Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium
Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium is a British sex shop with an East End of London retail boutique and online store, established in 1992 by Kathryn Hoyle and Sophie Walters.[1]
Cultural impact
In 1992, Hoyle discovered the Rabbit vibrator named "Roger Rabbit" in a sex toy warehouse. She branded hers "Jessica Rabbit," which became renowned from its appearance on television shows, including Sex and the City.[2] After Cosmopolitan ran an article on female masturbation in 1999, resulting in sales increasing.[3]
Projects
Sh! runs educational workshops and collaborates with National Health Service trusts in providing sex toys for women with sexual difficulties.[4][5]
2003 International Sexology Conference
In 2003, Adeola Agbebiyi from the Barts and the London NHS Trust, and Kathryn Hoyle and Angel Zatorski both from Sh! Women's Emporium presented two papers exploring the relationship between women and sex toys.[6]
Awards
Sh! has been awarded Ethical Consumer status by ethicalconsumer.org for their informed and information-giving standpoint on sex toys. Sh! has also won the 2005 Erotic Awards Special Judges Award[7] for being 'the best sex shop in town ~ possibly the world!' In 2007, Sh! was named in the g3 magazine Readers' Poll as 'Best Adult Store Online' and 'Best LGBT friendly business'.[8] In 2008 the business was awarded the Readers' Poll 'Best Online Retailer' award.[9]
References
- Kent, Tony; Berman Brown, Reva (2006). "Erotic retailing in the UK (1963‐2003): The view from the marketing mix". Journal of Management History. 12 (2): 199–211. doi:10.1108/13552520610654087.
- Bakar, Fatima (21 January 2018). "Britain's first sex shop for women is still very badass". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
- Moore, Anna (20 July 2003). "A Woman's Touch". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- Hill, Amelia (29 September 2002). "Women to get sex toys on the NHS". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- Archived 15 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- "Erotic Awards 2005". Archived from the original on 23 March 2005.
- "g3 Magazine Readers Poll 2007 results".
- g3 magazine, June 2008