Porn

The porn industry spews out a lot of awful, exploitative and, in the eyes of the Sh! girlz, yes - obscene films. Richer by a mile than Hollywood, the porn industry knows that by supplying a porn story for every conceivable fantasy from the general to the acutely specialist, it (literally!) covers every angle and therefore every wallet. Incredibly conservative, the porn industry knows that traditionally men have the money, permission and places to buy porn so it sticks with its "winning formula" and for the most part shoots with (a certain breed of!) men only in mind.

Up until a few years ago it was impossible, and it's still quite rare to find films where, a simple enough requirement you would think, the women are patently enjoying themselves. Mostly the porn stars are acting their little tushies off, but their too dry pussies tell a different story! With over 16 years experience of talking to women about female desire, pleasure and fantasies, the Sh! Girlz know that whilst women do want porn, they want GOOD porn and the very least this means is seeing proper pleasure in the faces and bodies of porn stars.

Only very recently, with the emergence of fresh female porn directors like Anna Span are we seeing films from a female point of view. And whilst the Cert 18 versions of Anna's films are certainly hot, we, like you rail against the fact we can't offer you the uncut (R18) versions.

Why we can't sell R18 porn

So we can't send porn films out in the mail, but what about selling them in our store?. Sorry but no can do either - as we choose not to have a sex-shop licence at the moment. This is not because we won't pay up for the (pretty hefty!) licence fee, but because once licenced we would have to comply with two rules and both leave a dodgy taste in our mouths.

Firstly we'd have to diplay a sign at our door warning of "obscene material" within. We have always been discerning about what we will and won't allow onto the Sh! shelves. Exploding the sex shop mantra of "anything as long as it sells" is one of Sh!'s main raison d'êtres(read more about the story of Sh!).

Our porn policy would always be as discerning as our sex toy, lube and erotica selections. Every goodie that makes it onto the Sh! shelves needs to pass the Sh! girlz test - not only for down-to-earth criteria such as: Is it good quality? Durable? Well-designed? Value for money? But also for more ethereal issues like: Is it non-icky? Does it make us feel good about ourselves? Is it pleasure-affirming not hang-up-inducing?

As a totally unique store, the Uk's only sex shop totally dedicated to women, and "true pioneers" (The Observer) we feel pretty miffed to have our whole store contents deemed "obscene" at the door!

... But we could swallow that to give you what you want! What we can't do is comply with the second rule of never allowing anyone under 18 into Sh!. Of course we don't allow kids to wander into Sh!. But this rule also means women wouldn't be able to bring their babies in. Apparently mothers are not entitled sex-lives? Nor are they able to judge that Sh! (in all its pretty pink and totally - non-graphic glory) is a suitable atmosphere for their tots? We had some great impromptu mother's meeting's at Sh! and are not willing to ban women with babes-in-arms from entering the Sh! store.

We would love to be able to licence a specific area of the store and have this as an over 18's area only. We would also like to provide a private space where women could preview the film before she talks it home. As women have had so little access to, and therefore knowledge of porn, it seems important to us that our customers know exactly what they're buying. However, negotiating all this with an intransigent council is proving pretty hair-tearing so until we are able to convince our local council that Sh! is different we reluctantly remain a R18 porn-free place.

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