Full Description
In the 1970s a group of pioneering feminist entrepreneurs launched a movement that ultimately changed the way sex was talked about, had, and enjoyed. Boldly reimagining who sex shops were for and the kinds of spaces they could be, these entrepreneurs opened sex-toy stores like Eve's Garden, Good Vibrations, and Babeland not just as commercial enterprises, but to provide educational and community resources as well. In Vibrator Nation Lynn Comella tells the fascinating history of how these stores raised sexual consciousness, redefined the adult industry, and changed women's lives. Comella describes a world where sex-positive retailers double as social activists, where products are framed as tools of liberation, and where consumers are willing to pay for the promise of better living-one conversation, vibrator, and orgasm at a time.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction. The Making of a Market 1
1. The Business of Masturbation 15
2. Out of the Therapist's Office, into the Vibrator Shop 43
3. Living the Mission 63
4. Repackaging Sex 88
5. The Politics of Products 113
6. Sexperts and Sex Talk 136
7. Selling Identity 161
8. Profitability and Social Change 188
Conclusion. Grow or Die? 211
Appendix. Studying Sexual Culture and Commerce 229
Notes 235
Selected Bibliography 257
Index 267
