Freddy, of Freddy & Eddy, published a phenomenal opinion piece in the most recent AVN newsletter. Below is my response in support of his article.
Sexy Shopping at Freddy & Eddy in LA
While attending a national conference in Long Beach last fall, I snuck off to explore. Really, that’s the best part of attending academic and professional conferences, in addition to meeting some great people. Not only do I have an excuse to visit a new city, but I get the taboo fun of planning my escape when the presentations get too boring. I never rent a car, preferring to stash my badge and complimentary totebag in the room and hop the local transit. With decent luck, I’m able to find my way back from my adventures before the buses and trains call it a night. I look forward to it so much that I step off the plane with preplanned points of interest to hit during my one fabulous afternoon of freedom: the international drag king event in Austin, Charlie Brown’s in Atlanta, drinks above the skyline in Kansas City, and sexy shopping at Freddy & Eddy in LA.
Freddy & Eddy is my dream sexuality boutique, and a perfect example of what a smut shop is not.
My full review is at Yelp.com, but in summary I will tell you that they have tea and cookies in a back kitchen, wifi in the plush front lounge, and staff so friendly and knowledgable that you’ll want to take them home along with your purchases. As Brent so aptly notes in his blog, Adult Business Law, smut-shops with their dark windows and novelty-store perspective would do well to learn from such boutiques. Not every shop needs to offer a lending library of sex books, like that found at my beloved Freddy & Eddy. Tantric sex workshops filled with breathing and energy work might not even fly at many stores outside of California. I will even admit that tinted windows hold a touch of forbidden allure, just like my stolen moments away from conferences.
But I will forever remember the time the clerk in southern Indiana tried to hire my friend and I to “work the back rooms.” I thought my sweet, peaceful S. was going to jump the table and beat the crap out of him. I laughed at the time, but we never went back.
It seems that some people in the sexuality industry believe that we’re selling out when we speak of sexual health and well-being, intimacy, and so on. They say we’re giving in and giving up, and we should cling to the words “novelty” “adult” and probably “porn.” Oh those good old days, when vibes only came in your choice of broomstick handle or toxic jelly rubber! How I miss stumbling through pothole-ridden parking lots full of drunken, leering men, some of whom would inevitably thrust dollar bills at my friends and I. Who the heck wants a clean restroom, attractive (and safe) toys and a fresh cookie from the Freddy & Eddy sexual health boutique? Why choose all of that silliness when we can shuffle through a gauntlet of spread butt-cheek postergirls while clutching a novelty vibe that will break in a week?
I’ll take a cookie with my toy, thanks.
For how to buy safe sex toys, good lubes, etc., see our Hall of Fame and Sex FAQ
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This post, Smut Shops vs. Sexual Health Boutiques, originally appeared on Exploring Intimacy on August 7, 2008. Visit the site for much more information! Tweet This
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