Naked Men Talking: Steve from Strokinut
In the conversation, we talk task-switching, product testing, and the power of shared experiences.
For our podcast, Naked Men Talking, I caught up with Steve - the man behind Strokinut.
Strokinut is an all-natural sex-grease. Designed for bators but suitable for any kind of intimate action.
In the conversation, we talk task-switching, product testing, and the power of shared experiences.
Why was Strokinut a product you wanted to create?
Strokinut is the only 100% natural bate grease that is on the market.
We run Bator Bro party in London - we've been doing that for about three years. It was born out of that.
When you’ve got 200 guys in a space, all covered in grease, it gets really messy. With my biochemistry background, I just said one day: I can make something better. I can make something for us.
Where are you at now with the Strokinut journey?
I've learned a lot over this last year. It's been a huge journey that has also taken a huge amount of personal soul searching as to where I’m at as a sexual being and also where does this all sit in my life.
Strokinut has its own momentum now. That's really pulled me out of some dark places - days where I didn’t feel like doing anything, there was this thing that has a daily impact on more and more people. I had to put my own bullshit aside.
I do believe that there’s a responsibility when you bring something into people's lifestyles and homes and practices - you owe the community something.
A couple of years ago, I had a deeper separation between my personal life and my work life. Working on Strokinut, these things had been coming together a lot more deeply. I just had to let go of some of that.
For example, I had a market table at the recent Asian Pride UK - the first time that the event had been held. There were lots of people that I knew from the performing side of things. There was so much community support. Our table was really popular. and there wasn't really anything else there for the guys there. It was a great opportunity to talk about the Strokinut story.
Has this given you confidence to take Strokinut to a broader audience?
A lot of what's been going on in the past year has also been trying to figure out the right direction to grow the brand.
The approach I want to take is as much in person, real, shared experience directions as I can. Rather than putting it in stores, I'm pushing it out through bate parties and groups and gatherings.
We're supporting a new party that's launched in Barcelona - it happens every three months or so. We're supplying Paris Jacks. We've also just started with Brooklyn Jacks, which is huge for me - I'm born and raised in Brooklyn. Plus we're launching a Berlin party in September.
I want to get it to more people who know what masturbation is about, who know what the movement is about.
You're not pitching it as lube for beginners? Your target market is the more evolved masturbator, someone who knows what they're doing, someone who is thinking about it consciously?
A hundred percent. That's who I've made it for.
Last summer, you launched the uncut edition of Strokinut. What other developments have you been working on?
One of the major things that I've discovered through feedback is that the original edition can get a little bit grainy when it is subjected to really high heat and something that's called heat cycling. If it's sitting in your home, it heats up in the day and then cools down in the evening. That's not a problem for products that use hydrocarbon - for petroleum-based products such as Albolene - but the coconut oil in Strokinut melts and then solidifies as the temperature changes. Crystals form each time it melts and solidifies - the crystals build on each other.
I'm testing a new formula now that doesn't have any coconut oil in it - so it won't have this problem.
How has your relationship with masturbation evolved through your work with Strokinut?
The last year or so has been a lot of, what is my role in this? If I'm taking part then I'm not paying attention. If this is my work then I shouldn't be enjoying myself, I should be working.
I've learned that I can do both. I may not necessarily do it at the same time, but that's probably been a wider learning - I'm really not good at task-switching. I like being able to focus on one thing or another.
Now, I can fully throw myself into a bator experience and not worry about it. Or I can be in that space and be observant or questioning.
I've taken on this responsibility to bring this to people and I'm telling people that this is the best thing and I because I truly believe that it is. I need to live inside of that and hold on to that even when I'm in the middle of something - that means deprioritising my own pleasure or what I want to be doing at that moment.
Creating Strokinut was a rebellious thing - it's saying that we deserve the best lube that we can use. I've taken up some kind of mantle to bring something better to all of us. Now, it's kind of got a life of its own and I have to respect that - it has a place in people's lives and it's something that I feel a great amount of responsibility for.
Gareth Johnson