Sex Toys and Social Entrepreneurship: The Possibilities and Pitfalls of Queer Capitalism
About the Event:
Join Vibrator Nation author Lynn Comella as she draws from her recently published book about the history of feminist and queer-run sex-toy stores to discuss the possibilities and pitfalls of queer capitalism, including the challenges of balancing profitability and social change in a rapidly expanding and increasingly competitive sexual marketplace.
About the Book:
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.
About The Author:
Lynn Comella is Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and coeditor of New Views on Pornography: Sexuality, Politics, and the Law.
Sponsored by the Lesbian-Gay-Queer Research Initiative (LGQRI)
* Book Sales provided by Common Language Bookstore *
