LONDON — Sh! Women’s Emporium, which bills itself as U.K.'s "first-ever women-friendly sex shop," is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Launched in April 1992 and based in the Hoxton area of the London Borough of Hackney, the Sh! Women’s Emporium has over the last three decades evolved into “a pioneering, multi-award-winning brand that has forever changed the face of the British sex industry,” news outlet ATV Today reported.
“When Sh! first opened its doors in 1992, the conversation surrounding women’s sexual rights was very different,” explained ATV Today’s Vivian Summers.
Owner Ky Hoyle, the article noted, “decided to open the country’s first sex shop for women with a £700 budget after visiting a seedy Soho sex shop aimed only at men.”
Hoyle said that “incredible progress has been made over the past 30 years, but there’s still work to be done to achieve the goal of ensuring all women, transgender and nonbinary people can enjoy safe and healthy sexual pleasure and Sh! will be there to do it.”
“We are thrilled to celebrate this huge milestone,” Hoyle told the reporter. “For three decades we’ve been helping women of all ages, backgrounds and sexual preferences to understand that they have the right to sexual pleasure, and showing them how to achieve it without shame or blame.”
Hoyle also celebrated Sh!’s “many triumphs and battles along the way. Notable moments include introducing sex toys to the NHS [National Health Service], visiting Downing Street bearing a special ‘gift’ for the prime minister’s wife, being taken to court for supposedly breaking outdated obscenity laws — we won — and discovering the Jessica Rabbit vibrator that became a global sensation.”
The boutique has been operating as an online business since closing its London location in 2020 during pandemic restrictions.
For more on Sh! Women’s Emporium, visit their online store and follow them on Twitter.
