The NYT Says Vibrators Carry the Conversation

The New York Times built on some of the points we made last week when we interviewed OhMiBod founder Suki Durham about the difficulties in running a small business when your niche is sexual pleasure.

Their take is a lot more optimistic. They point to the massagers now ubiquitous at pharmacies, suggesting that the public has become far more comfortable with vibrators and is finally viewing them as legitimate consumer products. Everything from conversations during the AIDS crisis to Sex and the City and Oprah are cited for helping bring this about.

“As soon as mainstream culture looks at an issue, it becomes fair game for everyone else,” Carol Queen told the paper.

Consumers are half the battle. What we want to know is how the business world and all its entities respond to adult businesses. The New York Times piece mentioned Durham’s inability to get a loan from the Small Business Association and issues getting advertising. We want to hear about that. We want to hear how hard it is to make it when you’re in this business. How many great products go nowhere because of lack of acceptance from the business community?

Because, yeah, so condom-manufacturer massagers are at drugstores now and that’s a good thing. But why don’t we see massagers from, say, The Screaming O?

In any event! We have an announcement to make. After going through all of your responses, Colleen Nika has selected a winner: Congratulations, @MonicaVanLeer. She wants to hear Inertia Creeps by Massive Attack.

Image by Ryan Ozawa. Information from Fox News.