Violet Blue linked to a study that just came out about how people behave in adult sex stores. Sadly (as Violet Blue points out) they only looked at the florescent, linoleum, male-owned, just-buy-it-and-don't-ask-questions variety of sex toy store. I can guarantee that their findings would be different if they took places like Babeland into account. Many of the results in this study involve people's shame and fear: shame at being in a sex toy store or of having certain desires; fear about seeing things they are not comfortable with or being exposed to lifestyles that aren't their own.One of the biggest conclusions of this study is that sex toy stores bring out either stereotypical or non-stereotypical behavior in people. For instance, women alone sometimes felt able to be more assertive while women in groups did what was expected - giggling and blushing.It's true that sex toy shops (including Babeland) force people to come face to face with aspects of their lives that are rarely talked about, let alone in such an open and well-lit environment. (When was the last time you had a conversation with a stranger about the kind of vibration that your clitoris does or does not like?) When faced with something this new (and sometimes scary) we often revert to the things that make us comfortable - laughing, joking, burying our nose in a book, etc. These responses are all normal reactions. Babeland tries to help people move beyond that by providing a lot of information, fun toys to play with and friendly staff.I just hope that at a place like Babeland, people can feel comfortable taking the next step and standing there proudly with a Hitachi Magic Wand in their hands and saying "Can I get one of these??"Link (via Violet Blue)