GSCENE 73
BRIGHTON & SUSSEX
SEXUALITIES NETWORK
BY RACHEL WOOD (UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX)
SUCHI’S
WORLD
BY SUCHI CHATTERJEE
WOMEN AND SEX SHOPPING
LGBT IDENTITY AT HOME
Sex shopping has gradually become more feminised over the past
twenty years and this is due to a number of factors. Partly it relates
to regulation; a ‘sex shop’ does not have to have a licence if less than
10% of its stock is explicitly designed for sexual use. Unlike a licenced
sex shop with its associations of blacked out windows, dodgy back
streets and men in raincoats, Ann Summers is unlicensed and can sit
on the high street opposite Marks & Spencers. So there has been a
shift to a more feminine, open, couple or women oriented sex shop
aesthetic.
There are three small and seemingly insignificant words that can put
the fear of God into even the hardiest of us rough and tough
campers. And those three words are New Year Resolutions. As I have
said for many a year, the road to hell is paved with good intentions
when it comes to the start of a brand new year. I should know, I have
a plethora of cracked tarmac pilled up on my balcony, and I suspect
that 2013 won't be any different.
There has also been a shift in retail culture towards selling
aspirational ‘lifestyles’ to the consumer. This could explain why
products such as upmarket vibrators and gold-plated dildos, have
become so popular. The rapid rise of anonymous online shopping has
also had an impact. In short, we’ve
come a long way from 1992 when a
group of women were so disappointed
by a wine fuelled trip around Soho’s sex
shops that they decided to open Sh!,
the UK’s first women only sex store.
All these cultural changes are observable, but what I am interested in
is how women think and feel about sexual consumer culture. How does
the way a shop is designed make you feel when you are shopping in
it? Do you feel comfortable, confident, embarrassed, amused, or
turned on? Do you shop alone, with friends or with partners? What
kind of things do you consider buying, and what would you never buy?
When you get the sex toys, lingerie or accessories home, how do they
make you feel about yourself, about your body, your relationship? How
important have sex shopping experiences been in forming your sexual
identity and desires? Are these products a big part of your sex life,
how important are they and what effects do they have?
“Along with the increased acceptability
and feminisation of sex shopping has
come a pressure to consume in order to
become a particular kind of woman”
I am currently asking these questions to women during interviews and
I’ve been amazed by the diversity of pleasures and tastes that women
express when it comes to sex shopping. I’ve also been unsurprised to
hear about the anxieties and pressures felt in relation to sexual
consumer culture. Along with the increased acceptability and
feminisation of sex shopping has come a pressure to consume in order
to become a particular kind of woman. The shop spaces and products
re-produce particular gendered, classed and raced bodies and desires,
and by doing so exclude others. If you are over 18, live in the UK,
identify as a woman, and have anything to say on the topic of sex
shopping, I’d love to hear from you. Please email me at
[email protected] for more information. Participants’ anonymity
will, of course, be protected.
Rachel Wood is a PhD student at the University of Sussex who is
looking at women’s experiences of sex shops and the products they sell.
BRIGHTON & SUSSEX SEXUALITIES NETWORK (BSSN)
The BSSN is an inter-university research network aimed at supporting
research/researchers who work on issues of human sexuality within the
Universities of Brighton and Sussex and wider Sussex area. We consist
of community members and academics who have an interest in current
sexualities research. More info: [email protected]
It is so not for the want of trying. I'm very trying, or so says ‘she who
shall be obeyed’. I do try and keep to my resolutions, but the diet
goes out the window when my sister cooks me a fantastic curry, and
you can forget the ‘I shall do 10 minutes of writing every evening to
help keep my brain cells active’ all I want do after I come in from
work, is crawl into my bed and pull the duvet over my head!
“New Year resolutions, I have
decided, are a form of cruel
and unusual punishment,
inflicted on us by ourselves”
New Year resolutions, I have
decided, are a form of cruel and
unusual puni ͡