The College Tribune is very lucky to have the wonderful Shawna Scott of Sex Siopa writing a guest column for Volume 29. Born and raised in the US, Shawna has been in Ireland for a number of years. Now, she’s the owner and operator of Ireland’s only bodysafe sex shop,having made it her mission to bring safer, better sex to the masses by dragging the idea of a sex shop out of the seedy 70s and into the modern day. She has won a number of awards since setting up her business in 2012, including the 2013 Realex Fire Web Award for Best E-commerce Website in Ireland, the 2014 IE Domain Registry Optimise Award, and the 2015 Blacknight SME Award for Best Online Retailer.
Here you can find all her pieces in chronological order to enjoy any time you like!
Issue One – Doing it Right: An Introduction
I love my job. It’s something I’m passionate about. It affords me the opportunity to says things I never thought I’d be able to say like “I’m going to an economics festival to talk about the sex industry,” or “This butt plug is tax-deductible.” I also get to help people everyday find new ways to make their sex lives more enjoyable and fulfilling, and to me that is the ultimate privilege of my job.
Issue Two – Slow Clap
Being American, this is the point where I feel I need to explain a little about American sports. Baseball isn’t limited to time like football, hurling, or rugby. It can literally go on for hours and hours! In fact one of our many much-loved baseball traditions is the 7th-inning stretch, where everyone gets out of their seat to stretch their arms and legs and sing “Take me out to the Ball Game.”
Issue Three – Make Porn! (Or, You Know, Pay For It)
“But Shawna!” I hear you shout, “I think it’s very unreasonable and unfair of you to expect every-one to get naked in front of a camera and post it on the internet.” Now hold your horses. I didn’t say that was the only way to make better porn. That is just one of the many sexy options available. You can also PAY FOR YOUR PORN! Shock horror!
Issue Four – Double Standards
When we imagine a typical female sex toy owner, what do we see? A fun-loving, sexually adventurous, Samantha Jones type character who’s educated and knows what she wants out of life. Sadly for male sex toy owners the stereotypical image put forth by pop-culture isn’t exactly the same – lonely, creepy, socially awkward, hates women. This double standard is something I’ve been trying to figure out and battle against since I started Sex Siopa 3 years ago.
Issue Five – A Hairy Question
Body hair and hair removal can be a very divisive topic. There has been a clear trend in the past 10-15 years for both women and men to remove some or all of their body hair. Some believe that the lack of body and pubic hair in pornography affects and dictates trends in, for lack of a better phrase, “real life.” But whether or not a preference for little to no body hair on women is influenced by an underlying misogyny in the culture, the fact of the matter is that hair removal is a huge international industry and for many customers, hair removal is a great confidence booster.
