how about we get a progressive sex shop downtown?!

On the front page of today's local paper is an article on "Adult Business" discussing the issue of getting a sex shop -- and a gun shop -- in town. While conflating sex and violence, as the tendency unfortunately is in our society, an intriguing question about the healthiest place for locating an adult business came up.

In response to a city councilman's suggestion the commercial zone be widen to allow an adult business to get set up on the outskirts of town, a city councilwoman notes that "the healthiest choice to locate them for our community” is not necessarily "anywhere along the highway.”

I like her point. New women-run and female-oriented progressive sex shops, such as Smitten Kitten in Minneapolis's Uptown neighborhood only 45 minutes north of town, have shown that progressive sex shops can have a positive effect on their neighborhoods.
 
Founded in 2003, Smitten Kitten has seen a rundown stretch of blocks transform into one of the hippest stretches on Lyndale Avenue, inspiring a surge of gentrification. The shop's owner, Jennifer Pritchett, holds a graduate degree in Gender and Women's Studies. In 2005, she co-founded the first ever community advocacy organization and adult industry education organization, The Coalition Against Toxic Toys. Pritchett has spoken about healthy sex toys and practices at colleges and universities, including at our Lutheran college in town.

To our local newspaper, a Lutheran minister who is also the head of an organization that has led the fight to rid his community of adult businesses, argues that they give "a negative impression of his hometown." But the trend of progressive sex shops show that they can in fact contribute to the health and prosperity of our communities.

Locating a progressive sex shop along with other businesses in a pedestrian downtown, and not on the highways or outskirts of town, can serve to further alter the perception that all sex shops are seedy places where one might see bashful customers slinking out of the store with black plastic bags. In fact, a progressive sex shop fosters a healthy relationship to one's sexuality; it encourages us to see sexuality as something natural and more integral in our lives--not something that is to be covered up ashamedly, forcing upon many a warped view of sexuality.

That's why I propose we get a progressive sex shop in town. Perhaps built around the values of LOVE, SEX, AND FAMILY, in a historic brick building downtown. Ideally a multi-leveled space, the first level would serve as a bookstore featuring sex education books with different sections of books aimed at children, youth, adults, and the elderly, while a more intimate level would cater to moms and dads, the college students, and others above eighteen who value making positive lifestyle choices.

With a community of two colleges and college educated residents who care about the quality of the education offered here, and the health and safety of us all, this has the possibility of being a successful venture. If only we could pool our resources to get one set up.