From Hidden Adult Shops to Sexual Wellness: The Women Who Changed the Sex Toy Industry

Sex toys have not always been sold in bright, welcoming stores or discussed as part of sexual wellness. For much of the twentieth century, adult products were often associated with male-focused shops, secrecy and stigma.

A number of women helped change that.

By creating businesses centred on education, female pleasure, accessibility and confidence, they helped move sex toys out of the shadows and into a much more open conversation about relationships and wellbeing.

Three names stand out in that history: Dell Williams, Joani Blank and Jacqueline Gold.

Dell Williams and Eve's Garden: A Feminist Approach to Sexuality

In 1974, Dell Williams founded Eve's Garden in New York City.

According to the Cornell University Library archive of the Dell Williams papers, Eve's Garden was created around a feminist and sex-positive philosophy and sold vibrators, books and other products intended to support women's sexuality.

The archive describes Eve's Garden as the first store of its kind and notes that Williams promoted it as a feminist sexuality boutique and mail-order catalogue created by women for women and their partners.

That was a major shift in tone.

Instead of treating women simply as customers in a male-dominated adult industry, Eve's Garden treated women as people entitled to information, pleasure and products designed around their own needs.

Williams had also been influenced by the emerging women's liberation movement and by sexuality educators such as Betty Dodson. Her work helped connect sexual pleasure with education and feminist ideas about bodily autonomy.

Today, that philosophy feels much closer to what we now call sexual wellness.

Why Eve's Garden Was Important

Eve's Garden was not only about selling products.

Its importance came from the environment and message around them.

Women could access information about masturbation, sexual health and pleasure without having to enter a space designed primarily for male customers.

That idea — that an intimate retailer could be educational, welcoming and woman-centred — would influence other businesses that followed.

Joani Blank and the Birth of Good Vibrations

Three years later, in 1977, sex educator and therapist Joani Blank opened Good Vibrations in San Francisco's Mission District.

The San Francisco Chronicle described Blank's aim as creating a clean, straightforward environment for sex toys and sexual education that would feel comfortable for women who might otherwise avoid traditional adult shops.

Good Vibrations became known for a very different retail experience: bright, informative and deliberately non-intimidating.

The company's own history describes Blank's goal as creating a friendly, “clean, well-lighted” alternative to conventional adult bookstores.

That model would become hugely influential.

Education Was Part of the Business Model

One of the most important aspects of Good Vibrations was that education was not treated as separate from retail.

Customers could learn about products, sexual health and pleasure instead of simply being presented with shelves of merchandise.

This helped normalise the idea that people should understand what they are buying, how it works and whether it suits their needs.

That approach still shapes modern sexual-wellness retail today.

Online stores now rely heavily on detailed product descriptions, beginner guides, FAQs and educational blog content because consumers increasingly expect more than a product image and price.

Joani Blank Helped Make Sex Shops Feel Less Intimidating

Blank's contribution was cultural as much as commercial.

Good Vibrations gave women and couples a space that did not feel like the stereotypical adult shop.

It also helped establish the idea that pleasure products could be presented with professionalism rather than shock value.

In 1992, Blank transferred Good Vibrations into employee ownership, creating a worker cooperative structure that lasted for years.

Her influence can still be seen in many modern stores that focus on sexual wellness, inclusive language and customer education.

Jacqueline Gold and the Transformation of Ann Summers

In the UK, Jacqueline Gold helped bring lingerie and sex toys into mainstream retail through Ann Summers.

Ann Summers existed before Gold joined the business, but she played a major role in transforming its direction.

According to Ann Summers' own company history, Gold joined the family business as an intern in the early 1980s and developed the company's party-plan concept.

Jacqueline Gold at an Ann Summers photo shoot in London, 2008. Photo: Christian Heilmann, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The idea was simple but powerful: instead of asking women to enter an adult shop, products could be introduced in a more social and familiar environment through women-only home parties.

This allowed customers to ask questions, laugh, browse products and talk about sexuality in a setting that felt less intimidating.

The Ann Summers Party Changed How Women Shopped for Sex Toys

The party-plan model helped turn buying lingerie and sex toys into a social experience.

Women could learn about products from other women and explore the category without the atmosphere traditionally associated with adult retail.

Ann Summers states that Gold's approach was designed to create a safe and empowering environment for women to shop for lingerie and sex toys.

That strategy also created opportunities for thousands of women to earn money as sales representatives and party organisers.

It connected female entrepreneurship with a changing conversation around sexual confidence.

From Private Parties to the British High Street

Gold later became one of the most recognisable figures in British retail.

Under her leadership, Ann Summers developed a more female-focused retail identity and expanded its high-street presence.

Ann Summers shop in Hull, 2006. Photo: David Wright / Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Its stores were deliberately designed to feel more welcoming to women than traditional adult retailers.

This was significant because it put sex toys and lingerie into visible shopping areas rather than keeping them hidden away.

For many UK consumers, that helped make the category feel more mainstream.

These Women Changed More Than Retail

Dell Williams, Joani Blank and Jacqueline Gold worked in different cities, different decades and different business models.

But there is a clear connection between their work.

All three challenged the idea that sex products had to be sold in environments designed primarily around male consumers.

They helped create spaces where women could:

• learn about their bodies
• ask questions without embarrassment
• buy products in more comfortable surroundings
• talk openly about pleasure
• see sexuality as something connected with confidence and wellbeing

Those ideas are now so common in sexual-wellness branding that it can be easy to forget how unusual they once were.

How Their Influence Can Be Seen Today

Modern sexual-wellness stores often use language such as body-safe, inclusive, beginner-friendly, discreet and educational.

That approach did not appear from nowhere.

It grew partly from the work of pioneers who believed adult retail could be respectful, informative and centred on the customer's experience.

Today, shoppers can browse Sex Toys for Women, Sex Toys for Couples, Rabbit Vibrators and other categories from home, compare products and access educational content before buying.

That digital shopping experience may look very different from a feminist boutique in 1970s New York or a home party in 1980s Britain, but the underlying idea is similar: people should be able to explore pleasure without shame.

From Adult Shops to Sexual Wellness

The biggest change in the sex toy industry has not only been technological.

It has been cultural.

The industry has gradually moved from secrecy and novelty toward conversations about sexual health, confidence, relationships and wellness.

Dell Williams helped establish a feminist retail model in the United States. Joani Blank showed that a sex shop could be bright, educational and welcoming. Jacqueline Gold helped make intimate products part of mainstream British retail.

Each contributed to a larger change in how women were treated not just as consumers, but as people with their own sexual preferences, questions and buying power.

Why This History Still Matters

Understanding the history of the industry matters because sexual wellness is still evolving.

Stigma has not disappeared completely, and not everyone feels comfortable discussing pleasure openly.

But the difference between the adult retail world of the 1970s and today's sexual-wellness market is enormous.

Many of the ideas that now feel normal — women-friendly stores, educational content, discreet shopping, female-focused product design and open conversations about pleasure — were once genuinely disruptive.

The women who pushed those ideas forward helped create the market we recognise today.

Final Thoughts

The history of sex toys is not only a history of products.

It is also a history of people challenging shame, changing retail and creating new ways to talk about pleasure.

Dell Williams, Joani Blank and Jacqueline Gold each played a different role in that transformation.

Their businesses helped make sexual wellness more visible, more educational and more accessible to women.

And that legacy continues in the modern industry today.

At House of Lucifer, we believe intimate products should be easy to explore, clearly explained and available without unnecessary embarrassment. Browse our Sex Toys for Women, Sex Toys for Couples and Rabbit Vibrators collections to discover more.