NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Vice has published an in-depth interview with Doc Johnson COO Chad Braverman about the ongoing success and legacy of the family dynasty founded by his father, pleasure product pioneer and company CEO Ron Braverman.
The interview coincides with the debut of Season 2 of the popular VICE TV series “Sex Before the Internet,” which premiered Jan. 23.
In the interview, Braverman discusses the origins of Doc Johnson in the freewheeling mid-1970s, and the development and gradual mainstreaming of pleasure products over the years.
“One of the things that my dad did, along with a bunch of other players in the industry, was form a group called the Free Speech Coalition to band together as an industry and help not only themselves, but some of the mom and pop stores that couldn’t afford to fight the government in court,” Braverman tells Vice. “No one had deep pockets at the time to do something like that, but if we grouped together, we’re stronger as a unit. They were able to win some cases and make sure that stores stayed open. In those days, you’re talking about an industry that had, unbeknownst to anybody, massive demand and very, very limited supply. So the industry grew quite quickly.”
Braverman notes the pleasure product industry’s remarkable growth and path to public acceptance, at times driven by pop culture phenomena such as the TV show “Sex and the City,” on which the character Charlotte became obsessed with her Rabbit vibrator.
“We always talk about sort of the ‘Sex and the City’ moment,” Braverman says. “That was the tipping point — women are the buyers now. It’s not taboo anymore, or it’s at least a lot less taboo than it ever was. The internet is coming into full steam. That, in turn, is forcing stores to redo their concept of what a store is: make it more welcoming, make it more inviting, make it more normal. That’s the rocket fuel right there. That’s the explosion.”
Despite increased acceptance, however, Braverman argues that the pleasure product industry must still continue “fighting the good fight.”
“We don’t get insurance the same way that people do,” he explains. “We can’t bank with the same banks that other people do — it’s still a bitch in some ways. But the conversation about sex toys, I’m not fighting the fight that Ron was fighting at all. People love what we do. We make people feel good.
“I’ve watched this business go from ‘marital aids’ to ‘sex toys’ to ‘pleasure products’ to ‘sexual health and wellness,’” Braverman concludes. “It’s researched and documented and very factual now that what we do for people helps them. It’s good for you, literally.”
To read “My Dad Created a Sex Toy Empire,” visit Vice.com.
