Rare

01 Feb 10 // Love + Sex People Shopping

Bringin' Sexy Back: One Intimate Toy and Pole Dance at a Time

By Darcie Duttweiler Photos By Cory Ryan Issue Feb 2010 Neighborhood North Side

A few minutes after opening shop one quiet morning, a customer pops into Forbidden Fruit, the small sex boutique on North Loop Boulevard, with a plate of cookies for an employee. She and owner Lynn Raridon peruse some light bondage gear, and Raridon explains how each product works in such a precise manner that you’d almost expect her to be selling high-end televisions. As the customer is leaving, she proclaims to Raridon, “Your store is the only one I feel comfortable in!”

Raridon smiles and says, “Our customers know that this is a place you can come to talk about sexuality in an honest and frank atmosphere.”

This wasn’t always the case. When the store opened in the 1980s, sex shops were assumed to be very different from the comfortable environment Forbidden Fruit offers, catering more towards couples and women instead of selling rows and rows of porno behind a velvet curtain.

“There was nothing like it at the time!” Raridon says.

In 1981, Mark Garfinkel, a punk rocker from New York who had a Master’s degree in sociology, opened Forbidden Fruit on Neches Street. “He wanted a nice place where people could explore their sexuality in a safe and non-sleazy place,” Raridon says.

It was only the second store like it in the country. After a chance meeting with Garfinkel in 1982, Raridon started selling and hosting “passion parties” for the store, where she honed her skills at putting customers at ease. “I was comfortable talking about sexuality, and my customers really responded well to my comfort,” she says. When Garfinkel headed back North in 1985 he started grooming Raridon to buy the store. In 1987, she purchased Forbidden Fruit, which is now the oldest woman-owned sex shop in Austin.

Like most adult shops, Forbidden Fruit sells your standard vibrators, dildos, lingerie, bondage gear, etc., but unlike the superstores, it does so with a cheeky sense of humor and satisfaction in what it sells. Raridon prides herself—and her employees—on being very knowledgeable and non-judgmental about their products.

“We really try to help the customer figure out what they want,” she says. “We’re a community resource, and we’re here to share information. We treat our customers with compassion, caring and kindness.”

In addition to offering the latest in adult toys, Forbidden Fruit also offers monthly adult intimacy classes on topics such as bondage, dominance and submission, fellatio, striptease, anal health and play, and pole dancing.

Although attitudes towards sex have evolved since Forbidden Fruit first opened its doors, changing people’s perceptions has definitely been a challenge—the shop was even taken to court in the 80s . “There was a law that made it illegal for us to sell products that looked like genitalia and vibrated,” Raridon explains. “They came in one day and busted us. It really created an atmosphere of fear.”

While the store has become more widely accepted, Raridon still faces challenges as woman in the sex industry, and she has lost several teaching positions once institutions find out what store she owns. “There is just so much stigma attached—even with acts that are safe and fun between two consensual adults,” she says.

Raridon believes what makes her store is so successful is because customers enjoy knowing a woman runs it’s female-fronted, creating an empathetic atmosphere. “We don’t judge you for whatever you’re curious about,” she says.

Raridon is proud to offer a variety of ways for women to gain confidence and comfort in their sexuality. Since 2007, Miss Natasha of Brass Ovaries has been hosting pole-dancing classes every other Wednesday at Forbidden Fruit. She first approached Raridon because of the obstacles she had overcome as a female business owner in commonly deemed controversial industry.

“I was looking for places to teach and was told ‘to go back to the strip clubs where I belonged,’” Natasha says. “Forbidden Fruit was the only place I could find. Knowing Lynn’s history and what she has gone through made her a great mentor.”

An ex-soldier, extreme sports junkie, and avid rock-climber, Natasha caught a glimpse of pole dancing in 2005, watching Mercy Killing perform. “She was doing all these amazing tricks!” Natasha says. “It just looked like a lot of fun.” After getting her own pole and taking lessons with top-ranked dancers, Natasha was hooked. Even though she was working her way through a Ph.D. in neuroscience at UT, she decided that it was time to focus on teaching others what she had learned.

Because the lessons were so successful, Natasha was able to open her own full-fledged studio on South Congress in early 2009, but it hasn’t been easy.

Much like Raridon, she faced some opposition. One place for lease on the East side was close to a realtor’s office that strictly prohibited any of their female employees from taking any future classes, so Natasha found a new space. She also faced many challenges in securing insurance for her studio. Additionally, UT banned her from advertising at the school because they don’t advocate striptease, something Natasha doesn’t even teach. Eventually a studio was found, but there’s still a pesky problem with the Yellow Pages.

“They still won’t take me out of the adult section! I get some weird phone calls,” Natasha laughs.

On top of that, people even find issues with the studio’s name. “You really need brass ovaries to get up that pole—it’s harder than it looks,” she says.

Despite everything, Natasha and the instructors at Brass Ovaries are still optimistic about challenging the stereotypes associated with pole dancing and the women who practice it.

“What’s funny is that pole dancing started in the 16th century by men, and it didn’t even get into [strip clubs] until the eighties, but that stigma just overtook it,” Natasha explains.

With all of her instructors college educated—one even has an MBA—she’s happy they’re changing the notion that all pole dancers are “dumb strippers.” Brass Ovaries performs two to three times each month at local venues, and with each performance they are changing how people view dancers. And while a couple of girls do wear high heels, Natasha thinks they just interfere.

“High heels are for changing light bulbs,” she says. “You don’t have to be in a g-string to pole dance. It helps change the image a bit when you see me pole dancing in Converse.”

Besides performing, Brass Ovaries offers plenty of classes to choose from, including private pole dancing lessons and parties, aerobic cardio, workshops with traveling, world class dancers, choreography lessons, sessions with a certified personal trainer, and aerial hoop classes. Yes, you read that right: aerial hoop classes. Brass Ovaries is the only place in Austin where you can learn how to swing and perform tricks on a suspended hoop.

For those who might feel self-conscious or out of shape, worry not. Natasha’s classes are for those of any age, size, and skill-level.

“The classes are for anyone who is tired of their workout, wants to get into shape or just try pole dancing in a safe environment,” Natasha says. “Pole dancing is great exercise… you get quicker results than [programs like] P90X because you isolate your core muscles.”

Brass Ovaries has recently been asked to audition for America’s Got Talent, so be on the lookout for them in the future. Natasha also hopes to get pole dancing into the 2012 Olympics, so if you want to start training, come on out.

In addition to checking out Forbidden Fruit and Brass Ovaries, be sure to swing by the KLBJ third annual Pleasure Fest, which Raridon is coordinating, at Aces Lounge on February 11th. The show will feature tastefully naughty performers, from pole dancing to burlesque and some fetish scenes, as well as a fashion show and booths from local shops.

www.forbiddenfruit.com
www.brassovariespoledancing.com