That picture is stupid indeed; but the article was great. Very eye opening...

That picture is stupid indeed; but the article was great. Very eye opening...

Part of this article really hit a nerve with me: a female-friendly sex shop provides a 10 minute training session from an intoxicated owner? I'd call that female resentment. Lucky for the author, she knew a thing or two about customer service.

Plug-in vibes will almost always screw with TV reception for some reason. I imagine her kids shouting "Mom! The TV is screwed up! Call the cable company!" thus ruining any of her private relaxation time. My ex used to have a Hitachi wand and I used to "catch" her at it whenever she was doing so (fair's fair, she caught me plenty of times) and for a year I just said "I have a sixth sense, I know when you've been beating off".

Finally I admitted that I knew because of her massager's interference with the TV, and that "It does not take 45 minutes to full up the bathtub nor does it leave footprints on the wall above the faucet."

"Grand Opening" is a hilarious name for a sex-toy shop, but it might be off-putting for someone with a less vulgar sense of humor than my own.

I don't usually link to my own blog, but I, too, have some sex shop employee stories. Unfortunately, the place I worked at wasn't as women-friendly -- a few decades ago, when some anti-obscenity laws were relaxed, the owners saw an opportunity and pounced on it. They barely had any interest in human sexuality or what constitutes a quality product.

How Not To Behave at a Sex Shop

Another Sex Shop Story

Things Every Adult Store Employee Should Know

i'd have to agree with katliz74 that a 10-minute training session from an intoxicated owner at what is being considered a female-friendly sex shop is kind of troubling. and yeah, stupid picture.

also, i'm glad she's providing anatomy lessons, etc. but in our sex-negative culture i'm not sure she should be passing judgment on anyone's plans/fantasies whether they are men or women. the guy who wants to fuck his wife in all kinds of porn-inspired positions that she deems uncomfortable may have a wife that wants to get fucked in those positions. he can be told about other options without being made to feel that the way he likes to have sex has something to do with how well he knows his wife.

Laura e-l, whether or not the proposed scenario is something that both of them want, it's still the sex shop employee's job to make sure that they know whether their plans are practical and safe.

Also, you can actually tell a lot about a customer by how they answer questions -- I'll bet the guy who couldn't remember what his wife's feet looked like answered questions of "Well, what kind of thing does she want to do during this enacted fantasy?" with "I'd like her to do this and this." I've had situations where I really wanted to educate someone on why their attitude was unhealthy, but I couldn't think up a polite way to do so -- or I tried, but I could tell it was falling on deaf ears. Thankfully this woman managed to come up with a way of doing this which was not only inoffensive, but reached the customer.

I work in a woman-run sex shop (Early to Bed in Chicago) and I gotta say that I would have to disagree with a lot of the article. First of all, yeah an owner being intoxicated and only giving a 10 minute training session is ridiculous if she is really talking about a woman friendly sex shop. My boss gives training based on the amount that you already know coming into the shop. There is a strong emphasis on us being knowledgeable and non-judgmental so that we can help customers. Our positions in the shop are not sales girl or clerk or anything like that. We're sex educators. We are there to educate our clientele and to help them with their overall sexual health. This author apparently knew very little coming in and is extremely judgmental.

People talk to me about their fantasies and their fears. They talk to me about what makes them tick sexually and what's not working for them. I have definitely had men who didn't know what they were talking about, but was always able to help them figure it out without being judgmental and assuming I knew what their SOs desired. But I've also had a lot of women who didn't know what they were talking about either. That's why I'm there, to educate them.

I've never had anyone preface a confession with "don't laugh, but ..." But maybe I'm better at making people feel comfortable to begin with so they know they don't have to start off that way.

I feel like the article was written in order to make people laugh, not really to inform them. But hey, maybe her experience really has been like that. In that case I'll definitely stick with my shop.

I worked in a sex shop in college and it was the only retail job I would take again. Retail clerk is one of those jobs where people treat you like shit all day long, because 'the customer is always right' and people are glad to be on the dishing end of abuse for once in their miserable day.

A funny thing happens to that power dynamic when they know that you know what they think about when they touch themselves, though.

I've never worked in brick and mortar sex toys store, but I do work for several online sex toys stores. Some people have tastes in sex play that others might not agree with, or might not think is "feminist", so it isn't a good idea to tell them what you *think* is appropriate sex play for a woman, especially if the sex play being discussed is kinky. What if she wanted a double penetration scenario? Lots of women do. I've found that there are lots of men and women with varied tastes, and not all of what they like may float your boat.

I was disturbed at the 10 minute training session by an intoxicated owner. You don't learn anything about sexuality in 10 minutes from anyone, intoxicated or not. I'm still learning, and I've been at this job for several years. I learn something new every day. I'm also having a blast at it. I've written articles for sex toys web sites about all manner of sexual subjects, such as how to choose your first anal sex toy, how to find your G-spot, and other similar topics to help people who want to find a sex toy they'll enjoy either alone or with a partner. I agree with the commenter who said that we are sex educators.