Sex Boutique Owner Teaches Techniques

“Last year, before this, I thought I was having really good sex,” announced Jenna M. Mellor ’08 to a capacity crowd in Emerson Hall last night. “But I can swear,” she added, “fingers crossed, that it was better after this seminar.”

Judging from the turnout for this year’s incarnation of the Female Orgasm Seminar—organized by Mellor and other members of the Radcliffe Union of Students—students of all genders and sexualities were hoping to get in on the action. More than 500 came.

Onlookers filled the aisles, mounted windowsills, and packed doorways to hear the presentation, which was given by Kim Airs, who owns the sex boutique The Grand Opening. Even so, 50 to 60 students had to be turned away, according to Mellor.

“I wanted to be here so badly that I climbed through the window,” said Nicole M. Brown ’08.

Last year’s seminar was held in the Adams Lower Common room, but the lecture had to be moved to Emerson 105 to accommodate a larger audience.

Those who managed to penetrate the dense crowds were treated to a no-holds-barred discussion of the female orgasm. The presentation straddled several topics, ranging from a detailed anatomical tour (using a large velvet hand puppet) to a story about demonstrating female ejaculation for a crowd of awed gynecologists to an anecdote involving hands-free orgasms and a magnetic resonance imaging machine.

Instead of instructing students to turn off their cell phones, Airs asked them to set their phones to vibrate, put them between their legs, and call each other.

Despite the fun, Airs said that there was a very serious purpose to the seminar.

“I’m trying to get across that it’s okay, whatever ‘it’ is for them,” Airs said. “Masturbation is okay, orgasming is okay...using sex toys is okay. That’s pretty much it, just giving people permission.”

Brown said she found the “open, frank, discussion” informative, but others worried that students would not take enough away from the discussion.

“People didn’t take it seriously,” said Roger J. Mercado, Jr., ’09. “The way she presented it wasn’t that serious.”

Even so, Mercado said, the session was enlightening.

“As a gay man, I didn’t know much about vagina,” said Mercado. “Now I do.”

Airs agreed that some audience members probably were there as a joke, but said there was a need for a lighthearted discussion.

“People come for a whole lot of different reasons—as a joke, pretending it’s a joke,” said Kristin E. Wheatley ’06, who helped organize the event. “But everyone gets something out of it, information-wise.”

But information wasn’t the only thing students left the seminar with. Event staff members handed out hundreds of free condoms, dental dams, and packets of lubrication. At the end of the night, Airs gave out prizes, including vibrators, books of erotica, and a rubber duck.

Students bombarded Airs with questions throughout the presentation, touching on topics ranging from how to achieve multiple orgasms to why she didn’t teach a seminar on the male orgasm.

“It would take about five minutes,” Airs responded, garnering much applause.

Airs also mixed tips on orgasms with advice on safe sex, warning students to steer clear of Lifestyles brand condoms, because, she said, they barely meet federal safety regulations. She then demonstrated proper condom-application techniques.

“Try this at home, kids,” she urged before rolling a condom onto a rubber penis with her mouth.

“The great thing about female orgasms is that everybody loves them,” said Mellor. “When it comes right down to it, orgasms feel awesome.”