| SCENE
| SEPTEMBER 8, 2005 | Send
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Pick Your Pleasure
Women meet to talk freely about sex
and fun
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| Photo Illustration by Drew Campbell
and Dominic Bracco |
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By Megan
Wright
The Shorthorn staff
a Salesperson Maggie Laliberte packs her
bag and heads off for another day of work — except, her bag
doesn’t contain file folders and documents but massage oils,
flavored lotions and sex toys instead.
As a consultant for Pure Romance, Laliberte attends all-female,
in-home parties where she answers questions about sex while showing
company products. She said women between 18 and 28 years old are
a growing part of her clientele.
“I did a party not too long ago by campus — all UTA
students,” she said.
Interior design sophomore Jessica Howell hosted the party. She said
they had food and drinks while each product’s functions, pros
and cons were explained. After the presentation, the women privately
met with Laliberte to ask questions and order products, which Howell
said she did.
“It’s just a bunch of girls getting together and talking
freely about pleasure,” she said. “It’s a girl’s
night out to get away from school and work and relax.”
Laliberte said she does a lot of “girl’s nights”
and bachelorette parties. She said the parties offer the privacy
of someone’s home, so women don’t have to go to a sex
store. Party attendees can smell, touch, taste or turn on products,
something Laliberte said people certainly can’t do in a store.
Howell said the parties provide a comfortable environment for women
to “get an idea of what’s going on down there”
without having to ask the gynecologist.
“Usually women are shy about talking about that stuff,”
she said. “We’re all there for the same thing. It’s
not anything to be embarrassed about.”
Laliberte said some women show up at the parties feeling a little
nervous, but she uses humor during her presentation to relax them.
She said no one has ever left one of her parties because of uncomfortable
feelings.
“They might enter [nervously], but they certainly leave happy,”
she said. “It’s OK to bring fun into the bedroom. It’s
OK to talk about sex and sexuality.”
Andrea Spencer is an independent sales consultant for a similar
company called Passion Parties. She said women shouldn’t fear
attending because they think the parties are vulgar or pornographic.
Biology sophomore Jessica Prior said that when she arrived at a
party hosted by the company Pajama Party, she felt kind of weird.
She said people who haven’t been to one of these parties can’t
call them vulgar or pornographic.
“Try it before you form an opinion about it,” she said.
Spencer said the parties aim to educate women on how to enhance
their relationships. She has worked three and a half years for the
company and said she sees the parties as a growing trend for women
of all ages because the parties are fun and informative.
“Even if they don’t buy anything, they can still learn
and have fun,” she said. “That’s the cool thing
about these parties — it’s no big deal.”
Laliberte said Pure Romance also isn’t just about selling
sex toys. She said the company wants to empower women, so she recently
started a college tour for sexual education.
Kim Sheridan, marketing coordinator for Pure Romance, said company
founder Patty Brisben usually speaks to human sexuality classes
about sex while letting students sample products. While these universities
include schools such as Ohio State and Purdue universities, the
tour has not been to any Texas schools.
“We’re completely open to [coming to Texas],”
she said.
Sheridan said that approximately 25 percent of her company’s
business comes from women between 18 and 28 years old. She said
this number is growing due to the college tour.
“I think that any time girls get together and can talk openly
about sexuality, I can’t think of any better way to spend
an evening,” she said.
CORRECTION
This story should have stated that the company
Pure Romance recently started a college tour for sexual education.
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