+
upworthy
More

These savvy women are redefining the sex shop, and business is taking off.

These aren’t your grandpa’s sex shops (not that you wanted to think about your grandpa in a sex shop, but there ya go).

If you’re a woman and you want to buy a sex toy, you probably think you have to go to a traditional sex shop.

But unfortunately, that shop could end up being pretty unhelpful: mostly built for men and with little information on materials and ingredients. The shelves will probably be lined with products focused on male pleasure, and the atmosphere might not be very welcoming to folks of varied backgrounds and interests.


What if there was another, more inclusive option for sex shops? Image from Other Nature, used with permission.

Alternatively, you could order that sex toy online. This has the advantage of privacy and discretion, but as you know if you’ve ever bought clothes from a website, it’s hard to know from a screen exactly what you’ll get in person.

What you actually need: a place where you can go to say, “Here’s what I need. Help me find it.” A place that feels inclusive, sex-positive, and fun. A place where you can feel comfortable regardless of what you like, what you look like, and what you know (or don’t know).

That space is exactly what a small but powerful group of female entrepreneurs, women like 35-year-old Canadian Sara Rodenhizer, are trying to create.

Rodenhizer is the owner of Other Nature, an inclusive sex shop in Berlin, Germany.

Since its founding in 2011, Other Nature has had a mission of reaching out to people who are neglected by traditional stores.

The interior of Other Nature, which resembles a beauty boutique. Image from Other Nature, used with permission.

In Rodenhizer’s native Canada, she worked for several years in a feminist sex shop called Venus Envy. After living in Poland and the Czech Republic, she landed in Berlin, a city whose progressive, queer-friendly politics matched her own.

"Mainstream sex shops generally fail to provide people — especially women and LGBTQ communities — with comfortable spaces to shop, to explore, and to learn more about sex and sexuality,” Rodenhizer says.

“So we wanted to create a different kind of space [at Other Nature]," she says. "What that looks like to us is a place where everyone is welcome,” regardless of preferences or experiences.

Other Nature isn't the first of its kind when it comes to feminist sex shops though.

In fact, women have been pioneering health-centric sex shops since the early 1970s. The women behind many of these shops saw themselves as educators first and entrepreneurs second, a trend that has carried over today. These women tried to keep mark-ups, and prices, low.

Dr. Carol Queen at the Good Vibrations store in San Francisco in the 1990s. With the company since 1990, Queen is the Good Vibrations staff sexologist. Photo by Good Vibrations, used with permission.

It's been a quiet trend: While men dominated the adult industry in the 1980s or 1990s, feminist sex shops slowly began to pop up all over the globe. Today, there are more than 20 shops in the U.S. and many others in major cities all over the world.

So, why haven't you noticed these shops in your town? It's probably because many of these shops are so inclusive and appealing that they've become a normalized part of the line up of boutiques in major cities. They're often filled with tea shops, reading rooms, education centers, and brightly colored offerings. In face, they're usually the complete opposite of the seedy storefronts you might imagine them to be.

To ensure welcoming vibes, these feminist sex shops provide friendly spaces to learn about sex and quiet areas to hang out.

Other Nature's product range shows an awareness of diverse needs and experiences. They stock feminist porn, books from trans and queer authors, and products that actually match different skin tones — things you may not realize are missing from traditional sex shops until you step into an alternative store. They even have a reading room complete with tea and vegan baked goods.

A non-pressured sales environment. Image from Other Nature, used with permission.

Educational outreach is key to many of these businesses, which is why Other Nature even offers home visits for customers with mobility issues. "Ultimately, our most important role is as a community resource, where people can access good information as well as quality products," Rodenhizer says.

"We make sure we're available to customers who have questions or who want info or advice, and we ... also offer workshops on a variety of topics."

Regardless of income, identity, or gender, these shop owners believe that sex positivity is important for a culture of equality.

Lynn Comella is a writer currently finishing a book on the history of feminist sex toy stores and the rise of the women's market for sex toys and pornography. Her work has shown that women-operated adult businesses really "take seriously the idea that sexual pleasure is a birthright."

She says many of these shop owners believe that everyone, regardless of their tax bracket, should have access to quality products and accurate information about sex."

Other Nature wears its alternative status proudly on its sleeve. Image from Other Nature, used with permission.

And it's entrepreneurs like Sara Rodenhizer who have turned these beliefs into thriving, tangible businesses on the ground. As women-owned adult retailers continue to spread this positive message around the world, often largely unnoticed, they’re proving sex shops can make a true difference — both to individual customers and to the wider community. I think that's a pretty impressive, giant step.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less

A beautiful cruise ship crossing the seas.

Going on a cruise can be an incredible getaway from the stresses of life on the mainland. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an element of danger when living on a ship 200-plus feet high, traveling up to 35 miles per hour and subject to the whims of the sea.

An average of about 19 people go overboard every year, and only around 28% survive. Cruise ship lawyer Spencer Aronfeld explained the phenomenon in a viral TikTok video, in which he also revealed the secret code the crew uses when tragedy happens.

Keep ReadingShow less

A woman looking at her phone while sitting on the toilet.


One of the most popular health trends over the last few years has been staying as hydrated as possible, evidenced by the massive popularity of 40-oz Stanely Quencher cups. The theory among those who obsess over hydration is that, when you pee clear, you’ve removed all the waste in your body and are enjoying the incredible benefits of being 100% hydrated. Congratulations.

However, according to Dr. Sermed Mezher, an NHS doctor in the UK, peeing clear isn’t always a sign of being healthy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Kudos to the heroes who had 90 seconds to save lives in the Key Bridge collapse

The loss of 6 lives is tragic, but the dispatch recording shows it could have been so much worse.

Representative image by Gustavo Fring/Pexels

The workers who responded to the Dali's mayday call saved lives with their quick response.

As more details of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore emerge, it's becoming more apparent how much worse this catastrophe could have been.

Just minutes before 1:30am on March 26, shortly after leaving port in Baltimore Harbor, a cargo ship named Dali lost power and control of its steering, sending it careening into a structural pillar on Key Bridge. The crew of the Dali issued a mayday call at 1:26am to alert authorities of the power failure, giving responders crucial moments to prepare for a potential collision. Just 90 seconds later, the ship hit a pylon, triggering a total collapse of the 1.6-mile bridge into the Patapsco River.

Dispatch audio of those moments shows the calm professionalism and quick actions that limited the loss of life in an unexpected situation where every second counted.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

Keep ReadingShow less

An English doctor named Edward Jenner took incredible risks to try to rid his world of smallpox. Because of his efforts and the efforts of scientists like him, the only thing between deadly diseases like the ones below and extinction are people who refuse to vaccinate their kids. Don't be that parent.

Unfortunately, because of the misinformation from the anti-vaccination movement, some of these diseases have trended up in a really bad way over the past several years.

Keep ReadingShow less