American sex educator, author, entrepreneur, and philanthropist (1937–2016)
Joani Blank |
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| Born | July 4, 1937 |
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| Died | August 6, 2016 (aged 79) |
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| Nationality | American |
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Joani Blank (July 4, 1937 – August 6, 2016) was an American sex educator, entrepreneur, author, videographer, cohousing enthusiast, philanthropist, and inventor in the field of sexuality. She used publishing, her sex store, and other endeavors to promote sex-positive feminism. Her papers are part of the Human Sexuality Collection at Cornell University Library.[1]
Career
Blank founded Down There Press, a publisher of sex-positive-related books, in 1975.[2] In 1977, she opened Good Vibrations, the second feminist sex toy business in the United States (the first having been Eve's Garden in New York City, which was founded by Dell Williams in 1974).[3][4][5] The idea to create Good Vibrations stemmed from her work with sex therapist Lonnie Barbach, in which the pair worked with women who had difficulty reaching orgasm.[6] Prior to her opening Good Vibrations, she was hired at the University of California, San Francisco to screen candidates who had difficulties achieving orgasm. This study influenced her business model for Good Vibrations.[7] Lynn Comella wrote that Blank turned "her small vibrator shop into a sexual resource center for anyone who might wander in. She felt that talking about sex should be as casual as talking about the weather; she also believed that sexual information was a birthright and that no one should be made to feel ashamed or embarrassed for wanting more pleasure in their life."[8]
Blank collaborated with photographer Honey Lee Cottrell on I Am My Lover, and Down There Press published it in 1978. In this book, she paired Cottrell's photographs of individual women with the subject's written reflections on masturbation and on learning to give themselves pleasure. It joined Our Bodies, Ourselves (1971) and Betty Dodson's Liberating Masturbation: A Meditation on Self Love[9] (1974) as second wave feminist books aiming to educate women about their bodies and empower them to have a positive sexual life.
Blank was one of the first volunteers at San Francisco Sex Information and has served on the board of directors of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. She is also known for her inventions of the Butterfly vibrator[10] and Titattoos (now Intimate Art Tattoos).[11]
Personal life
Blank had one daughter, Amika, and three grandchildren. Blank lived in cohousing from 1992 until her death and served on the board of the Cohousing Association of the United States.[12] She spent many years in Doyle Street Cohousing in Emeryville, California, and co-founded her final home community, Swan's Market Cohousing in Oakland, California. Blank volunteered her time to social justice issues such as prison reform and economic equality.[13][14] She held a master's degree in public health education[2] and remained active in the field of sexuality.
Blank died of pancreatic cancer on August 6, 2016, less than two months after her diagnosis.[15]
