Medical Device Regulation: How Laws Shape Sex, Health, and Body Technology

When you think of medical device regulation, the set of laws and standards that classify, approve, and monitor tools used for health purposes. Also known as health technology oversight, it's not just about heart stents and MRI machines—it’s also about the vibrator your grandmother used to treat 'hysteria,' the HCG shot that helps people conceive, and the HIV meds that turned a death sentence into a daily pill. These aren’t just gadgets. They’re tools that change lives, and the rules around them decide who gets to use them, who profits from them, and who gets left out.

Take sex toys, devices designed for sexual pleasure, often classified as medical devices in some countries and consumer products in others. Also known as pleasure devices, they’ve been around for centuries, but their legal status has shifted wildly. In the 1800s, steam-powered vibrators were sold in pharmacies as medical treatments. Today, some countries still treat them as obscene, while others require safety testing like any other medical tool. The same goes for IVF equipment, the machines and drugs used in assisted reproduction, tightly controlled to ensure safety and accuracy. Also known as fertility technology, they’re regulated differently in the U.S., Europe, and Asia—some places limit who can access them, others cap how many embryos can be implanted. Meanwhile, HIV medications, antiretroviral drugs that suppress the virus and prevent transmission. Also known as ARVs, they’re among the most tightly monitored drugs on earth because they’re life-saving, but access still depends on income, location, and politics.

Medical device regulation doesn’t just protect people—it reflects cultural values. Why was a device that helped women climax labeled as a medical tool, while one that helped men with erectile dysfunction became a lifestyle product? Why do some governments require clinical trials for a dildo but not for a fertility app? These aren’t accidents. They’re choices. And those choices have real consequences: who can orgasm without shame, who can have a child, who can live with HIV without stigma. The history in these posts shows how regulation has been used to control bodies, silence pleasure, and reinforce power. But it’s also been a tool for change—when activists fought to classify HIV meds as essential, or when feminists reclaimed vibrators from doctors, they changed the rules.

What follows is a collection of stories that trace how medical device regulation shaped—and was shaped by—sex, gender, and survival. From steam-powered vibrators to IVF timing protocols, from banned erotic poetry to the legal battles over HIV treatment, these articles show you how the tools we use to touch, heal, and pleasure ourselves are never just about technology. They’re about who gets to decide what’s normal, what’s safe, and what’s allowed.