by Samantha Scott
Daily Lobo
Two Albuquerque entrepreneurs are capitalizing on sexuality.
At Self Serve: Your Sexuality Resource Center, at 3904B Central Ave. S.E., you can feel comfortable browsing for anything from gourmet chocolate to affordable sex toys.
Molly Adler and Matie Fricker, owners of Self Serve, teach sex-positive education, an alternative to Albuquerque's traditional, abstinence-only approach.
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In addition, Self Serve provides the community with workshops and classes aimed at educating the community about sexuality issues.
The workshops include Disability and Sex, Fat-Positive Erotica and Images and Herbs, and Healing and Aphrodisiacs.
There is also a sex-positive discussion group for survivors of sexual abuse or assault.
"One of our primary goals is sex education for grown-ups, where you can get information, toys, safer sex supplies, things that are good for your body," said Adler. "We want to do things like organic bath products, things you can pamper yourself with. ... It was a mix of things."
By providing an accessible and welcoming alternative to corporate sex shops, Self Serve hopes to bridge the gap between consumption and education.
"In doing our classes and workshops, we sort through the hype about what sex is," Fricker said. "We want to honor sexuality."
Adler is a psychology and women's studies scholar. She hails from George Washington University, where she was one of the first students to graduate from the school's women's studies program.
After graduating, she spent time working at feminist nonprofit organizations, such as NARAL Pro-Choice America, The Human Rights Campaign and other social justice organizations and organizing labor unions.
After working for a while in Boston, Adler was hired as manager of Grand Opening! Sexuality Boutique. At the boutique, Adler learned the ins and outs of retail and met Fricker, the assistant manager. These experiences led the pair to formulate a plan "over a bottle of wine" to bring their unique vision to the marketplace.
Fricker, meanwhile, had spent time honing her education and management skills on both coasts, traveling and learning about formal and guerrilla styles of sex-positive advocacy. She said one of her proudest moments involved "causing Rush Limbaugh to say 'female orgasm' on-air multiple times."
The business partnership that ensued led the two, after demographic and market research, to found Self Serve on the fringes of Albuquerque's Nob Hill shopping district.
Adler said Albuquerque's unique and affordable economic environment eventually produced a store of varied products and services concentrated on fostering healthy attitudes about sex and supplying accurate sex-ed information.
"The response from the community has been really positive," Adler said. "There are so many independent businesses in Albuquerque that I think part of our success was being able to afford something that didn't require the startup costs of, like, a Starbucks."
Self Serve: Your Sexuality Resource Center
3904B Central Ave. S.E.
Tuesday-Thursday
Noon-7 p.m.
Friday-Saturday
Noon-8 p.m.
Sunday
Noon-6 p.m.
SelfServeToys.com
