The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex

Thanks first and foremost to all our survey respondents, to Joani Blank for creating Good Vibrations, and to all the Good Vibrations employees past and present who shared information, anecdotes, and practical support over the years, particularly Krissy Cababa, Constance Clare, Kate Cunningham, Scout Festa, Staci Haines, Eve Meelan, Laura Miller, Carol Queen, Thomas Roche, Joyce Solano, and Ann Whidden. Thanks also to the many individuals in the sex-positive community who provided resources, referrals, and interviews for the different editions of this book, including Eric Albert, Isadora Alman, Chris Bridges, Ken Dorfman, Gosnell Duncan, M. J. Ecker of
Jackinworld.com
, Jenne of
Clitical.com
, Eleanor Hamilton, Chris Mann, Dan Martin, Dr. Marc Nelson, Cory Silverberg, Leonore Tiefer, and Cheri Van Hoover, C.N.M.

We’re very grateful to our profile subjects, who were so generous with their time and wisdom: Adrienne Benedicks, Marilyn Bishara, Joani Blank, Susie Bright, Susan Colvin, Betty Dodson, Nina Hartley, Jack Morin, Shar Rednour, Candida Royalle, Russell of
sexuality.org
, Annie Sprinkle, Jackie Strano, Kat Sunlove, and Tristan Taormino.

Heartfelt thanks to our friends and mentors Susie Bright, Michael Castleman, and Ray Potter for many years of inspiration, encouragement, and advice; to MB Condon for illustrating the first edition of this book; and to Phoebe Gloeckner for illustrating this third edition.

We appreciate the work of our agent, Timothy Seldes, and of Frédérique Delacoste, Felice Newman, and Don Weise at Cleis Press.

Finally, lots of love and thanks to Becky, Jeffrey, Sheila, Trish, and the Semans and Winks families for their support and patience.

Foreword

When Good Vibrations was founded in 1977, it was a very different world than it is now. Founder Joani Blank wanted to establish a clean, comfortable place for women to shop for sex toys.

Since then, we’ve changed profoundly—but our mission is still founded on the basic principle that accurate sex information and access to sexual pleasure is a birthright for everyone on this planet.

Today, Good Vibrations has grown much larger than its tiny 1977 site in San Francisco’s Mission district. We operate two stores (in San Francisco and Berkeley) and a thriving mail order and web business. Our customers are women, men, and transgendered folks from every walk of life and all over the world. We don’t just sell erotic products—we manufacture them, with a full line of toys, GV Exclusives, that aren’t available anywhere else. We’ve been publishing erotic and educational sex books since the beginning with our in-house publisher Down There Press; in 2000, we acquired audiobook publisher Passion Press and started our own in-house video department, Sexpositive Productions, which has released four videos to date.

Our sales associates, in the stores and on the phone, are fully trained sex educators, receiving more formal sex education than the vast majority of physicians. They’ll answer questions that would get you a blank stare in most college health classrooms, and they’ll tell you everything you need to know to use our products safely and effectively. In contrast to other adult businesses, we don’t sell our products as “novelties”—they are what they are,
toys
, designed to be fun and life-affirming, to augment your explorations of sexuality.

Similarly, our books, audiobooks, videos, and DVDs are selected with an eye toward accurate sex information that is helpful to the practical user. Erotica and sex instruction videos and books can be hot
and
sex-positive—and, in many cases, can be hot
because
they’re sex-positive. Our philosophy is to seek out the best of what’s available and, if it’s not available, do it ourselves.

The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex
has long been one of the cornerstones of that philosophy. It’s used in college classrooms and each edition has taken its honored place in many sexuality libraries. This newest revision contains the most up-to-date sexual information available. Authors Anne Semans and Cathy Winks have brought their experiences at Good Vibrations—and the firsthand anecdotes and feedback of our customers—to the task of creating the most comprehensive sex guide ever written. We’re proud to present this new volume, and to further our mission every day by offering toys, books, and videos that reflect a positive outlook on sexuality.

Enjoy this newest edition of
The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex
, and let it guide you in your explorations!

The Staff of Good Vibrations

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