Heading to Momentum!

This weekend just may be the most exciting of the year, as we’ll be attending Momentum in Washington D.C., an amazing conference focused on sexuality and feminism.

There’s a whole host of incredible presenters and sessions jam-packed into the weekend, like a session on senior sex by Joan Price, and a panel specifically about the sex toy biz, featuring Metis Black of Tantus, Greg DeLong of njoy, Rachel Venning of Babeland, and Carol Queen. Pretty sure we’ll be too busy to breathe this weekend — in a good way!

We also can’t wait to meet up with the other members of the Progressive Pleasure Club, an indie sex shop collective that we’re proud to be a part of.

If you can’t be there this weekend, be sure to follow the hashtag #mcon on Twitter for up-to-the-minute reports from the conference!

  Community News, News      conference, Momentum  

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We’re proud to be a part of the Progressive Pleasure Club!

She Bop is so proud to be a part of the Progressive Pleasure Club, a collective of indie sex shops that are committed to providing honest sexuality education and body-safe products to customers.

The community was founded by our friends Molly Adler and Matie Fricker, owners of Self Serve in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a way for similar shops to share resources and support.

A press release went out yesterday introducing the Progressive Pleasure Club to the world, and Molly Adler was quoted explaining the group’s philosophy:

We believe everyone has a right to enjoy sexual pleasure in a smart and healthy way, and the PPC will educate customers about local, independent stores where they can feel safe shopping, and can trust the safety of the adult products they buy.

Amen!

Currently the Progressive Pleasure Club’s network includes She Bop and 10 other shops from around the U.S. and Canada. Here’s a list of the current members:

• Early to Bed — Chicago, IL
• Feelmore 510 — Oakland, CA
• Good for Her — Toronto, ON
• Nomia — Portland, ME
• Oh My — Northhampton, MA
• The Rubber Rose — San Diego, CA
• Self Serve — Albuquerque, NM
• She Bop — Portland, OR
• Smitten Kitten — Minneapolis, MN
• Sugar — Baltimore, MD
• The Tool Shed — Milwaukee, WI

Future plans for the Progressive Pleasure Club include informing the public about the importance of body-safe sex toys, garnering support for small, local businesses, and lobbying sex toy manufacturers to stop using phthalates and toxins in their manufacturing.

Follow the Progressive Pleasure Club on Facebook for updates!

  News      Progressive Pleasure Club  

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Locally-made goodies available at She Bop!

Doesn’t buying stuff locally just warm the cockles of your heart? We agree — it feels really good to support local businesses. That’s why we’ve made it a priority to stock locally-made products and team up with Oregon artists for specialty items. We recently added a local section to our online shop, but here’s a more in-depth run-down of all the Beaver State goodies we carry! From floggers fashioned out of old tires to organic lube and handmade toy bags, this stuff is very Portland — just how we like it.

We are lucky to have several sex product manufacturers based in Oregon. Good Clean Love, the company behind organic Almost Naked lube and aphrodisiac Love Oil, is based in Eugene. Empire Labs, who you might know as “the place that makes those Clone-a-Willy/Pussy thingies,” is in Portland (they also offer a Make Your Own Dildo kit!). GladRags, purveyors of adorable menstrual accessories such as cloth pads and the Moon Cup, calls Portland home. And Gothfox Designs, the company that brings us stunningly beautiful, hand-sewn pasties, resides just across the Columbia river from us, in Vancouver, Washington.

It can be hard to find proper storage for your sex toys sometimes, so we asked local brand Appetite to make some of their gorgeous, nature-inspired bags especially for us. Appetite zipper bags and travel bags come in several sizes and are hand screen-printed. Appetite strives to use end-run, organic, and scrap material whenever possible. We only feature a few fabric choices online, but we’re constantly acquiring different fabrics in the shop.

Some items we carry in the shop are a little too varied to offer in our web store. Like the porcelain dildos from Porcelain Pleasures, which are all one-of-a-kind pieces. Crafted out of a milky white porcelain and sealed with a non-porous glaze, these dildos look and feel amazing. Then there’s the much-loved Naughty Autie’s Aprons, made for us by a local designer. We also stock an array of Courtesy Pads — sex blankets for keeping the sheets dry.

Portland has no shortage of kinksters, and we’re thrilled to carry some of their hand-crafted wares! In Her Tube is a Portland company that constructs floggers and harnesses out of recycled rubber tires. Can it get any more Portland than that?! Our rattan canes are also handmade in the City of Roses. Shiny Shiny, a company run by a pair of crafty and kinky Portlanders, supply us with hand-conditioned, organic hemp rope, in our signature plum color.

Of course, as home to famed book maze store Powell’s, Portland has produced tons of fantastic writers, and we’re honored to carry several books written by and featuring them. Wild Feminine, The Chronology of Water, and My Erotic Adventure were all written by local women, and the work of Portland-based author Shanna Germain is featured in quite a few anthologies we stock, such as Women in Lust and Please, Sir.

Our She Bop swag is furnished by local businesses as well! Our T-shirts and undies are produced by Printed Matter; our stickers are made by Diesel Fuel Prints; and our business cards are printed by Phoenix Media. In fact, Phoenix Media is responsible for those beautiful, enlarged sex toy photos decorating the shop’s walls.

When you visit our shop’s check-out station, you may sometimes notice little boxes of chocolates beckoning to you. Those are handmade by Neapolitan Chocolate & Co., and come in some delicious flavors such as lavendar + smoked salt and rose + raspberry. Neapolitan Chocolate & Co. have even made us boobie-shaped chocolates and chocolates with our logo on them!

Behind the scenes, we utilize local service providers in the running of She Bop: our phone company and our credit card processing company are both Portland businesses. And when you purchase something in our shop, you’ll take it home in a 100% recycled, hand-stamped paper bag from Portland Store Fixtures. Portland Store Fixtures also supplies us with tissue paper, display stands, and other doodads around the shop.

As time goes on, we plan to stock more fun and unique items from local artisans and authors. We’re thankful we live in such a great city filled with so many talented and crafty people!

  News      aprons, BDSM, books, dildos, harnesses, local products, lube, pasties  

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We’ve been nominated for the Q Means Business Award!

For the past several months, our friends at the Q Center have been receiving nominations for their 2012 Winter Gala Awards. There are three awards categories, and we’ve been nominated for the Q Means Business Award, along with some other great organizations! The criteria for all nominees is as follows:

• They lead by example
• They promote healthy individuals, families and community
• Their actions are motivated out of altruism and respect
• They believe diversity is a strength
• They encourage and support the vision and dreams of others
• They encourage others to expand their vision

Winners will be announced at the Q Center’s 2012 Winter Gala this Saturday, February 18th, at the YU Contemporary Art Center. The Gala promises fabulous food and drink, live auctions, and music by DJ Bob Mould. There are less than 100 tickets left for the Winter Gala, so get yours now!

  News, Nominations and awards, Press      awards, Q Center  

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New product round-up for January

It’s always nice when a new toy comes along that fulfills a much-needed role in sex toy land. The Tantus Flex is one of those toys: a double-penetration dildo made of 100% silicone (most are made of unsafe jelly). And there aren’t a ton of 100% silicone rabbit vibes on the market, either, which is why we’re thrilled about the new Vibratex Violet. This dual vibe has seriously in-depth controls (six buttons, to be exact!), and the clitoral stimulator is shaped like a winged creature — or manta ray, we aren’t quite sure.

This month, we also picked up the We-Vibe Touch, a snappy little rechargeable clit vibe with a tapered tip and a scoop on the underside, and the Silver Bullet. We chose this particular silver bullet because it has a plug-in battery pack — any compatible bullet can plug into it! If you are looking for a particular style of bullet, ask us and we can special order one for you.

We’ve had requests for a cylinder pump, and we finally found one we liked in the 3 Cylinder Pump System. This is the perfect tool for temporarily enlarging your clit/penis, and it increases genital sensation as well. Really cool!

Perhaps you like the look of anal beads but would prefer them in butt plug form? Well then, Happy Valley’s Triton should be right up your alley. Plus, it has a looped handle that can accommodate a small bullet vibe.

For your viewing pleasure, we now carry Andrew Blake’s fetish film Close-Ups, and Erika Lust’s sensual and poetic new movie, Cabaret Desire. For your reading pleasure, we added three books: Best Sex Writing 2012; a spanking-themed erotica collection called Spanked; and a guidebook to having the best sex ever, Hot Sex: Over 200 Things You Can Try Tonight!.

We know how fun (and useful) those little lube pillow pack samples can be, so we’ve put together a Lil’ Lube Sampler Kit that includes 6 samples of some of our most popular organic water-based lubes. Perfect for tossing in your virtual shopping cart right before check-out! We also picked up ON Clitoral Arousal Balm, a stimulating balm that resembles a mini tube of lipstick.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we could not resist stocking the limited edition Tenga Lover’s Egg. This adorable, compact masturbation sleeve has a heart-shaped inner texture — and a heart-patterned outer shell. (Aww.)

On that special night, perhaps you’d like to set the mood with the newest Afterglow Candle scent, grapefruit? And for keeping the sheets dry, consider the Liberator Decor Fascinator Throe. With a liquid-resistant core and luxurious outer lining, this blanket is truly magical… and inconspicuous!

Finally, we don’t want you to be without some silly (and somewhat vulgar) options for Valentine’s Day goodies, so check out X-Rated Valentine Hearts, I Fucking Love You Candy Heart Box, and the X-Rated Valentine Heart-Shaped Balloons.

  New products, News      books, candies, dildos, DVDs, Erika Lust, erotica, Happy Valley, Liberator, porn, pump, stimulating gel, Tantus, Vibratex, vibrators, We-Vibe  

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New product round-up for December

Books, books books — many books hit our shelves this past month! Such as Joan Price’s Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud About Senior Sex, a priceless resource for older folks who want to nurture their sexual selves.

There’s a lot of new erotica to be had! Best Lesbian Erotica 2012 just came out, as did the sultry Women in Lust. And for the bondage aficionados, there’s Best Bondage Erotica 2012, as well as two specialized D/s collections: He’s On Top: Erotic Stories of Male Dominance and Female Submission and She’s On Top: Erotic Stories of Female Dominance and Male Submission.

If you’re into burlesque, pin-ups, or graphic novels, we have a few new books that might interest you. First is The Burlesque Handbook, a guide to the art of performing burlesque. Then we have Gil Elvgren: All His Glamorous American Pin-Ups, a collection of post-Depression era paintings. And finally, see the Suicide Girls in graphic novel form with Suicide Girls, Vol. 1.

We picked up one new vibrator this month: luxury company Je Joue’s newest offering, a rechargeable G-spot vibrator named Uma. We actually sold out of this toy within 2 days, so we’re waiting for more to come in. Keep an eye on our Facebook page in January, and we’ll post there when we get them back in stock.

Comstock Films’ newest movie has arrived! Brett and Melanie: Boi Meets Girl is the seventh film in Comstock Films’ erotic documentary series. Like all of Comstock’s films, the movie begins with an interview with the couple, and ends with footage of their lovemaking. This particular film is notable for its examination of strength and vulnerability in the context of gender interpretation.

An important question for bakers everywhere: why make your cookies circular when you can make them penis-shaped? We’re especially fond of the Penis and Titty Cookie Cutters, as they come with a soft penis shape that reminds us of a packer. These cookie cutters are perfect for bachelorette parties — or, really, anytime you’re feeling sassy.

  New products, News      BDSM, bondage, books, burlesque, Comstock Films, erotica, Je Joue  

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We’ve been nominated for an AVN Award!

Coming on the heels of our XBIZ Award nomination, we were happy to learn that we have been nominated for an AVN Award as well! We are nominated for “Best Boutique” in the Retail/Distribution section. And we’re among friends: six of our fellow Progressive Pleasure Club shops have been nominated, too.

Nominations were chosen by a committee of 10 AVN critics. There are over 130 categories recognizing all facets of the adult industry: talent, companies, shops, directors and more.

The 2012 AVN Awards will take place on January 21, 2012 at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

  News, Nominations and awards, Press      AVN, AVN Awards, awards, nominations  

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New product round-up for November

A wide variety of new books have hit our shelves this month. Chester 5000-XYV is a quirky, steampunk-inspired erotic comic that chronicles the love between human and machine. Then we have an instructional guide, Intimacy & Desire: Awaken the Passion in Your Relationship, written by a marriage and family therapist. A local Portland author, Lidia Yuknavitch, has written a powerful memoir called The Chronology of Water that we’re proud to carry. And, of course, Best Women’s Erotica 2012, just in time for the new year.

We’ve picked up a bunch of new sex toys! First, the We-Vibe 3, an updated version of the insanely popular We-Vibe couples’ vibrator. Now it comes with a remote, for streamlined control of the toy no matter which position you happen to be in!

We also have Pop Tops, silicone sleeves that make the head of your Hitachi easier to clean and/or more textured. For the butt, we have a set of beginner’s silicone anal beads called the A Chain, and an artsy prostate plug, the Aneros Progasm Ice. We also picked up a sleek glass G-spot dildo from Simply Blown.

From our friends at Aslan Leather, look at the gorgeous new Crystal Blue Jaguar! This harness, in Aslan’s signature low-rise Jaguar style, comes in a beautiful powder blue leather with white accents. We also now carry the Minx Upgrade, which can transform the back of any Jaguar harness into a corset.

One new DVD is gracing our catalog this month, and it’s a great one: Courtney Trouble’s new release, Live Sex Show. If you like being a voyeur — and watching others engage in voyeurism — you should definitely check this one out. Plus, it unabashedly shows fisting.

This one may be a small addition, but if you have a latex allergy or sensitivity, it’s an important one: the Skyn Large condoms from Lifestyles are made of polyisoprene, a non-latex material, and come in a bigger size than other non-latex offerings.

For those with a kinky bent (or an adventurous spirit), we have two new ways to tie someone up: Silky Tie-Ups and Silk Binding Sashes. Take things even further with the delightfully unique Love is Art kit, which includes everything you need to create a truly one-of-a-kind painting. Pour the non-toxic, washable black paint onto the included white cotton canvas, then… let your bodies make love and art.

Or perhaps you’d like a different sort of craft project? In that case, pick up a jet black Clone-a-Willy kit and make a black, vibrating replica of your favorite penis today!

  New products, News      anal beads, anal toys, BDSM, books, comics, dildos, DVDs, erotica, guides, harnesses, memoir, porn, vibrators  

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We’re nominated for the 2012 XBIZ Awards!

Nominations for the 10th annual 2012 XBIZ Awards have been released, and our name is on the list! We’ve been nominated under “Retailer of the Year — Boutique,” along with some other amazing shops such as Feelmore510, The Pleasure Chest, and Good Vibrations. Congrats to our fellow nominees!

The XBIZ Awards are a popular adult industry staple, with entire nomination sections for “pleasure products,” “web & technology,” “movies & production,” and “retail & distribution.”

Our nomination was based on over 4,000 pre-nominations submitted to XBIZ by leading members of the adult industry. Now, the XBIZ Awards committees will review the nominees and choose the winners. Winners will be announced at the XBIZ Awards ceremony on January 10, 2012 in Los Angeles.

  News, Nominations and awards, Press      nominations, XBIZ Awards  

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New product round-up for October

After much anticipation, we’re now carrying luxury brand LELO’s three newest toys: Tiani, a U-shaped couples’ vibe; Lyla, an egg-shaped vibe; and Oden, a vibrating cock ring. These rechargeable toys come with remotes and are equipped with SenseMotion technology — the vibes respond to the movement of the remote. Really cool!

We also picked up the We-Vibe Tango, a petite, rechargeable vibe that packs quite a punch, and the PicoBong Ipo, an adorable finger vibe.

If you’re a fan of suction, time to rejoice! We now carry the Pumped Up penis pump and the Vibrating Pleasure Pump. Both are meant to increase sensitivity. Plus, they’re just fun to use.

Four deliciously diverse new books this month: Big Big Love, a book for plus-size loving; The Secrets of Great G-Spot Orgasms and Female Ejaculation, the new guide from Tristan Taormino; Best of Best Gay Erotica 3; and Sensuous Magic, a beginner’s guide to S&M. Plus, the newest issue of Original Plumbing is here, and it’s all about family and parenting!

Things are getting cold around here, so we added a Massage Candle Trio from Earthly Body. These candles smell great and melt into a luscious, warm oil that can be poured onto a partner’s skin for a massage. This set comes in a gift bag and contains three candles with different yummy scents for you to indulge in: Polynesia (Plumeria), Skinny Dip (Vanilla/Cotton Candy), and Dreamsicle (Orange/Plum).

And finally — we added some nickel cock ring sets in several sizes. These solid metal cock rings are excellent for advanced cock ring users. Read our cock ring guide for useful info about how to get the most out of your cock rings!

  New products, News      BDSM, books, candles, cock rings, erotica, female ejaculation, G-spot, LELO, squirting, Tristan Taormino, vibrators, We-Vibe  

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