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What
is Self Serve?
Self
Serve is a fun and welcoming adult sex toy retail store and sex education
center. Through our store, website and adult toy party service, we provide
the opportunity for women and others to learn about sexuality and their
bodies while shopping for high-quality sex toys and other pleasurable
sundries. Self Serve supports women, LGBT people and anyone seeking healthy,
positive sexual attitudes and perspectives, and sensual pleasure in everyday
life.
Co-owners
Matie Fricker and Molly Adler have taught sex ed and sold sex toys for
years. We decided it was high time we collaborate and create our own fabulous
store for people who know deep down that sex is not a naughty, bad thing,
but actually the way to a much happier life of pleasure.  We
love to educate people, sell toys and safer sex supplies, teach workshops,
host toy parties, and uphold high standards for quality and comprehensive
education. Historically, adult retail shops and websites have been far
from tasteful, often relegated to back alleys and filled with tacky, harmful
& exploitative products. These adult sex toy stores foster a culture
of shame and unrealistic ideas about sex. Unlike these shops, Self Serve
provides a positive, educational and empowering shopping experience. We
provide floor models of every item we carry, so you know more about the
intimate toys you're about to enjoy. When it comes to pleasure, Self Serve
takes a holistic approach. In addition to sex toys & safer sex supplies,
the shop offers imported gourmet chocolates, handbags, gift cards, luxurious
sheets, organic lotions & scrubs, massage candles and body treats.
With
the help of family and friends, we opened Self Serve January
2007 in the Upper Nob Hill neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Our
shop is located on herstoric Route 66, and features a retro-modern design
complete with a silver glitter vinyl couch.
If
you would like info about becoming a Backseat Driver and supporting
our start-up efforts, please email: info@selfservetoys.com.
A gift of $25 to $500 could earn you a store discount, free classes or
a gift certificate--and instant rock star status!
If
you are interested in hosting a workshop on sexuality or a toy party
sometime soon in the Albuquerque area, just send us an email.
for Workshops: workshops@selfservetoys.com
for Toy Parties: toyparties@selfservetoys.com
Our Story
index...
 Self
Serve co-founders Molly and Matie met in Boston in 2002, and discovered
a common passion for healthy sexuality, social activism and community
building. While managing Grand Opening Sexuality Boutique, we found new
ways to reach women, couples and LGBT folks with practical, everyday sex
advice and resources. What began as a fun part-time job became a lifelong
commitment to sex education.
We studied
our libraries of sexual health books and videos, took part in sexual health
conferences, attended safer sex trainings and witnessed many inspiring
personal transformations. We made a great team, whether talking with a
nervous woman about her recently diagnosed sexual dysfunction, or teaching
in the Human Sexuality in Medicine course at Harvard Medical School. We
loved working together and came to realize we never wanted to do anything
else.
After
two years of working on our business plan and a year-long search for the
perfect home, we found the Land of Enchantment. We fell for Nob Hill's
neon, Albuquerque's quirky, artistic atmosphere, and New Mexico's Rio
Grande, hot springs and rainbows.
We recognize
Joani Blank and the women of Good Vibrations, Babeland, Eve's Garden and
others who have paved the way for businesses like ours and radically changed
the way we "consume" sexuality information in our culture. Stores
in San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Boston and other cities now provide
sex information and products in fun, tasteful environments. We want to
create a similar space in New Mexico for people who've never known the
satisfaction of a "proper" shopping and sex education experience.
In a world
where designer coffee and custom paint colors are easy to come by, the
basic human need for a healthy sex life too often goes unspoken or dismissed.
Sexuality is everywhere, yet access to good information, discussion and
products for promoting healthy sexuality is limited. We hope Self Serve
will fill that void for our New Mexican neighbors and make valuable contributions
to the Albuquerque community.
Whether
you're looking for your first vibrator or your fiftieth, whether you're
a visiting skeptic or radical feminist, we thank you for sharing your
experience with us. We hope Self Serve becomes a part of your story.
Why We Do It?
index...
At the
shop, at sex toy parties and in our workshops, we quickly learned that
people need to tell their secrets--secrets that when left untold foster
more secrecy and shame. We realized that there are too few forums for
communication and problem-solving that address these so-called "bedroom
secrets" outside the bedroom. In today's world, where doctor's appointments
last 15 minutes and medical school coursework rarely covers sexuality,
we recognized a compelling need for safe, thorough, healthy advice and
resources on sex without all the pop culture hype and anti-woman imagery.
To end
the shame and silence around sex, we aim to help people to see their bodies
and desires as beautiful, sexual, positive, strong and healthy. We create
unique spaces for fun and learning, helping our customers learn about
healthy sexuality in a safe, supportive environment.
Customers
representing the diversity of human experience have shared with us their
most intimate pleasures and fumbles. Women in their 50s have turned to
us to find the right book, erotica, toy or knowledge of her own body to
find the first of many orgasms. Couples see us about sexual problems they
have shared with no one else. New moms acknowledge they still want to
have great sex, but maybe not just yet. Transwomen and men find help in
post-op healing and tips on passing for safety. Survivors of sexual assault
share their stories and begin to feel good about sex again. Every individual
who shares her story becomes stronger and more confident. We love being
a part of that process.
We don't
like the word "sexpert," but we want every grown-up to feel
she can be her own expert. There are no universal truths, except that
you are an individual with your own distinctive needs, desires and feelings.
We want to help you find your own truths.
Founders' Bios
index...
Matie Fricker...
Meet Matie on the streets and you're bound to learn a little something
new about yourself. Matie is a long-time sexuality educator, in both the
formal sense and the guerilla sense. She has worked for almost a decade
on both coasts as an educator and jill-of-all-trades. One of her proudest
accomplishments was causing Rush Limbaugh to say "female orgasm"
on-air multiple times. She is a dog lover, a future red hat lady, an apple
picker and a creator of snappy mix CD's. She sports a mean scar from a
daring snow sled maneuver.
Molly Adler...
Molly has dabbled in women's studies, youth theater, union organizing,
vintage handbag collecting, jewelry making, sketch comedy and shoe selling.
She enjoys work and play that involve building community, political change,
sex positivity, humor, women's and queer rights, and helping people feel
good. Molly sought a well-paying, non-profit, sex education job with benefits
where she could openly discuss gender and sexuality with adults. Then
she took a job selling sex toys and accidentally found a viable outlet
for her life's passion. Molly loves mountains, her new niece, New Mexico
sunsets over the mesas, and Cape Cod. Molly is thrilled to pursue her
dream of creating Self Serve with Matie in the Land of Enchantment. She
lives in 'Querque with her partner Jason.
Moxie...
Moxie
enjoys long walks on the beach, meeting new friends, and stinky, stinky
shoes. A New-Mexi-Mut from the ABQ pound, Moxie is a believer in second
chances and a bit of a puppy slut when it comes to love. Probably the
only shop dog in the history of sex shops, Moxie takes her job seriously.
If you're a little shy, she'll keep you company, and if you come bearing
treats she'll do a little dance. A lifelong learner of new tricks, Moxie
is a firm believer in the transformative power of education.
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What
is Self Serve?
