Sex shop. And do we get into bed with one?
After my encounter with the ladyboy on Chaweng beach I'm feeling enlightened about sex.
After all, it's perfectly natural. Everyone does it (although sometimes not as often as we'd like). What's the big hang-up?
So I felt quite bullish when I heard about Nice N Naughty, a new 'sex superstore' opening in Liverpool. One or two people round the Echo were chary about selling them advertising. Even more were chary about getting a photographer to their grand opening last night.
And you can imagine the uproar when I said they were prepared to do a money-off deal for Echo readers.
But why not? Take Ann Summers shops. They're everywhere. The one in Williamson Square in Liverpool is next door to a sweet shop! Sex is mainstream now. People walk into Ann Summers without so much as a sideways glance.
I watched an interview on TV with a guy who's made his fortune out of manufacturing sex toys. He said he'd sold enough sex toys for every woman in the UK to have TWO.
So what's the big deal if the Echo offers money off at Nice N Naughty to readers?
Please help me here. Am I going to get pilloried? Will I enrage readers? Or will I see a sales lift?
Is Liverpool/the Echo ready for sex?
Urgent responses required.
Tony Ellis wrote...
In a word: no. Unless you want phone calls and a postbag akin to the crossword clues going in wrong!
Instead how about an Echo campaign for better sex and relationship education in Merseyside schools - and that might help create a generation where the reactions you mention above become more grown up and a little less predicatable.
It was none other than Education Secretary David Blunkett (!!) who refused to make proper sex education compulsory. The curriculum only requires a basic biology lesson - anything more is optional.(More at www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1385011,00.html).
Is it any wonder Britain's teenage pregnancy, abortion and STI rates are among the highest in Europe?
Posted by: Tony Ellis | February 16, 2007 2:28 PM