Babeland, until 2005 known as Toys in Babeland, is a

sex toy A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibrating. The ...

boutique offering

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

toys,

books A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...

and

pornographic films Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, adult films, blue films, sexually explicit films, or 18+ films, are films that represent Human sexual activity, sexually WIKT:explicit, explicit subject matter in order to sexual arousal, arouse, fasci ...

. LGBTQ-owned Babeland has an online store and four retail stores (in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and two in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

History

Claire Cavanah and Rachel Venning founded Toys in Babeland in 1993, in response to the lack of women-friendly sex shops in Seattle. The store's name is a

spoonerism A spoonerism is an occurrence of speech in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words of a phrase. These are named after the Oxford don and priest William Archibald Spooner, who report ...

of Babes in Toyland, a feminist riot grrrl punk band and '' Babes in Toyland'', the title of a 1934

Laurel & Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the ...

film. Committed to offering information and encouragement to women who wanted to explore their

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

, the owners focused on selling quality sex toys in a boutique-like setting. In 1995, Toys in Babeland started its

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

business with a small print catalog based out of their Seattle store. Shortly thereafter, in 1996, the Toys in Babeland website followed. In 1998, the owners opened their second Toys in Babeland store in New York City, on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

of Manhattan. In 2003, they opened another New York store, in

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

. In 2005, Babeland debuted its fourth store in Los Angeles, which has since closed. In 2008, Babeland opened a new location in

Park Slope, Brooklyn A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

, making a total of three stores in New York City. In 2003, Venning and Cavanah published ''Sex Toys 101: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing and Using Sex Toys''. In 2008, Babeland ran a promotion in which they gave away a free sex toy to anyone who voted in that November's election. In January 2010, Venning and Cavanah, in association with Jessica Vitkus, published a second book: ''Moregasm: Babeland's Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex'' In May 2016, the Babeland stores in New York City voted to be represented by the

Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1937, the RWDSU represents about 60,000 workers in a wide range of industries, including but not limited to retail, grocery stores, p ...

, becoming the first U.S. sex shops to be unionized. In August 2017, Babeland was sold to rival sex shop

Good Vibrations "Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock music, rock band the Beach Boys, produced and composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. Released as a single on October 10, 1966, it achieved immediate critical and commercial success, ...

. Babeland continues to operate as a separate brand.

Notable employees

Queer erotica author Dena Hankins worked at Babeland as Web Operations Manager from 1998 to 2006.

Awards

Babeland has received numerous

awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

over the years, including a 2006

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, coverin ...

's Survey award as "the best shopping experience in New York." In 2014, it was voted "Best Place to Buy Sex Toys" by ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', Voted "Best Sex Shop" of 2016 & 2017 by the ''Best of Seattle 2016 Reader Poll'' in ''

Seattle Weekly The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976, and it becam ...

Books published by Babeland

* *

References

External links

Babeland website
{{Coord, 47.61396, N, 122.322983, W, region:US-WA_type:landmark, display=title BDSM organizations Companies based in Seattle History of women in New York City History of women in Washington (state) Sex shops Sexuality in the United States Women and sexuality Women's organizations based in the United States LGBTQ-owned businesses in the United States