Where All Sex Gone?

Sex and the City? Although I've only been in New York for about ten months it seems as though there is a lot less sex happening than I would have imagined. Sex is apparently out and adult toys are in. Not what I expected, but there you go, life throws you a curve ball and you either have to step up to the plate or get out of the way—fast. I chose to step up to the plate and to find out for myself exactly what sex and the city, or rather sex toys and the city, was all about.

I went to a friend of a friend's house for dinner when I first moved to New York and somehow the conversation shifted to sex toys. Although I had no opinion regarding sex toys at that time due to a serious lack of knowledge, I was nevertheless very intrigued by the almost taboo subject of the sextoy. Over the course of the evening I learnt the following: a) I was the only one there who had never used or seen a sex toy, b) apparently this was far more shocking than the roast chicken on the table being replaced by a number of sex toys for my education, and c) forget diamonds, vibrators are a girl's best friend.

Armed with this knowledge, I decided to investigate the allure of the sex toy, specifically the vibrator a little more closely. One night over a nice bottle, okay maybe two or three bottles, of champagne my girlfriends broached the subject of sex toys with an older male friend of ours. Dumbfounded that sex toys had been brought into the conversation, I could do little more than sit with my mouth agape. Oddly enough, the gentleman, instead of changing the subject, or finding a graceful excuse to escape our company, revealed that he shopped extensively with his mistresses for sex toys and that he took great pleasure in picking out the sex toys with his women and then incorporating the sex toys into their bedroom play. Not what I had expected from a man a good twenty years my senior. Sex toys are definitely on the radar here in the city.

Next destination: the Sex Museum in Chelsea. For $14 I was hoping for some serious sex-ed. I walked out thinking I got a bargain. From nipple tassels to anal fisting to dildo sex toy contraptions it was all there and then some. Sex (toys) and New York definitely walk hand in hand given what I learned in those three mind blowing hours. If the museum exhibits didn't confirm the strength of the NYC-Sex Toy relationship, then a quick walk in the Village irrevocably confirmed the fact that sex toys, sex and New York City would not be heading for a break-up any time soon.