If you haven’t heard of Le Wand Massager, you’re not the only one. That’s because we rarely hear about sex toys that center a woman’s pleasure.
Take, for example, the Hitachi Magic Wand. It was largely created as a back massager and inadvertently became a great vibrator, despite Hitachi’s personal embarrassment over this fact. Le Wand Massager, though, is not trying to mask its intentions. It improves on the Magic Wand Rechargeable’s fundamental design to be nothing else but a pleasure-making vibrator for women—and it’s created by a woman, B-Vibe founder Alicia Sinclair.
On Le Wand, there are 10 vibration speeds alone, plus 20 different vibration patterns. This means Le Wand Massager is incredibly versatile thanks to its range in intensity. Want a weak vibration to help you reach that edge? Go for it. Need something a bit more powerful to really get your blood pumping? You can choose that, too. It’s like Sinclair and her team are going out of their way to give women more control over their cums.
But the more I learned about Le Wand, the more I began to wonder—how does the toy stack up for non-op transgender women like myself?
The Magic Wand Rechargeable is still considered one of the best sex toys for pre-op and non-op trans women’s bodies, and it’s received recommendations everywhere from writer Zinnia Jones to Reddit’s r/asktransgender. That’s because estrogen changes our genitalia by weakening our erections and atrophying our penile muscles, leaving many trans women unable to orgasm without help from the Magic Wand’s deep vibrations that reach the prostate or stimulate the penile dorsal nerve.
But that doesn’t mean the Magic Wand can’t be improved upon.
Le Wand does what the Magic Wand won’t
I decided to get some hands-on time with both wands—and it turns out, there’s quite a difference.
For one, Le Wand’s design really is a noticeable improvement. It has a flexible neck and a softer, malleable head, which lets its vibrations resonate through the user’s body while minimizing pain from overstimulation or friction. In comparison, the Magic Wand Rechargeable’s vibrating tip feels harder and cheaper. So from the start, Le Wand Massager felt more comfortable for me when applied directly on my clit (a common term used to refer to a trans woman’s penis), whereas I usually needed a towel or sheet over my body while laying down to dampen the Magic Wand Rechargeable’s intense vibrations on my skin.
The 10 vibration speeds help, too. For those unfamiliar with the Magic Wand Rechargeable, the latest Magic Wand has a tendency to overstimulate. That’s because the wand’s four settings are “too low, a bit less low, too much, and way too much.” That means the Magic Wand can cause some unpleasant chaffing during use, plus it can leave the user feeling like more attention is being placed on their genitals than needed, which can ruin any masturbation session.
Meanwhile, there’s a lot more control in the user’s hands with Le Wand. During longer marathon sessions that require more time and patience, I would find myself flicking from one vibration speed to the next, starting soft, ramping up, then going back down, trying to hit that perfect sweet spot. I loved that—it made me feel like I was in charge of my orgasms every time.
Plus, as someone who overstimulates very quickly, Le Wand’s softer vibrations felt soothing and kept me from tapping out too soon. Conversely, with two of the Rechargeable’s vibrations way too intense for me, I felt like I was always compromising every time I pulled the vibrator out.
More than anything, though, Le Wand Massager just feels better to use. It’s much easier to reach a climax, and building up to one is much more natural, too. As a result, orgasms feel fuller and more rewarding because they’re less stressful and painful. It doesn’t hurt that they’re faster, too. With the Magic Wand, I just ended up feeling like my clit was about to be shaved off if I bumped up higher than the third setting. That wasn’t the case with Le Wand Massager.
Should other trans women grab the Le Wand?
But while I loved Le Wand, I’m cautious to give it a broad seal of approval for all transgender women. So I chatted with Octavia Leona Kohner, a sex educator in New York City.
Kohner persuaded me to grab the Magic Wand Rechargeable over the original in the past, but when I told her I was trying out Le Wand, I was surprised to hear that she still recommended the Magic Wand Rechargeable for her non-op and pre-op customers. Of course, as a trans woman who uses estrogen and identifies as non-op, I thought it strange that Kohner would still push for a wand developed without sexual pleasure in mind than one specifically geared toward women. But there’s a reason why—and it has a lot to do with how non-op trans women’s genitals are built.
“The thing about non-op trans women is that our nerves are essentially spread out in a larger area, so it requires greater coverage,” Kohner explained to me. “And the kind of vibrations that can be really helpful for helping us climax or orgasm, or even get close to it, need a little more dispersal. Or the areas that need special attention, like the perineum [the area between the anus and the scrotum] and the frenulum [the tissue on the penis’ underside where the shaft and tip meet], they’re also going to need a specific kind of touch. And it’s very different for every body, but generally lower frequency, more rumbly vibrations are appreciated.”
Most wands hit a large, encompassing surface area vibration. That’s what makes the Magic Wand Rechargeable so great. But Le Wand may not necessarily pleasure all non-op and pre-op trans women because it lacks those deeper vibrations that are needed to stimulate the nerves inside a pre-op or non-op trans woman’s genitalia, such as her dorsal nerve in her clit.
“The Le Wand does have more settings than the Magic Wand Rechargeable, but the Magic Wand Rechargeable is rumblier,” she said. “The Magic Wand, because it’s a deep rumble, is going to get a little bit more intense and core-like. So especially if you’re hitting the perineum, it’s going to get to the non-op trans woman’s prostate or G-spot. The Le Wand doesn’t really do that very well because it works at a lot higher frequency and surface area.”
Here’s the unfortunate truth: Like cisgender women, trans women’s bodies vary, and it would be foolish to say that every single transgender woman is going to like the same toy for the same reason. It’s a good idea to sample both beforehand by trying each on your nose, as Kohner recommends when selling wands to her clients. Then there is the price point: Le Wand goes for $170, whereas the Rechargeable is $125.
For me, though, Le Wand improves significantly upon what the Magic Wand Rechargeable introduced. It ultimately gave me more control over my relationship with my body, which cannot be overstated as a trans woman who has spent years of her life coming to terms with what’s between her legs. That’s more than enough to make it my top choice and worth the extra $45.