Dear Good Vibrations Customer,

I’ve lived in the San Francisco Bay Area my whole life. I grew up in southern Marin County with a crazy artist for a mother and an old school, city-surfer for a step-father. To say the least I grew up under the influence of fairly unconventional and slightly radical thinking. Many topics were discussed openly and without judgement in my home that in other’s were taboo. Growing up this way presented a bit of a challenge when I took my family values into the homes of other families in my town. I realized quickly that not all my friends and their parents felt or acted the same way mine and I did. At first it bothered me. So convicted was I in liberal and activist thinking, the thought of someone viewing things differently threatened the power of these beliefs.

Luckily, there was one lesson my mother was very adamant about teaching me: A close-minded leftist is in no way better than a close-minded right-winger. More important than a person’s beliefs was a person’s willingness to listen to and respect others’, without which there would be no social progression. This may explain how my “colorblind”, queer-lovin’, animal-rescuin’, youth activatin’, woo-woo, socialist of a mother could have collected friends over the years that include full on bigots, homophobes, hunters, Mormons, felons, and Republicans. Go figure! The point of this rant is to stress the importance of open mindedness. Just as it is important in relating to people, it is equally important in relating to sexuality. This non-judgemental, open minded way of thinking about sex is called Sex Positivity, and it is hugely important to us at Good Vibrations.

That said, however, not all of us at GV arrived with a raging case of open-mindedness. Many of us ended up here with preexisting judgements, taboos, and issues be them sexual, social, political, etc. It is working at Good Vibrations that has made all the difference for us in learning to overcome these obstacles that come between us and true non-judgement. As part of this company we learn to accept, appreciate, and, on luckier occasions, enjoy the aspects of sexuality we previously had not understood. With such a hugely diverse staff, we also have the opportunity to learn acceptance and appreciation of different cultures, abilities, politics, personalities, etc. Good Vibes truly is an eye-opener for many of those who experience it, as employees and customers.

Just as we came with our own tastes and preconceptions, so do plenty of you. Whether it is the young 20-something who can’t believe her Grandma still indulges her sexuality, the tough thug who’s ashamed he likes things in his butt, the bachelorette-party-goer who thinks vibrators are for ‘endangered couples’ only, the D/s couple who thinks vanilla sex is pathetic, or the frat boys who can’t seem to grasp why anyone would want a fake, flaccid penis. It is our job as Good Vibrations spokespersons to explain, make accessible, demystify and remove shame from the sexual tastes and distastes one can be confronted with behind our doors. I take pride in my ability and am so grateful for the opportunity to do this. I have been thanked by young men for ‘normalizing’ their masturbatory techniques and desires, by bachelorette parties for helping them understand the pleasure in anal play, by women whose doctors have consistently misguided or ignored their sexual dilemmas. These instances make everyday at work meaningful.

So happy am I to help you, as customers, discover and embrace your individual sexualities that it greatly disturbs me when anyone tries to disrupt my effort. Like I said before, all of us enter Good Vibrations with preexisting judgements. Some customers come in and beeline for the Double Dipper, swinging it around like a lasso. Some head straight for the anal wall and moan in disgust. And at times I even get customers shaming their friends for wanting a vibrator when ‘real women just buy condoms and lube’. This kind of behavior to me is unacceptable. In my gut I want to scream out, WHY? WHY ARE YOU SO HELLBENT ON MAKING SEX BAD OR GROSS OR RIDICULOUS! Really, my problem is not that some of you find certain things we sell humorous, distasteful, or unecessary. My problem is when you put your beliefs onto someone else, specifically another customer.

My friends and I work so hard here to make Good Vibes a welcoming place to all, where you can check your shame at the door and be treated with respect. When other customers disrupt that environment it upsets me, because I want every customer to be treated with the same regard as I treated you. So next time you come in to Good Vibrations or look over our catalog with a partner or friend keep in mind how good it felt for us to empower you about using a vibrator with your boyfriend, or liking straight porn, or letting your wife do you in the butt, or maybe we just made you feel okay about having sex. Give other customers the chance of feeling that, too. Try as hard as you can to keep your giggles quiet, ask questions when you think something is strange, and please, please, please, don’t make your friends feel bad about liking something you may not.

Non-judgement. That is the key to Sex Positivity.

And in the famous style of former Good Vibes blogger, Miss Jameson, our sex tip of the day is:

Be sex positive, it is positively the sexiest thing around.

Sex-Positively Yours,

~*~Red~*~

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