I love GV too and recall my first experiences purchasing sex toys in San Francisco — which meant a lot to me too (for me it marked a growth in my identity as I grew… as a queer, as a polyamorous person, as genderqueer, and as a sex worker. I’m so glad GV was a part of that.) Anyway, great to hear from you and LOVE the site!

Mandy (How are you! Hope all is well!)

I wanted to comment on what you said about SFPD with my own thoughts… because I have mixed feelings about protesting in terms of civil disobedience of chaining oneself to buildings and obstructing traffic. All of the actions I participated in were non-obstructive/perfectly legal. I witnessed many officers siding with us, and saw many arrests that were simply done to do their job.

In some ways, I see the arrests a consenting action between both the protester and the officer, and the message is simple: I am arrested because I am one more person in opposition to this war. (Granted, I’ve never been arrested; I feel my presence on the street is action enough for me to feel I’ve had my say.)

And of course I also saw and heard of many arrests that were unnecessarily forceful, where protesters were on the asphalt with knees on their necks. Some demonstrations of violent policing for sure. Thankfully, no where near the amount of brutality experienced in the decades prior in our country’s history.

Anyway, some good, some bad — on both sides. I’m glad to read news of protests all over. Jeeez this is one heck of a comment! I’m gonna shut it now. ; )

In fact, when I graduated from college in 1993 I received some academic award money and do you know what I spent it on? My first sex toys — purchased from the Good Vibes catalog!

In solidarity,
Elizabeth