Vibrator Nation

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.

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