The Feminist Fan -- Sexing the Political: A Journal of Third Wave Feminists on Sexuality

the feminist fan:

moving backwards and forwards

The one thing I learned from working at a college radio station wasn’t just how little I knew about music, but that there is more richness and depth to the many genres, cultures, and moods of music than I ever imagined I would learn to enjoy. Many times, it was a matter of beingto and humbled by the kinds of music that were way outside of my realm of appreciation, like the white noise and seriously experimental stuff that my friend Jason Knuth relished. The beauty of music is that there’s a little something for everyone to be stirred and aroused in different ways, whether it’s traditional Bulgarian choir music, or Eminem.

Much like the diversity we find in music, there is also tremendous richness and depth to human sexuality and sexual expression, but we rarely have the opportunity to learn about sexuality from honest, accurate, and reliable sources of information. Think honestly about who or what were your primary sources of sex information. Most people are unaware that there is a sexual revolution still in progress and it’s not just about women’s lib.

Good Vibrations (http://www.goodvibes.com), an all women-operated and owned sex toy shop based in San Francisco, is a relatively unheralded bastion of good quality sexuality education for grown-ups who missed out during their formative years. Good Vibrations represent a new breed of sexual revolutionaries who are committed to demystifying sexual taboos, and normalizing discourse about sex and various sexual practices. They defy the mass media stereotypes of sexually challenged feminists while couching their messages through the viability of capitalism.

Internally, Good Vibrations seems like a nonprofit by virtue of their democratic management and decision-making, but they are an multi-million dollar enterprise that aptly and formally identifies itself asEnterprises: part sex toy shop, part video and bookstore, and part publishing company. What makes them feminist is their women-centered focus, the primary but not exclusive celebration of female sexuality in all its forms, including the ones that might (somewhat) freak you out.

But the current sexual revolution that Good Vibrations represents means little without recognizing the context of paradoxical attitudes towards sex in America. Our puritanical history and culture is often bringing us down, fostering unnecessary fears and a compulsion to control sexuality and sexuality information. We make advancements in contraceptive technology, and yet how rare it is to see responsible sexual activity on prime time television. In our commercial society, sex and sexuality are ubiquitous marketing strategies precisely because of the taboo aspect of it. Our modern culture is constantly at odds with establishing a sense of public decorum and decency while pushing the envelope of tolerance, and still we clearly lack the widespread political and social support for healthy, honest discussions and information about what is acceptable sex and sexuality.

When you hear a reference to a sex industry, of which Good Vibrations is a part, you’re likely to conjure any number of images: prostitution, X-rated movies, strip bars, peep shows, dirty magazines, phone sex. We can readily identify the moral panic and general anxiety around a sex industry that is perceived to promote and encourage more harm than good. Moreover, there is a clear discomfort about the public exchange of sex and money, demonstrated by historical and more recent efforts to regulate the sex industry and to legislate a public morality.

Good Vibrations, on the other hand, is not the seedy dirty old man sex shop that you might expect. Their Sex Educator-Sales Associates, for example, are trained in some 60 hours of sexuality education training through the now legendary San Francisco Sex Information (www.sfsi.org/class.html) hotline. For nearly 25 years, Good Vibrations is a sex-oriented business that appears to have impossibly reconciled its place in the sex industry with a feminist approach and a business that values more than profit.

At a time when abstinence-only education (i.e., the absence of birth control information among other "controversial" sex-related topics) is quickly becoming the political mantra for sex ed in our schools, Good Vibrations offers a unique alternative for the many adults that failed to receive good sexuality education in their lifetime. Good Vibrations has fostered a business environment where a diversity of people approach their Sex Educator-Sales Associates with sexual questions, confessions, concerns, and experiences to pass along to other customers. In The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex, authors and former GV staffers note, "The most revolutionary aspect of our work is not the nature of the products we sell or the way we sell them – it’s the fact that we talk about sex."

There is no shame in being a fan and appreciating the life and work of someone else – be it a superstar, or a real person in our sphere of influence. As feminists, we have been trained to observe our world with a critical eye, often forgetting to embrace the many sources of inspiration and fun that can become part of our ordinary lives. While we continue to pursue grownup ideals in our everyday life, it’s important to beto the unexpected faces and places that stir the creative energy and goofiness that we had as teenagers. This column will feature commentary by a feminist fan and the complexity of our search for heroines and heroes that arouse us on multiple levels.