Manhattan, the Universe, and Everything

A single Manhattanite's diary of her life in The City, plus various odd commentary. plain_jane_jones1@yahoo.com

Friday, February 16, 2007

Nothing Says "Happy Valentines' Day" like Sex Toys

'Twas the Sunday night before Valentines' Day, and Babeland, Manhattan's resident upscale trendy sex shop, was having its bi-annual cocktail party (the other one coincides with Pride Week). I heard about this party through my friend Alyson (a devout Christian, no less), who, in turn, heard about it through a friend of hers.

Alyson: "Free Drinks".

PJJ: "That's all I need to hear."

No never-mind that we'll be munching Lays and swilling hard cider next to a forest of silicone penises (penii?) with festive monikers like "Lil' Spur" and "Lonestar", and books entitled "Anal Sex For Buttophobes".

As far as sex shops go, Babeland is a far cry from the proverbial truck stop on the far side of town, a common setting in snuff porn films and bad horror novels. Babeland's got 2 locations: Soho and Lower East Side, so, if your boss owns a dildo, chances are (s)he bought it here. This is sex for yuppies, hipsters, young lesbian couples working in advertising, bankers and pharma salesmen, attorneys, P.R. associates, Columbia grad students, bored housewives from Darien, Swedish ex-pats and, well, everyone who considers themselves not dirty enough for 8th Avenue. In a nutshell (or, shall I say "nutsack"), Babeland does for masturbating what Sushi Samba did for edamame.

The DJ was spinning catchy, if not overly obvious tunes (e.g. "Let's Talk About Sex") and the crowd, aside from the solitary elderly man in a suit, was relatively normal, if not skewed towards GLBT. Our Babeland hosts (Caroline, especially) were friendly and eager to answer any of our questions, even (read: especially) our stupidest, and by the end of the night I almost felt that purchasing a vibrator would be simply a matter of course, similar to how Midwestern tourists feel about those "I Love New York" shirts. But not quite.

I will be back. Maybe, one day, I will gain the courage to make a purchase.

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