The death of George Floyd on May 25 has sparked protests all over the world condemning racial injustice towards black people, inspiring long-overdue support for the Black Lives Matter movement. In the adult retail industry, the worldwide unrest has drawn attention to the marginalization of BIPOC within its own professional community and in its messaging to consumers.
As a black-owned, woman-owned company, EngErotics founder and CEO Raven V. Faber says that her brand has always stood unapologetically against racism.
There is simply too much at stake to shy away from this fight and we need those in the majority to recognize this while taking meaningful action.
“The current civil unrest has only prompted us to become even louder and to scream as loud as we can for justice,” Faber said. “There is simply too much at stake to shy away from this fight and we need those in the majority to recognize this while taking meaningful action. Our message to our customers and followers is very clear: Black Lives Matter. We won't stand for racism. Black people need to be given several seats at the table and the system as we know it is in dire need of a profound overhaul.”
As most places of business boarded up or emptied their stores to protect themselves from looters that were among the crowds of protestors, Hart’s Desire, which has a store location in Washington, D.C., decided not to take any action against the protestors.
“We feel no one has a right to judge how people showed their anger and frustrations and the manner in which they protested,” Hart’s Desire co-owner Shani Hart said.
“Black people are more important than property so if our stores were part of the protests, that was a sacrifice for the cause that we were prepared to be a part of.”
Although Hart says she expects criticism for admitting that she knowingly left her store unguarded, she said she’s committed to allowing the people in her community to express themselves. “Right now, it's important for me to really speak on what I feel,” she added.
Beyond inspiring individuals to take a stand at protests or via online platforms, the current global civil rights movement is forcing companies to finally acknowledge systemic racism and commit to working towards eradicating it. On social media, via email and on their websites, pleasure products companies are not only voicing their endorsement of BLM but they’re also sharing the actions that they’re taking to promote diversity.
Brands such as Lora DiCarlo have let their support of Black Lives Matter be known in a variety of ways. Lora Haddock DiCarlo, the company’s founder, said that the company is dedicated to educating themselves and amplifying black voices in the industry.
“We are working on a plan that will support and grow our diversity, equity and inclusion practices into the future,” she said, pointing to an article on the company’s blog that outlines how Lora DiCarlo is going to take an active role in supporting equality. Among Lora DiCarlo’s steps towards increasing inclusivity is a donation of $10,000 to Black Lives Matter, NAACP LDF and Black Visions Collective.
“We are developing a plan for how our company and brand will take action to support the BIPOC community on an ongoing basis,” DiCarlo said, adding that the company will be “expanding [its] search for new positions outside of Oregon, spotlighting POC-run companies in brand collaborations, providing anti-racist training to white staff, working with local tech organizations and VC groups to surface the topic of diverse investment and identify opportunities to support POC startups.”
As a pleasure products brand that was founded to address the inequality in how bodies are treated, Dame Products says it acknowledges that the difference in having a black body in America can be a matter of life and death.
“To show solidarity and support, Dame will be donating $1,000 dollars to a different organization each week, including Marsha P. Johnson Institute, Audre Lorde Project, LGBTQ Racial Justice Fund and BEAM,” said Alexandra Fine, the CEO and co-founder of Dame Products. “This is in addition to the $1,000 that Dame will be donating every week to LGBTQ organizations, including The Task Force, LGBT Community Center NYC, Brooklyn Community Rights Center, and Callen-Lorde Community Health Center.”
While the concept of “inclusivity” is often promoted in the pleasure products industry in terms of sexual identity and preference, the BLM movement serves as a reminder that true inclusivity means ethnic and cultural diversity.
“Voodoo's core beliefs are based in inclusivity,” Voodoo Toys’ Sally Cotching said. “We believe in creating a safe space to celebrate inclusivity and expression across race, gender, sexual orientation, origin and identity. We stand with our fellow black colleagues, storytellers, creators and the entire black community. As a small business, we are listening, learning and finding ways to best support the black community. We have made a donation of $1,000 to support the Black Lives Matter movement and their critical work for social justice. Black storytellers and creators have worked with us since the very beginning of Voodoo's launch and we must continue to support their work.”
Echoing the grief and anger felt collectively over the numerous cases of racial injustice that have been recently exposed (and are still coming to light), Hot Octopuss CEO Julia Margo says that there is more work to be done on Hot Octopuss’ behalf.
“Inclusivity is massively important to us at Hot Octopuss and is central to our sex-positive mission,” she said. “We’ve expressed our support of the Black Lives Matter movement on our social media channels, muting our own content and focusing on sharing info and resources from BIPOC educators, influencers and activists in the sex space — but we know this isn’t enough.
“We’ve also been looking at ourselves and questioning whether we have put enough energy into being inclusive of customers [that are POC],” she added. “We have not focused on this in the same way we have focused on disability, senior and LGBTQ+ inclusion, and this isn’t good enough. So we are working on a plan to improve and will be reaching out to BIPOC sex educators to see if they would like to work with us on this.”
Premium pleasure products manufacturer COTR has gained a loyal following for its brands with vibrant marketing campaigns that put the spotlight on diversity, such as its “Every Body Has a Butt” b-Vibe promo that featured educators and activists of all backgrounds, all body types and sexual identities.
While COTR would normally be celebrating Pride throughout the month of June, instead the company donated $10,000 to the Ali Forney Center in New York and supported other black-led social justice organizations throughout the month. The company also provided resources, racial justice education, and showcased black sex educators and change-makers on Instagram.
“While diversity and inclusivity have always been woven into the culture and mission of COTR, it’s clear to me, and to all our team, that it’s not enough,” said Alicia Sinclair, founder and CEO or COTR. “It is imperative that we go beyond allyship to do the work to become accomplices and co-conspirators in anti-racism. We’ve responded by committing to examine ourselves and our company; to sit in discomfort with our findings; to donate more; to read more; to sign more petitions and to do this work with a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) consultant.
“To our customers and followers, we have conveyed that we support Black Lives Matter and we will do more and be better,” Sinclair added.
Being inclusive is a lot easier when product marketing and brand messaging are based off the ideas of a diverse group of individuals. Sliquid Marketing Director Erik Vasquez says that this is crucial in order to have a sincere voice when it comes to inclusivity.
“Our employee profile is a beautifully diverse tapestry of individuals, from various walks of life, who all have a seat at the table when discussing how we engage with and impact our community,” he said. “In regard to our marketing efforts, Sliquid will always continue to use our visibility in the industry to promote inclusivity. The movement we are seeing across the country has served as a call-to-action for Sliquid to take a firm stance in support of equity for every race so that all of our customers know they can trust who we are at our core.”
With its latest branding refresh, Satisfyer has brought diversity to the forefront in its ads and marketing materials. Satisfyer marketing and PR director Stephanie Trachtenberg says that the updated packaging is intended to showcase the underlying commonality of all people’s desire to explore their bodies — without making any of its customers feel marginalized within the sexual wellness movement.
“In our photography, we aim to showcase diversity across ethnicities, age and sexual orientation,” Trachtenberg said. “In our packaging, we have a beautiful line art style that creates an illusion of a person, with your own imagination to fill in the rest. In our product line, we have a vast range accommodating a variety of preferences or usages, and some are intentionally ambiguous and ‘non-gendered.’”
As an industry that is considered progressive in so many ways, there is still work to be done to ensure that the products that it renders are not contributing to the systemic racism that is pervasive in the lives of people of color. While it’s far from the first time that attention has been brought to the issues surrounding racism, this time it feels different as a loud awakening grips the adult business community.
