Zoë Ligon runs metro Detroit-based online sex shop Spectrum Boutique, earning her the nickname “Dildo Duchess.”
From 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 4, Ligon is stepping away from her computer to host a pop-up event at Detroit’s Coup D’état shop where she’ll showcase her wares and answer your burning questions — especially if you’re new to sex toys.
That’s because Ligon was once in your shoes, too.
“When I was 18, 19 I was, like, terrified of sex toys,” she says. “I found it really overwhelming to go into a sex toy store.”
And it wasn’t just the unfamiliarity with the products or the nervousness of venturing into an adult store that frightened her. Ligon says she found herself confronting a scary realization: she didn’t know what an orgasm was.
“For me, what was very intimidating about vibrators was the realization that like, I haven’t been having orgasms,” she says. “And that’s a really stressful thing to confront, especially in a public setting.”
Buying her first Magic Wand vibrator changed her life, she says.
“It really cracked that egg open for me,” she adds.
She launched her store in 2015, and her business has continued to grow. So, too, has the variety of products available on the market.
One new category that is exploding in popularity is humping and grinding toys — “things that people sit on and let their body weight do the stimulation, as opposed to something that is insertable, or something that a vibrator,” she says.
Ligon says that our heteronormative society tends to center the penis in sex, creating an orgasm gap. But experimenting with toys can bridge it.
“It’s not really stuff that we’re encouraged to explore about our bodies. And this is something that really affects everybody,” she says. “It’s a symptom of closed-mindedness in our society, and sexual repression, and our puritanical government and world.”
Spectrum Boutique sells dildos, vibrators, anal toys, harnesses, oils, and much more. Ligon says she’s curious to see what people connect with in person versus behind a computer screen.
“Even if the specific thing somebody is looking for is not available, I will be definitely be helping people find what they do want, even if it means they place an order online, we’ll give them free shipping and all that,” Ligon says.
“Just come hang out,” she adds. “You don’t have to buy anything, you can even just say hello. I don’t have a physical shop, so I really like meeting people in person.”
Meta Physica Wellness Center will also be on hand at the Coup D’état pop-up event with skin and body products, and the forthcoming Vesper Books & Wine will provide complimentary wine.
Ligon says it will be a fun opportunity to hang out with Detroit entrepreneurs and talk all things wellness.
“At the end of the day, sexual pleasure and stimulation is so good for our bodies, not just psychologically, but chemically, the neurotransmitters that release,” she says. “It’s really just a very basic way we can take care of ourselves and have those needs met.”
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