Is Vibrator Nation Worth The Read?

By: Paola Ruiz

Within the pages of Vibrator Nation, Lynn Comella recounts the era of women's sexual awakening and feminist sex toy stores. She acknowledges how, despite American society becoming more visibly sexualized, the sexual revolution had failed women. They were continuously objectified in pornography, shamed for displaying any aspect of sexuality, and constantly ignored about their pleasure. It was these components that made female entrepreneurs rise to the occasion and build a safe space for women to explore their sexuality and educate themselves about sex.

As Comella writes in her book, entrepreneurs such as Dell Williams and Joanie Blank would begin businesses, Eve’s Garden and Good Vibrations, which would become the stepping stone for other feminist entrepreneurs seeking to start businesses within the adult sex industry. Furthermore, their companies and those built following their footsteps would forever change the industry. They would take on city regulations to prevent being pushed to the outskirts, change the production of sex toys, and change how sales within sex toy stores were made. The mission no longer focused on making an expensive sale to a confused, inexperienced customer; rather, it was now about providing the customers with education and service regardless of whether they bought anything by the end.

Vibrator Nation is not a great read solely because of its contents; it’s also a great read because of its structure and the passion with which Comella writes. Despite Lynn Comella discussing various topics and history within the book, she never loses the reader or confuses them with her copious amounts of information. Moreover, Comella doesn’t stray from mentioning the downsides of the history of feminist sex toy stores. She doesn’t betray her readers by only writing praises; she writes the truth. 

Furthermore, Comella is writing about something she feels passionate about, and this is shown in her writing. Over the years, she has done a tremendous amount of research about the topics and history she is writing about. This is seen in how deeply she discusses the history of the sexual revolution and how it had contributing factors, such as Alfred Kinsey’s research and the creation of birth control pills. It is also seen in how deeply she delves into how feminist sex toy stores grew from catalogs like Eve’s Garden to big, well-known staples such as Babeland. 

Overall, Vibration Nation is worth the time and money you may dedicate to reading it. In my opinion, it is a book that teaches readers about how the adult sex industry wasn’t always what people know it as now and how stigma has caused certain movements that accomplished a lot not to be as well known as other movements. It is a book for those history buffs who are also intrigued by the business of pleasure. So, to answer my question, yes, Vibrator Nation is worth it.