Sex for Sale~Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry (52 page)

“Erotica for women? What’s that?” According to Royalle, her films were virtually unrecognizable to mainstream adult distributors who were used to something that looked completely different. “It wasn’t the typical box cover with the blonde, big-boobed babe. Instead, it was always a loving couple . . .

the whole presentation was different.”22 Royalle worked hard to convince, indeed
educate
, mainstream adult distributors and retailers that there was a market for the kind of sex-positive, women-oriented porn she was making, films where women were shown enjoying themselves—and having real orgasms.

The process of convincing the mainstream adult industry that there was a women’s market for pornography and sex toys was not something that happened overnight. When author and sex columnist Tristan Taormino decided to turn her best selling book,
The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women
, into an instructional sex video in the late 1990s, she faced many of the same challenges that Royalle had faced 15 years earlier. As Taormino explained: I pitched [the project] to maybe ten different producers, including John

[Stagliano] and they all shot me down. . . . I was basically talking about making a “how to” video for women. These are two things that the porn industry does not acknowledge or understand. When I say “how to” they think “boring instructional” and when I say “for women,” they are like, “We have no idea what you mean.” We are still at the beginning of pornographers acknowledging women as consumers of porn.23

The type of marginalization, and outright sexism, that many female entrepreneurs experienced navigating the often hostile terrain of the male-dominated adult industry meant that for many years, women-oriented retailers, manufacturers, and porn producers existed on a parallel plane, only occasionally overlapping with the mainstream industry. For example, Rachel Venning, co-founder of Babeland, a leader in the women’s market, did not attend the AEE until 2007—14 years after Babeland opened its doors for
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business. “I didn’t think [the AEE] was relevant to what we were about,” she explained. “I thought it seemed like porn, porn stars, and the objectification of women. For years, I really didn’t see Babeland as part of the adult industry.

I’ve always thought of us as significantly different, more akin to a bookstore or a community center or something in health and wellness. . . . So even though the AVN show had been going on for years, I just didn’t really notice or care.”24 Today, the mainstream industry is actively courting sex-positive female entrepreneurs, such as Venning and Taormino, and mining their expertise about the women’s market.

Quality

As the women’s market grew, female entrepreneurs and consumers began placing new demands on the adult industry. One of the most important of these was for quality products that would not break the first time they were used, that were ergonomically designed with women’s bodies in mind, and that were aesthetically pleasing to look at. According to Metis Black, the President of Tantus, Inc., the mainstream sex toy industry for decades revolved around the idea of “planned obsolescence”:

[Retailers] would stock the same items over and over because the model [of retailing] was based on a guy buying a product, taking it to his hotel room, using it while he was one the road with whomever, and then throwing it away; so the fact that it wasn’t going to last very long wasn’t important. What was important was that it cost $20 and it was going to be there for the here and now. And the next time, that person is going to buy the same item for $20 because it worked for them before.25

Throughout the 1990s, women-oriented sex toy businesses like Good Vibrations, Babeland, and Grand Opening led the call for quality sex toys, forcing the hand of the industry to make products that met higher standards and to accept the return of items that proved defective. According to Cathy Winks, former manager at Good Vibrations, the adult novelty business for a long time “didn’t put any more care into the products that they were making than crackerjack toys . . . because they figured that people were too ashamed and embarrassed about what they were buying and would be more inclined to just blame themselves if the toys didn’t work than to blame the manufacturer.”

As the women’s market developed, this began to change. Manufacturers had to “to try a little harder to make something that will last a little longer, have a better motor, look prettier, [and] have more appealing packaging.”26

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In time, both manufacturers and retailers realized that they were dealing with a new and more sexually sophisticated consumer—what Greg DeLong characterizes as “intelligent perverts with disposable income.” This group is comprised of people who are willing to pay more for products that are well made and look good, a shift that has helped create an opening for savvy designers and engineers to think seriously about the adult industry as a potentially ripe market for their creative talents.

What we are seeing today, is what some describe as a sex toy revolution, one aimed at a new class of sexual consumers—what we might think of as a new “sexual taste public”—that is willing to spend anywhere between $100–$400 on a sex toy. “Luxury vibes are the big, big change that I have seen in the last year,” Babeland Director of Purchasing Alicia Relles told a standing room only crowd at the 2008 AEE:

In our last month of sales [at Babeland], we had the Form 6 [which retails for $175] outsell any other vibrator in our store and that is a record for us. That’s never happened. The Rabbit has been the top seller in our stores for 10 years.

Now, we have beautiful, ergonomic luxury toys . . . people are looking for these savvy, gorgeous well-made toys. . . . Women are willing to spend a little more money for something that is beautiful and works well and has versatility, and is well made and going to last a long time.27

In response, a number of adult manufacturers and retailers are riding the luxury sex toy wave, helping to bring sex toys from the “shady back streets to shiny high streets.”28

Green Products

The recent emphasis on quality products has not only generated a market for

“couture” sex toys, but it has also helped draw attention to the manufacturing materials frequently used to make the majority of sex toys on the market today.

Much of this attention has focused on phthalates (pronounced
tha-lates
), a group of industrial chemicals known as “plasticizers” that are used to make hard plastics soft and pliable. Phthalates are found in a variety of products, from children’s toys and shower curtains to medical devices and sex toys. The problem with phthalates is that they break down over time and release harmful gasses, which cause toys to discolor, get sticky, and have an unpleasant taste and odor.

Although research findings are inconclusive about the potential health risks caused by exposure to phthalates, studies have shown that some are carcinogenic, a finding that caused the European Union to ban them from children’s toys.

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Over the past several years, the “greening” of the adult industry and the topic of “toxic toys”—including products containing phthalates—have garnered media attention.29 A growing number of manufacturers and retail businesses are sounding the call for safer sex toys and greater industry regulation. Among the businesses leading the charge for healthy toys is the sex-positive feminist retail business Smitten Kitten, located in Minneapolis.

Smitten Kitten’s owners, Jennifer Pritchett and Jessica Giordani, founded the Coalition Against Toxic Toys (CATT), a not-for-profit organization intended to educate consumers and increase awareness about the kinds of manufacturing ingredients commonly found in sex toys. “Our philosophy,” according to Pritchett, “is if we know how dangerous these chemicals are for children and dogs, we don’t want any contact with them, either.”30 Smitten Kitten’s efforts have been redoubled by other socially progressive feminist retailers like Self Serve in Albuquerque, which launched “Phthalate Awareness Month” in March 2008 to raise public awareness about the dangers posed by the plastic softeners. Self Serve is one of a number of retailers opting to sell only phthalate-free and nontoxic sex toys made from platinum-grade silicone, glass, and stainless steel, making eco-friendly options an important part of their brand identity. These efforts are beginning to “trickle up” to larger manufacturers and retailers, and new, decidedly “green” sex toy companies, such as Earth Erotics—with the tagline, “Doing it green”—are finding a home in the adult industry.

The greening of the adult industry has also drawn attention to issues of responsible manufacturing and the problem of packaging and waste. (“Make Love, Not Waste,” proclaimed a recent news item about bringing environmental concerns into the bedroom.) Ellen Barnard, co-owner of A Woman’s Touch in Madison Wisconsin, tries to buy products from smaller manufacturers whenever possible, preferably ones she can actually visit. She is stocking more items made from wood and glass that are produced by smaller manufacturers and artisans who are responsibly sourcing their materials. This can be challenging, however, in an industry where most products are mass produced overseas in China. A growing “cottage industry” in sex toys is making the task of finding healthy and green toys a bit easier for progressive retailers. Leading the way are two women-run, California-based manufacturers, Vixen Creations and Tantus. Both businesses are known for making high-grade, 100% silicone sex toys. (Silicone has long been considered an ideal material for sex toys, because it is nontoxic, nonporous, and warms to the touch.) Vixen employees hand pour and “pull” all of its dildos and butt plugs in a workplace that looks more like an artist’s studio than a factory. Tantus, similarly, prides itself on the fact that it makes all of their products in the
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United States, uses “eco-friendly” and nontoxic materials such as platinum-grade silicone and aluminum, and recycles its scrap materials. Increasingly, companies are selling rechargeable batteries and looking for ways to reduce packaging and recycle waste. Many of these efforts have been spearheaded by smaller, progressive manufacturers and retailers who hope these changes will catch on within the larger adult industry.

Mainstreaming

Another industry trend is the “mainstreaming” of adult novelties. Sexually oriented products that at one time could only be purchased at adult stores and boutiques are now making their way onto the shelves of Wal-Mart. Online retailers like Amazon.com are also cashing in on the sex toy boom. By late 2007, Trojan’s Vibrating Touch fingertip massager could be found on the shelves of Rite Aid and Walgreens, and Jimmyjane’s Form 6 vibrator could be purchased at Sharper Image stores.31 Many in the adult industry see the mainstreaming of adult products as a good thing, as something that will ultimately help normalize ideas about sex and extend the reach of the adult industry into new and previously untapped markets.

In many ways, it is not surprising that the mainstreaming of sex toys and the newfound emphasis on “quality” is dovetailing with the growth of the women’s market. These trends, I suggest, are the result of concerted efforts to make sexually oriented products more “respectable”—and therefore more acceptable—to segments of middle America that previously would never have dreamed of going into an adult store. It is a movement that, importantly, has been led by sex-positive retailers, manufacturers, and porn producers who have been at the vanguard of transforming the adult industry. Sex toy packaging with sultry images of porn starlets has been supplemented with softer and more sanitized iconography; discourses of sexual health and education, as opposed to titillation, are increasingly used as marketing platforms; and a new breed of sex toy manufactures are bringing issues of sleek design, quality manufacturing, and lifestyle branding to an industry historically not known for these things. “What we are seeing is a confluence of cultural shifts,”

explained Greg DeLong of Njoy. “What started 30 years ago with Joani Blank and Good Vibrations—that it is okay for women to use sex toys—has continued to evolve.” For industry detractors, however, the growth and mainstreaming of the adult industry is not a source of celebration, but further evidence of society’s acceptance of, and desensitization to, the sexual exploitation of women—a discussion to which I now turn.

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S E XU A L P O L ITI C S

Industry trade shows like the AEE are microcosms of the sex industry at large, and as such they become battlegrounds for competing perspectives about the extent to which the adult industry victimizes or empowers the workers. While many journalists choose to report on the more salacious and titillating aspects of the Expo, such as blowup dolls, bondage exhibits, and scantily clad porn stars, others duly note industry trends, breakout performers, and companies making a splash and leaving their mark.32 Invariably, however, the media also become vehicles for industry detractors and antipornography proponents who use the Expo as an occasion to remind the American public that the adult industry’s
raison d’être
, at least as far as they are concerned, is to debase women and perpetuate misogyny, all in the hope of making a quick capitalist buck.33

In these accounts, pornography is frequently equated with torture, cruelty, and

“woman hating.” It is blamed for perverting human intimacy and maintaining men’s domination over women. And that sense of empowerment that some women working in the adult industry describe? Well, you can chalk that up to false consciousness and a misplaced sense of sexual agency. It is claimed that all women, and men for that matter, are harmed by the sex industry—whether they realize it or not.34

There is certainly nothing new about this kind of totalizing, anti-sex industry rhetoric and the kind of moral outcry that typically accompanies it.35