Joy Wilson, a 35-year-old mother of two, operates Book22.com, a site that markets sex toys and other sex products to married Christian couples.
The site is named after the 22nd book of the Bible, the “Song of Solomon,” which contains numerous romantic and sexual verses.
The site’s front page contains a quote from the “Song of Solomon.”
“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine,” text from the site reads.
According to Wilson, the site, which sees annual revenues of $70,000, grew out of a negative sex toy experience five years ago.
Wilson, along with her husband, Kevin, found experiences at a local sex shop and online retail outlets to be offensive because sex toys were intimately linked with pornographic images. Rather than complaining, Wilson spotted an opportunity, believing there was a market for Christian couples who wanted to buy sex toys and other products without being overwhelmed by pornography.
Wilson says most of her traffic comes from word of mouth as well as a link from TheMarriageBed.com, a romance and intimacy site for married Christian couples founded by Reverend Paul Byerly and his wife, Lori.
Many customers see the site, along with its sex-positive approach, as something distinct from pornography and scoff at Christian critics, who say otherwise.
“I believe that in the Bible, it’s made very clear that there is nothing dirty about sex between a husband and a wife,” one customer told Wilson.
Wilson has said that if God wanted her to stop, the customers would stop emailing.
So far, business for Wilson continues to grow.
While a Christian-oriented sex toy site may not take in the lion’s share of the adult novelty market, Wilson is not alone. Sherri and Michael Berner of Santa Barbara, Calif. run MyBelovedsGarden.net, a similar site that goes a step further, with pictures of models in lingerie and toys sold in original packages that may include pornographic images.