Good Vibrations is a sex-positive

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

-based corporation selling

sex toy A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate human sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibratin ...

s and other erotic products. It operates nine retail stores: seven in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, one in Brookline, Massachusetts, and one in Harvard Square; a mail-order business; an e-commerce website; a wholesale arm; and an erotic-video production company, Good Releasing. Formerly, it operated three publishing companies:

Down There Press Down There Press is an independently run feminist book, DVD, and audiobook publisher that focuses on sexuality. It publishes both visual and literary erotica, and is known for its publications on youth and adolescent sexuality. Down There Press ...

, Passion Press and Sexpositive Productions.

History

Good Vibrations was the first sex-positive and women-friendly store in the United States, founded in 1977 by

sex therapist Sex therapy is a strategy for the improvement of sexual function and treatment of sexual dysfunction. This includes sexual dysfunctions such as premature ejaculation or delayed ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, lack of sexual interest or arousa ...

and educator

Joani Blank Joani Blank (July 4, 1937 – August 6, 2016) was an American sex educator, entrepreneur, author, videographer, cohousing enthusiast, philanthropist, and inventor in the field of sexuality. She used publishing, her sex store, and other endea ...

. Initially established with the goal of being a sex-positive and woman-centered alternative to the adult bookstores of the time, Good Vibrations offered sex information and education, featured

erotica Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use ...

and books about sexual health and pleasure, and pioneered the concept of the "sex-positive, clean, well-lighted place" to buy sex toys. One part of the store displayed antique vibrators, which were initially developed as a treatment for

female hysteria Female hysteria was once a common medical diagnosis for women, which was described as exhibiting a wide array of symptoms, including anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, nervousness, sexual desire, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in the ...

. It became a tourist draw known as "the antique vibrator museum", which was listed by

Frommer's Frommer's is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the compan ...

in the category "Best Free Things to Do in San Francisco". In 1992, Blank sold Good Vibrations to the workers (including herself) incorporating it as a

worker cooperative A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by ...

. In 1994, she left the company to pursue other interests. In 1995, Good Vibrations declared May to be National Masturbation Month, to raise awareness of masturbation and sexual health across the country and in response to the firing of then-Surgeon General

Joycelyn Elders Minnie Joycelyn Elders (born Minnie Lee Jones; August 13, 1933) is an American pediatrician and public health administrator who served as Surgeon General of the United States from 1993 to 1994. A vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commiss ...

for saying that masturbation "is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught." In 1998 it launched the

Masturbate-a-thon The Masturbate-a-thon is an event in which participants masturbate to raise money for charity and increase the public awareness and dispel the shame and taboos that exist about this form of sexual activity. From 1998 to 2003, the Masturbate-a- ...

as part of National Masturbation Month; this strategy to get people to discuss masturbation by getting pledges from their friends later inspired a live event developed by the Center for Sex and Culture. The cooperative voted to become a California corporation and did so in February 2006. In 2007, the company required an infusion of capital to stabilize its finances to help it overcome recent losses related to a drop in its Internet sales and was sold to GVA-TWN, a company based in Cleveland, Ohio, with a chain of novelty sex stores throughout the Midwest. Barnaby Ltd bought the company from GVA-TWN. In 2009 Jackie Rednour-Bruckman (Strano), a former worker-owner from the original co-operative, returned to become Chief Operations Officer and then Executive Vice President. In 2006, Good Vibrations purchased and re-branded the Grand Opening! sex shop in Brookline, Massachusetts, as Good Vibrations' first location outside of the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2010, they opened their fifth location, a larger store on Mission Street in San Francisco, across the street from

Bloomingdales Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a div ...

. The formal grand opening celebration was pushed to 29 January 2011. The sixth retail location opened its doors on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, California, on January 2, 2012. The company is a sponsor of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

events and organizations, groups that support sexual health, and other charities. Its GiVe donations program has aided in this. The company is a leading employer of transgender people. The founders of Grand Opening! and Babeland interned at Good Vibrations before opening their businesses, and many sex-positive retail toy companies have been inspired by Good Vibrations. The company has also influenced the sex toy and adult movie industries to create and market new products that reflected changes in the demographics of consumers. As part of their recognition as a leader in sex-positive culture and education, Good Vibrations received a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (2003), a Certificate of Recognition from the California Legislature Assembly (2004), and a Certificate of Recognition from the California Legislature (2006). The company has also received widespread recognition from the pornography industry, including an O Award for Outstanding Online Retailer 2009 at the

Adult Entertainment Expo An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

, Best Sexuality Retail Chain 2011 from ''AVN'', and Boutique Retailer of the Year 2011 from

XBIZ XBIZ is an American publisher of business news and business information for the sex industry. In addition to its flagship "Xbiz.com" website, XBIZ publishes two monthly trade magazines, hosts winter and summer exhibition and industry conferenc ...

. In August 2017, Good Vibrations purchased

Babeland Babeland, until 2005 known as Toys in Babeland, is a sex toy boutique offering erotic toys, Erotic literature, books and pornographic films. Babeland has an online store and four retail stores (in Seattle, Brooklyn, and two in Manhattan). Hist ...

. Babeland continues to operate as a separate brand. As of August 15, 2020, employees of the Boston area Good Vibrations stores are on strike, demanding better workplace safety and stronger human resources.

Good Releasing

Good Releasing offers various lines of adult titles and educational films: * Reel Queer Productions ("Documenting authentic, edgy, queer sex and culture with relevant, intelligent films inclusive of the many sexualities that identify as queer") * HeartCore Films ("Offering artistic alternatives to formulaic features with films by independent artists with fresh, diverse content") * PleasureEd Series ("a wide range of informational and instructional content to inspire and enhance your sex life") Several Good Releasing films have been nominated for or have received awards, many from the films by director Courtney Trouble, who helped develop the Reel Queer Productions studio: ;2010 Feminist Porn Awards :''Fluid: Men Redefining Sexuality'' (Best Bi Movie) :''Dangerous Curves'' (Most Deliciously Diverse Cast) :''Speakeasy'' (Most Tantalizing Trans Film) ;2010 AVN nominations :Best New Production Company :''Roulette'' (Best Music Soundtrack) :''Speakeasy'' (Best Music Soundtrack) ;2009 Feminist Porn Awards :''Roulette'' (Most Deliciously Diverse Cast)

Retail awards

*2010

XBIZ Award XBIZ Awards are given annually to honour "individuals, companies, performers and products that play an essential part in the growth and success of adult films" and have been described by XBIZ publisher and founder Alec Helmy as being "born out of ...

Nominee: Web Retailer of the Year XBIZ Announces Finalist Nominees for 2010 XBIZ Awards
''

'', Wednesday, Dec 16, 2009 * 2015 XBIZ Award - Retailer of the Year – BoutiqueXBIZ Award Winners
''

'', January, 2015

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Good Vibrations online
Sex shops Sex industry in San Francisco Former worker cooperatives Companies based in San Francisco Retail companies established in 1977 1977 establishments in California Pornography in California Worker cooperatives of the United States 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2009 mergers and acquisitions