More Than A Sex Shop The Pleasure Chest Wishes To Educate and Create Community
A metal version of the Pleasure Chest logo illuminated in neon red light.
Imagine a space meant to fulfill, educate, and support anyone regardless of gender or orientation in sexual growth and exploration. Since 1971, many have entered such a place that has pioneered a sex-positive culture, with an emphasis on education, enjoyment, and inclusivity. The Pleasure Chest has firmly believed that everyone has a fundamental right to pursue sexual fulfillment. With stores in New York, Chicago & Los Angeles, they offer every customer a specialized shopping experience in a judgment-free environment, a huge variety of products, and their PleasurEd program: free weekly workshops open to anyone looking to expand their sexual education. Queer 26 writer Jasmine Lowe sat down to speak with Pleasure Chest manager Bahar Baharloo to further discuss the organization.
Jasmine Lowe: I wanted to talk a little more about the Pleasure Chest and how it got started since it’s been around for a little while.
Bahar Baharloo: Yeah, this year is the 50th anniversary since we opened in 1971. It’s actually a family operation. The current owner, Brian Robinson’s uncle Duane Colglazier with Bill Rifkin, started the Pleasure Chest in the West Village after the Stonewall Riots. The West Village was a hub for the community and where it all hit the fan. Back in the day, the store was originally oriented toward cis gay men, with leather, floggers, paddles, and really aligned with the queer history of New York. It started off as a mattress store, and as a joke, they thought they would sell a couple of vibrating beds and then sold vibrators. They found that people were coming in more for the vibrators, so they pivoted.
Jasmine: Oh my gosh, I never heard that before.
Bahar: Yeah, the West Village was and still is pretty quirky.
Jasmine: What do you believe has kept the Pleasure Chest in business for so long?
Bahar: For lack of a better phrase, sex is always popular. So, there’s that. If there’s sex, people will find it even when the world is telling them no, especially when the world is telling them no. When you think about queer liberation, or really any type of liberation, it’s because the world is saying no, and you crave only what is right. I believe that’s one of the reasons why sex is booming, even though it seems at time history that it’s not. Also, if you think about where in the West Village our store is located, we’re literally a stone’s throw away from the Stonewall Inn. We’re located in the center of it all. Our mission has always been to push people to explore the things that they want and need, even if they were brought up Catholic or something happened where they thought that they were broken. That push for exploration is always encouraged here.
Photograph of the first Pleasure Chest Store in West Village.
Jasmine: So, how did you get involved with Pleasure Chest?
Bahar: I came in three years ago. I’ve always been interested in sex and sexuality. I’m a storyteller by nature. I went to school for acting and theater. But sex has always been at the forefront of my interest, too, just like gender. I am gender fluid/genderqueer, and I use they/them pronouns. It’s always been a part of my life, just like any genderqueer person. It becomes a topic of conversation, your sexuality. It’s something that you are always investigating. So, when looking for someplace to work, I was looking for something educational-oriented, especially in a way that was intersectional in terms of its appeal and audience.
In many of the sex toy shops, you have to be careful in terms of classism. There are sex toy shops that people see as seedy or creepy, but some of those sex shops sell the exact same products we do, and some of those people know exactly the same amount as we do, but for some reason, they are perceived as such. Then there are other shops that are on the same level of bougie-ness as we are, but they are very much geared toward a certain crowd. They shave off the edges of sex and try to hide the dirty nasty stuff, which is sometimes the stuff we really want and need. I try to encourage people to see it as the spice of life. You have to embrace that dirty nastiness. I was just reading Esther Perel, an amazing therapist who talks about sex, and there was one quote in her book from someone else that said, “sex without sin is like an egg without salt,” which I think is so accurate. So, yeah, I was looking for that feminist, queer, sex toy shop that was educational oriented and I naturally found this spot because the opportunity to teach was just so big. I’ve been here ever since managing and teaching, and it’s exciting.
The Pleasure Chest Store in Los Angeles, CA
Jasmine: What advice do you have for young queer individuals of color who want to be involved in the adult toy industry that has that educational background?
Bahar: One of the biggest things is being able to see yourself in the sex you want to have and own it. It’s about building the fantasy of what they want, knowing their desires, and being able to name them without shame, or at least navigating the shame since sometimes it’s a part of our sex. Also, finding a space where they can also see that come to fruition without that fear of feeling as though they don’t belong there.
My advice when people come into the store is to ask the salesperson questions. I think in a place like Pleasure Chest, you can also gauge whether they are open and willing to talk to you about it. Everyone here is a sex specialist. We’re trained on everything and not just what the toys do, but a lot of them teach our classes. So, use those resources. I personally know of communities and meetup groups, and parties that are geared towards people of color. I’m a middle eastern queer, and there are specifically queer middle eastern parties. Finding those communities is magical because you can find people that were raised so similarly to you and who are just as nasty as you. It’s nice to find. White supremacy’s goal is to divide and to break up community, conversations, and any sort of communion that you have. Being able to talk with someone else and share and feel normalized and seen is amazing.
The objective of The Pleasure Chest is simple; they are here to help you have the best sex of your life. The Queer 26 would like to thank everyone at Pleasure Chest for donating some amazing swag bags for our party during Pride Con. To learn more about Pleasure Chest or sign up for one of their many online classes, visit their website at thepleasurechest.com and follow them on Instagram @pleasurecheststores.