The President of Yale has cancelled Sex Week at Yale, a student organized week with all sorts of events promoting sexuality. Babeland participated in Yale Sex Week a number of times, and there is a special frisson at bringing Babeland’s style of feminist sex positivity to such a bastion of establishment power broking.

People, especially young adults need sex education. Some folks like to think that sexual knowledge leads to sluttiness. But that’s not true.  Sex information helps people have more satisfying sex and happier lives. Good adult sex ed. goes beyond procreation and disease prevention, it teaches the anatomy of pleasure and the physiology of arousal. It also encourages people to notice their feelings, communicate their desires and to expect sex to be pleasurable. Chaste or promiscuous, the sex they have will be better. Encouraging people, especially women, to insist on their right to sexual pleasure helps undermine a culture of drunken groping that leaves women feeling used.

One of the concerns of Yale President Richard Levin is that sex week is overly commercial. Babeland, for example, has offered workshops and discussions on the G-Spot, Oral Sex Tips, Sex Toys etc.,  and of course we always mention babeland.com. The fact is there are still very few resources for adult sex education, and Babeland is a good source of the accurate sex information and encouragement that is so needed. Although there are a few new academic programs in sexuality studies (SF State has a great one) and a handful M.D.s who have focused their practices on sex, there isn’t a large credentialed professional class of sex educators at the college level. For the most part today’s sex educators come from a grass roots movement of pleasure activists who have trained each other in non-institutional settings.

Sex education is a big part of our mission at Babeland and we do tons of outreach and in-store workshops that teach various aspects of human sexuality. Helping to empower folks around their sexuality is the juice that makes selling vibrators a thrill. Going to Yale has been a fun part of that. But if Yale wants a less commercial sex week, I hope they pay that forward with a program to train those educators at Yale. I’d love to see a pleasure focused Sexuality curriculum in every college and medical school in the country.

Until that happens the students at Yale are regrouping and are planning a new SWAY- Sex Week All Year. If they invite us we’ll be glad to be a part of it.

Have you seen the October Staff Picks yet? We’ve got a bunch of great toys featured this month, including the innovative Tiani and the classic Mystic Wand + G-Spot Combo.  Or the fun new Kiki, recommended by this month’s interview subject, Jennyrose! Jennyrose has been with Babeland since 2003, so she really knows her way around this place.  She makes sure all our locations have the products they need so that you, our beloved customers, can get what you need!  Aside from that, she’s whip-smart, generous, hilarious, and an all-around joy to work with.  And she’s got a special place in my Babeland heart, as we’ve worked together since her first day here.  Read on to learn much more about how she got here and what she’s learned.

Abby:  What first brought you to Babeland?  Tell us the story of how you started working here.

Jennyrose:  Well, I had always been interested in sex, sexuality, and gender.  I was unschooled and was really encouraged to pursue my interests, which led to a lot of reading youth-oriented sexuality websites and forums like Scarleteen.  Before I knew it, I discovered the Babeland website.  When I was 19, I moved to Brooklyn and immediately sought out Babeland on the Lower East Side.  I was surprised by the coziness of the store, because I had built it up in my mind to be larger than life.  A couple of weeks later, I met someone who was leaving New York and their Sex Educator/Sales Associate position at Babeland, and told me I should apply.  So I did, and after an interview with Jen May (now C.O.O.) and Claire (co-founder/owner) in the Rivington Street store basement, I was hired!

(more…)

When I was diagnosed with cancer at 30, I was shocked.  Isn’t cancer something that’s supposed to happen when you’re older?  At least not until your 40s or 50s?  But then I stopped for a minute, looked around, and realized that four of my friends — all in their twenties and thirties, mind you — had already had cancer.  Four.  No matter your age, cancer affects nearly all of us in one way or another.  And depending on the treatment, it can affect everything from desire to employment to relationships to emotional health, and so on, ad infinitum.

This month, with every sale of a Pink October toy, Babeland is donating 10% of its sale to the Young Survival Coalition, an organization dedicated to supporting young women living with breast cancer.  I can’t tell you how grateful I am that an organization like this exists, and that they’re doing such important and tireless work.  Check them out, please!  And while you’re at it, check out our How-To article for women dealing with post-cancer sexuality.

Traditionally, there hasn’t been a lot of attention paid to women’s sexuality following cancer diagnosis and treatment — many doctors don’t even discuss possible sexual and reproductive side effects of treatment with their patients.  I have my theories about why this is, and one is that we still have an outdated notion that only older people get cancer, making post-cancer sexuality an afterthought.  After all, we’re taught that sex is for the young(-ish), and that older women should gracefully tuck away their libidos and sublimate all that energy into embroidery and cross-stitch.  Not only is that a ridiculous notion — for so many women, sex only gets better with age! — but it leaves out the countless young survivors who are left wondering how to find community, and how to deal with the issues that arise around cancer and their sexuality.

I welcome you to use the comments to tell a story about how cancer has affected you, sexually or otherwise.  Share concerns or inspirations, ask questions… the intersection of cancer and sexuality is a reality of many lives, and it’s time for us to talk about it!