Many people find it “psychologically difficult” to enter a sex shop and ask for help. At least so believes Alyona Ushakova, saleswoman at Intim, a tiny sex shop near Petrivka market in Kyiv.
Ushakova, a blue-eyed blonde in her 20s, is devoted to her unusual job and says she personally tests all the new toys that arrive to be able to give quality advice to customers.
However, not many ask for it. Ukrainians are relatively conservative about bedroom issues, studies show. In 2013, only 44 percent of Ukrainians featured in a poll of Kyiv Sociology Institute said that sex was important for them. A similar poll in 2009 showed that people were very reluctant to even answer questions about sex.
But it looks like the shyness is merely a cover-up for a rather booming sex life. The business listings website www.kiev.link.ua lists 68 Kyiv sex shops, including online stores.
According to Ushakova, some of her customers are so shy they spend hours in the sex shop before actually purchasing an item. Such clients need help from the shop attendant – who, Ushakova assures, must know psychology and sexology. Ushakova underwent a two-month training course before she started to work in a shop. She was taught psychology, sales techniques and sex toy use.
Yet, funny things happen all the time. Andriy Korinny, a salesman in Nasoloda (Pleasure) sex shop located in the center, recalls how last summer a middle-aged man came in, collected several anal vibrators from the stands and casually asked where the fitting room was. He had to be told there is no fitting room and why vibrators are not allowed to be tested before purchase.
Kyiv-based sexologist Oleksiy Korniyenko approves of sex shops. According to him, the main reasons that drive people to sex shops are fatigue from routine, erectile dysfunction and the absence of a sex partner.
“Every couple should visit a sex shop at least once to buy an accessory to diversify sexual life and bring some novelty into a relationship,” Korniyenko says.
Yevheniya Yevdochenko, 25, is a regular sex shop customer. The woman says she started to use sex shop items to relieve sexual tension “since I have not had sex for a long time.”
Yevdochenko notes that items at Ukrainian sex shops are sold at inflated prices. The woman recalls that a $10 item she once ordered from an online sex store in Australia cost Hr 800 in a sex shop in Kyiv.
While things like condoms and lubricants are rather inexpensive, artificial vaginas and vibrators are among the most expensive items in Ukrainian sex shops.
“The average price for vibrators is Hr 1,500, and artificial vaginas can cost up to Hr 12,000,” says Korinny adding that the business is profitable and their daily revenue goes up to Hr 4,000. Summer is usually slow, and the season begins in autumn.
Both Ushakova and Korinny say that the majority of customers are men.
“In recent years men have started buying more sex shop items in order to bring pleasure to their female partners,” says Ushakova.
But it’s about health as much as about pleasure. Korinny advises all men in their 40s or older to purchase a prostate massager (around Hr 300) which prevents prostatitis, while Ushakova says women of every age can benefit from using vagina eggs – a basic item found at any sex shop, their price beginning at Hr 50. However, sexologist Korniyenko warns that one shouldn’t let sex shops replace visits to a doctor.
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected]
