A sex toy treasure hunt takes place every year in Belgium

If you happened to be in Wépionin, Belgium on the day of its annual sex toy hunt, you’d certainly do a double take.

Every year, attendees gather together in a small village just outside of Namur, Wallonia’s capital, for the “Chasse aux Sextoys” festival.

The festival’s headline event involves digging in a muddy field for dildos. Well, tokens that can be exchanged for dildos (presumably for the sake of hygiene).

And this year, the dig was attended by more than 4,000 women dressed in pink, frills and bunny ears. Plus the 200 men who were allowed to join in too, as long as they dressed as women.

But the festival is hardly an avant-garde sex orgy; apparently besides the treasure hunt it’s pretty much a fun summer festival like any other.

It’s a chance to drink beer, listen to some music, and is pretty family friendly too.

It was set up by Nicolas Bustin, the boss of a Belgian sex toy company Soft Love. In 2008, he launched the first festival as a marketing tool on his family farm – where the festival is still held today – but it was a bit of a flop, and he lost money.

So he decided to put a little more meaning behind the event.

Now, it’s all about celebrating sexuality and raising awareness about sexual pleasure and health, and festival goers can receive advice and attend body positivity workshops and pole dancing classes.

Money raised from the event also goes to women’s health charities including the ASBL association in Belgium (an endometriosis charity) and Think Pink for breast cancer.

The event has seen backlash from conservatives, including angry phone calls and emails from Catholics, but Bustin isn’t letting that put him off.

He told The Independent: “Some people are not so keen on it… for obvious reasons.”

“But things need to change. We must start respecting and understanding woman, and equality between men and women regarding sexual pleasure.

“We are religiously, socially and familially conditioned to being frustrated and having limited beliefs regarding sex.

“It creates frustration, trauma, and complexes, which can be dangerous and lead to terrible consequences.”

He added: “Sexual pleasure is accessible to all. It is a universal need. It is inside us, in our DNA.”

Anyone want to join us on the Eurostar?

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