"What kind of technology could that possibly need?" was the usual reaction. Here is how a regular at an aquarium supply shop built Womanizer — the people and the dates, in order.
Key takeaways
It was built by Michael Lenke, an inventor from Bavaria, Germany — a last project taken up at an age when he could have retired, and the first prototype was made from a modified aquarium pump
Two years of development, with prototype testing done by his wife Brigitte. The first product, the W100, arrived in 2014 — the key was not vibration but air, and the technology is called Pleasure Air Technology
An ETO Award the year after launch, then an EAN Award and the top tier of the German Brand Award. Swiss press called Womanizer "the world's best-selling sex toy for women" — see the lineup
Sorry — you're back for another aquarium pump?
A quiet village in Bavaria, Germany. The man in his sixties turned up at the aquarium supply shop again. Nobody could remember how many times by now. He did not seem to keep fish, yet every visit he bought nothing but pumps.
🧔 : A pump, please. The same one as last time. 😨 : Sir… exactly how many fish are you keeping? 🧔 : Oh, I don't keep fish. 😨 : ??? Then what are these for…
The suspicious customer was Michael Lenke, a career inventor who had made a living from inventing his whole life. At an age when he could have retired and taken it easy, he happened to read a piece of research and started the last project of his life.
The sentence he read was this — "About half of all women have difficulty reaching orgasm." Lenke thought: humanity went to the moon and came back, so why has nobody properly solved this? And so he shut himself in his basement workshop. What he held in his hands was not cutting-edge equipment, but a modified aquarium pump.
My husband has been building something strange in the basement for two years
Two years of development. Testing the prototypes fell to his wife, Brigitte. After the couple wrestled in their basement with units built from an aquarium pump, the first product, the W100, finally reached the world in 2014.
The key was not "vibration". Lenke's invention ran on air. While the industry had spent decades fiddling with vibration motors, a retired man in a basement changed the board entirely. The patented technology is called Pleasure Air Technology.
How air turns into stimulation — the step-by-step structure of it — is covered in a separate article. This one looks at whose hands the invention came out of, and in what order.
Oh, you make those? (three seconds of silence) Why?
The world was not enthusiastic from the start, of course. Saying you made "that sort of thing" reliably produced silence and a smirk. Just a toy. Just women's pleasure. Not the territory of serious engineering, went the look.
The results answered for him.
The year after launch, the ETO Award for Best New Product for Women of the Year
Then the EAN Award for top luxury line
The German Brand Award for Product Brand of the Year, at the top tier: Best of Best
Swiss press called Womanizer "the world's best-selling sex toy for women"
The industry handed over a more bittersweet medal too — "the most copied toy of the past decade". A flood of counterfeits means the original got it that right
British singer Lily Allen did not stop at mentioning Womanizer in her memoir. She joined the company outright under the title Chief Liberation Officer and released an edition under her own name. A CLO, no less. This company is serious right down to its job titles.
From a pump to funding research
Womanizer did not stop at selling hardware. In 2020 it ran the Menstrubation Study, a clinical study testing whether masturbation eases menstrual pain, and in 2021 it created the Pleasure Fund, investing €250,000 in research on women's sexual health. The question nobody was asking seriously, this brand is answering with papers and research money.
Because a world that files away a problem half of all women have as "just how it is" has it wrong. One retired inventor's aquarium pump proved that. Great innovation sometimes arrives wearing a deeply embarrassing face.
Womanizer, on a timeline
Only the points that appear in the story above.
When
What happened
Two years of development
The Lenkes build and test prototypes from an aquarium pump in their basement workshop
2014
First product, the W100, launches. The patented technology is called Pleasure Air Technology
The year after launch
ETO Award, Best New Product for Women of the Year
After that
EAN Award for top luxury line · German Brand Award at the top tier, Best of Best
2020
The Menstrubation Study — a clinical study on whether masturbation eases menstrual pain
2021
The Pleasure Fund — €250,000 invested in research on women's sexual health
Frequently asked questions
Who created Womanizer?
Michael Lenke, an inventor from Bavaria, Germany. He had made a living from inventing his whole life and began this as a last project at an age when he could have retired. His wife, Brigitte, handled the prototype testing.
When did the first product arrive, and what was it called?
Development took two years, and the first product, the W100, launched in 2014.
Why an aquarium pump, of all things?
Because what Lenke held in his hands when he built the first prototype in his basement workshop was not cutting-edge equipment but a modified aquarium pump. It worked on air rather than a vibration motor, and that technology was later patented under the name Pleasure Air Technology.
