Chapter One

Chapter 1

I’m not quite so typical anymore. Most American women don’t sell sex toys for a living. But more are joining me every day because lots of women buy them—or should. I’ve learned that much since the creation of Safina, the company I founded to provide sex information and products for women. I’m now an official, if unorthodox, “sexpert.” Unlike the majority of sexperts, I have never appeared in a porn movie.

I don’t do inner sex goddess classes with hand mirrors and chanting. I haven’t hosted couples retreats in

the mountains where I advise lovers to gaze into each other’s

eyes and breathe in sync. You will never hear me spouting new age psychobabble about sexuality. My approach is the result of my personal, I dare say, typical sexual experience as a civilian—not a professional—sexual being, and a lot of research.

That said, I have also presided over hundreds of Safina Salons (more on Salons later), I’ve spoken with and lectured to thousands of women nationwide about sex, and I’ve conducted seminars and classes through the Learning Annex and other organizations on how women can improve their sexual pleasure. I’ve made gathering sexual information job one and have interviewed dozens of groundbreaking doctors and researchers in the United States and beyond. I’ve studied the history of sex from the ancient Greeks to modern presidents. For the last few years, my life has been all sex research, all the time. My life has made a 180-degree turn since my days as an advertising executive. It all began—the idea to start the company, an