > > I pretty much winged it, talking about ‘passive’ vs. ‘active’ stimulation of the Grafenberg spot, potential malpositioning of the two Ben Wa balls leading to suboptimal performance, and the liberating power of modern AAA batteries. > > My answers mollified the queries somewhat, but I was charged with researching the whole Ben Wa topic in greater depth. Some tentative research indicates that said balls were really more of an aid for Kegel exercises (to tighten up the pelvic sling muscles and enhance sensation), not an erotic device in their own right. But other sources claim that when used properly, the Ben Wa items are without peer for auto-erotic pleasure. > > So: Can any of our dopers confirm or rebut the opinions put forth above? Firsthand reports are most prized, but cites of scholarly literature are always appreciated, and secondhand anecdotal accounts will not be rejected out of hand. > > [sub]I swear, RNs talk about sex more than adolescent males. And Prison RNs _never_ blush![/sub] Don’t know, never slept with Ben Wa. 😃 And never employed his balls in any other sense, either, but I imagine that the attraction has more to do with the thrill men get from putting stuff inside women than the thrill women get from having said stuff put inside them. Maybe some women really get off on them/it, but it seems a bit of a reach to me for something that tends to come naturally to me. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/23 "2009-06-10T23:40:50Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > I know I’ll probably sound like Chief No-Fun (yet again), but . . . **Qadgop** , man, I like you and respect you a lot. Given the perceived power disparity between nurses and doctors, and the gender difference between you and the nurses, and the fact the converstion is overtly sexual, and the fact that you work with these ladies . . . . I would be very leery about continuing this sort of conversation in the work place. > > Feel free to disregard, of course. I’m not trying to get in your bidness or anything. Oh, this did _not_ happen at work! Nor do I even work with them. That’d be problematic. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/24 "2009-06-10T23:48:57Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > I imagine that the attraction has more to do with the thrill men get from putting stuff inside women than the thrill women get from having said stuff put inside them. Maybe some women really get off on them/it, but it seems a bit of a reach to me for something that tends to come naturally to me. 😛 Both women asserted that it was the solitary enjoyment of said vibrating bullet that they appreciated. So it appears safe to remove the “maybe” from your statement. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/25 "2009-06-11T00:51:24Z")
Hmm, maybe. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/26 "2009-06-11T05:11:37Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Aren’t you confusing them with beads? No, balls. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/27 "2009-06-15T20:17:42Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > No, balls. How small must a ball be before it’s a bead? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/28 "2009-06-15T20:58:39Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > How small must a ball be before it’s a bead? It’s the long-lost lyric to “Blowin’ in the Wind!” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/29 "2009-06-16T02:16:11Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > How small must a ball be before it’s a bead? That’s a bit personal, innit? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/30 "2009-06-16T03:02:12Z")
I was in the supermarket bread aisle a few years back, fairly late at night. _clack_ rllllllllllllll… My attention caught, I looked down and see this little gold ball bearing is rolling along. Now, I’m a dude, and so I did what dudes naturally do in this situation — I kicked it. RRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLlllllllllllllllllllllll… I lost track of it after my first kick, partly because I became somewhat self-conscious: a woman was in the aisle watching me (yet not _looking_ at me), and she seemed quite, well, agitated. Not mad per se, but it seemed to me she was clearly uncomfortable with me playing in the store. It was a couple aisles later that I had one of those Waitasecond…wasthatwhatIthinkitwas…nowaititcouldn’tbe…whahhhh? moments. Never did backtrack to investigate and didn’t run into her again. Still not completely sure what happened. Oddly, it was the same place where I’d occasionally run into John Ashcroft. No connection to the above. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260/31 "2009-06-16T04:28:32Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > > [@Freudian Slit](#): > > > > How small must a ball be before it’s a bead? > > That’s a bit personal, innit? ☹ I was going to say something provocative, but frankly I don’t have the beads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-are-ben-wa-balls-all-that/499260.md?page=1)