Listen, it’s nice to have a pride display during June and all, but it’s really nice to see visibly queer and BIPOC models all the time, especially with a range of body types! When all the models are slim white cis women with long blond hair, it’s a little disheartening-am I one of the people they even want as customers? I mean, yes, in the sense that they want my money, but otherwise? If they think that “white skinny woman” represents all of their clientele, they are mistaken…or they’re self-selecting to the point where that’s true, I suppose. Celebrate queerness and diversity year-round But it is still nice to be able to purchase from a discreet company for a variety of reasons, and that the stores have thought about this shows that they’re conscious and conscientious. Transness is not inherently sexual, and so things like packers aren’t sex toys in the traditional sense.
Many queer-friendly stores contain gender-affirming items, separately from their pleasure items. They also include and promote products created by indie queer creators, like the Cute Little Fuckers line or Funkit Toys. But there are some stores which are very emphatic in hiring and supporting queer people, which were started by queer people, and which try to work with queer people when possible.
This one can be harder to determine, since it’s not like most stores have a List of Staff with full identity on their front page. They also tend to say “toys for couples” when they mean “toys compatible with PIV sex.” Any toy can be a toy for couples, if a couple is using it! Queer creators, staff, etc. Here is a list (non-exhaustive) of some things that can indicate that a store is queer-friendly: Non-gendered termsĪ store that divides its toys into “toys for men” and “toys for women” are not inclusive, because what they usually mean are “toys for penises & prostates” and “toys for vaginas & clits.” Plenty of men have vaginas, plenty of women have penises, nonbinary people can have a wild assortment of genitals, etc. Maybe there’s an element of “Oh yes, gays, I support gay rights, let me honor that with these rainbow dildos.” That’s nice and all, but today I’d like to highlight some of my favorite stores that are queer-friendly all year long, and who live by those ideals! That said, it frustrates me very much to see stores that are otherwise non-inclusive try to win over queer dollars because that’s the useful thing to do in June. This June, you’ll see a lot of sex toy stores wishing you a happy Pride, and that’s wonderful, because Pride began as (and continues to be) a protest, but is also a celebration of queer sexuality in all of its forms! If you have a favorite store already that you want to support, well, you should do that, you know yourself and your budget and your favorite things.