Validating the Trans Community in Adult Retail (XBIZ)

Read the full article by Steve Callow at XBIZ.com

Over the last few years, I’ve walked into stores and wandered around looking at how products are categorized and merchandised. Often, I look specifically for areas where sleeves, douches, strap-ons, male, gay and trans products could be displayed. It’s obvious that traditional cis-gender female products take a lot of floor space and rightly deserve a lot of attention, as they are expensive and likely generate a large portion of any store’s revenues — unless of course you are a gay store. But aside from female products, how does a store address issues related to sexual identity?

I think this deserves conversation, because over the last decade, we have witnessed a general movement away from labelling individuals and forcing them into a section of the store. This is driven by a strong movement to create an equal space for everyone and by a greater acceptance that sexual desire is fluid and is not always consistent with labelling.

But I wonder if this is the right direction for groups that are still forming their identity. I remember when I was a young man — about 30 years ago — that I had only a level of “taboo” recognition in adult stores for my sexual needs, meaning it was in a corner behind a curtain! That certainly didn’t make me feel good about myself. At some point the gay market exploded and the products made their way onto the shelves in the main part of the store. Often there was, and still is, a section for gay products. When these first appeared, they were very empowering. As a gay man, I knew that there were products made specifically for me and even if I was embarrassed to buy something (I often was) I had the courage to buy it because I knew the store knew why I was buying it — I told myself “they wouldn’t have a gay section if they didn’t like gays!”

Progressive stores addressing an enlightened urban population have had the ability to blend gay products in with “straight” products with little repercussion from their client base. This is likely not the case in more rural areas, where gays may not be as well accepted. But either way, the packaging for products that would appeal to gay men has evolved and will not contain a picture of a woman on them. And you won’t find a picture of a man on lesbian-targeted product.

Trans products are new, but not only are the products new, for much of the world, the mainstreaming of the word “trans” is brand-new too. What was the experience like for a trans male or female when they walked into an adult store prior to this worldwide awakening? I think we can all imagine what it was like, though I bet it was, and sometimes still is, worse than most of us will or can imagine. It was probably like my experience 30 years ago walking into a store and wanting to buy a sex toy. I felt ashamed, like a freak, abnormal, unwanted and like everyone was staring at me.