Photography by Michelle Kilfeather
Happy Valentine's Day! This episode is all about San Francisco’s Good Vibrations because, well, duh. It’s also about Good Vibes’ Antique Vibrator Museum. To guide us, we meet Carol Queen. Carol is the staff sexologist, a title she earned with her PhD in the subject. Carol grew up in small-town Oregon, just south of Eugene. She says she was interested in sex as long as she can remember, despite what those in her community might have thought about that. Childhood and early adult visits she made to the “big city” of Eugene helped her find community and solidify her outsider, activist status. Eventually, she went to college there, although she had graduated high school early and arrived in Eugene at 16 years, far too young to go to bars. Despite that prohibition, Carol found her people, though it wasn’t always easy. She considered herself queer, but folks in LGBTQ circles cast her out, claiming her bisexuality meant she didn’t belong. It was another hurdle to work hard to overcome. Eventually, she met likeminded folks who slowly branched out into different areas of study. But they all had one thing in common—a desire, through whatever avenues, to change minds and laws and bring about more acceptance and equality for their fellow LGBTQ folks. She credits the backlash to Anita Bryant as well as eventual mainstream acceptance of AIDS as a real threat to everyone with helping her and her friends win some early victories. Carol and I do a short sidebar on some of the more recent efforts by the right in this country to ban books and legislate language, including so-called “don’t say gay” laws in places like Florida. We return to the conversation to hear that enrolling at Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality is what brought Carol to San Francisco. And we end Part 1 with Carol's impressions of San Francisco, first upon visiting, and then later, when she went to IASHS, moving here. "San Francisco is miraculous," according to Good Vibrations staff sexologist Carol Queen. We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Part 2 picks up where Part 1 left off, with our chat with Carol. We cover topics like the founding of Good Vibes and its creator, Joani Blank. Blank, who appeared on several enemies lists for her feminism and activism (hello, good trouble), and started the tiny sex-toy shop in the Mission as a direct response to women learning more about their own sexuality and feeling more comfortable in their bodies. The business grew and grew and now has shops on both coasts. The rest of Part 2 really has too many topics to cover here (keeping in mind your limited time), so please have a listen and enjoy! In the bonus episode, there was just way, way too much good stuff we cut for time out of Parts 1 and 2 to just let lie on the cutting room floor. We begin with Jeff's suggestion about what Good Vibrations' mission is and Carol Queen's expounding on that. Carol discusses what Good Vibes stands for and against in this world. We chat about how the stores welcome folks of all sexual and gender expressions. And we end with topics like Masturbation Month (May) and how Carol is, indeed, in the Masturbation Hall of Fame. We recorded this episode at the Good Vibrations/Vibrator Museum on Polk Street in January 2023.
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