Dell Williams (née Zetlin; August 5, 1922 – March 11, 2015) was an American businesswoman and advocate of women’s liberation, sexuality, and sexual health. She was the founder (in 1974) of the first feminist

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 ...

business in the U.S., Eve's Garden, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It was the first woman-owned and woman-operated

business in America.

Career

In 1945, she enlisted in the

Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC; ) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), on 15 May 1942, and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United S ...

. In 1974, she founded the first feminist

business in the U.S., Eve's Garden, in

. Eve's Garden was the first woman-owned and woman-operated

business in America. As Williams put it, "Eve represented all women and the Garden was symbolic of women taking responsibility for their 'own' sexuality." She was inspired to found the business after she took a “Body/Sex Workshop” by Betty Dodson in New York and afterwards went to buy a Hitachi Magic Wand for use as a vibrator, but found that the salesboy at Macy's asked her a nosy question about it. Williams also attributed the founding of the store to having read

Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( ; ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several in ...

's '' The Function of the Orgasm'' in her early twenties. Williams was an actress for a time and appeared in productions of '' The Vagina Monologues''. Her most notable role may have been in a 1962 film, ''The Cliff Dwellers'', a film which was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

. In addition to this, she was a singer, artists’ model, and writer during the 1930s and 1940s, and was later one of the first successful female advertising executives in New York City.

Personal life

She was the daughter of Isaac and Sarah (née Bronstein) Zetlin. She was briefly married once, to Ted Willms, a variation of whose surname she retained professionally although the marriage was annulled. She had no children. Williams died in Manhattan on March 11, 2015, age 92.

Legacy

In 2005, her memoir, ''Revolution in the Garden'', was published. Some of her papers are held as the Dell Williams Papers in the Human Sexuality Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at the

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Library.

References

External links

Eve's Garden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Dell 1922 births 2015 deaths American feminists American women in business Actresses from Manhattan American sex educators Place of birth missing Educators from New York City Women's Army Corps soldiers 21st-century American women

Career

Personal life

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links