CARNAL NATION

This essay originally appeared in the October, 2009 issue of Adult Video News.  Reprinted with Permission. 

Joani Blank broke a mold in the adult toy industry 32 years ago when she created Good Vibrations as a place for women to get not just sex toys but also accurate information about sexuality and sexual products. She was inspired to open the store by her experience working with "pre-orgasmic women's groups"—a kind of therapy/consciousness-raising group that allowed women who weren't reliably orgasmic to obtain information and skills that would let them experience their sexuality more fully. In this context, women learned not only from the sex therapist group leaders, but also from all the women present; as they spoke up in turn, everyone learned from similarities and differences in each others' experiences. And they were encouraged to try vibrators, which led to Joani's "aha" moment: Over and over she heard women say they could never go into one of "those places" to get one, and she realized women who wanted to shop for sexual products needed a new kind of place.

As it happens, this early example of sharing sex information perfectly sets the stage for us to consider the ways in which the adult toy and movie industries use "sexperts," other experts and sexologists.

In the pre-orgasmic women's groups, important information came not only from the sex therapists and other sex educators leading the groups, but also from each woman within the group, who, though not a trained expert herself, brought information and perspective to the table which benefited everyone. Since then, the role that expertise and "sexpertise" plays in our industry has grown, especially in the case of sexperts and sexologists. And they are fabulous additions to the mix, especially when it comes to selling product and conveying information to new customers.

But sexperts, experts and sexologists are not the same: Each brings different things to the table, and to the sales floor. Some companies, like Good Vibrations, have strong relationships with all three. Other companies do not use each kind of spokesperson or teacher optimally, or even appear able to tell them apart.

Sexperts: Hands-on Experience

Sexperts are individuals whose own personal experiences inspire and inform them to become workshop leaders, teachers, authors or spokespeople, often for just one particular kind of erotic play: anal sex, female ejaculation, Tantra—the list is endless, because the ways we can enjoy and experience sexuality are endless. This kind of sexpert can become deeply identified with the kind of sex they initially choose to teach about or promote. Especially if they come to the table early and are the first to write a book or make a video about a topic, they can become very well-known and are often real experts and leaders in the field in which they specialize.

Other sexperts cover the waterfront. They tackle anything sex-related, from things they know intimately to things they don't. A great example of this kind of sexpert is Dan Savage, whose humorous Q&A column runs in many alternative weeklies across the nation. A proudly out gay man, he can't be expected to have much hands-on knowledge about female sexuality, but he regularly dispenses acerbic opinion on it, heterosexual coupling and every other sexual topic.

And then there's the middle ground, someone whose own sexual interests expand and whose sexpertise follows accordingly, like Deborah Sundahl, who started out being solely identified with female ejaculation but whose educational focus now encompasses Tantra; and Tristan Taormino, whose anal education (in and out of the porn world) is still very well-known, but who also has written a notable book about open relationships.

Sexologists: Different by Degrees

Sexologists may or may not be principally identified with one type of sex education or enhancement strategy, and they may or may not teach from a first-person-inclusive, "I've done this myself so you know I know what I'm talking about" point of view. Sexologists differ from sexperts because they've received academic and/or profession training in their specialty. Whether or not they're working within or in consultation to the adult industry, they likely maintain relationships with one or more professional sexology organizations, such as the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists or the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (although some sexperts also join these groups). They either have a degree in or significant study of sexology (the academic study of sex) or are professionally trained in a relevant field, and from that jumping-off point have specialized and trained further so their expertise is informed by current study and research.