We were lucky to catch up with Jenn Mason recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jenn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Before I opened WinkWink, I actually worked for a decade at a domestic violence and rape crisis center. A lot of my work was supporting survivors and doing community education with young people. I left that job to take care of my daughter, but had a nagging feeling that I wasn’t done with my work.

Over the years, I realized that although people were getting more comfortable talking about what we DON’T want in sex, there’s still a lot of discomfort in talking about what we DO want. To me, it’s all part of the same conversation. Having a healthy sexuality is not just about being free from violence; it’s also about dispelling any sexual shame and feeling empowered to make choices that feel good for your own body. I believe we can set the bar higher for sex than just “it’s not harmful” and that sexual liberation can be a powerful force in our lives.

WinkWink’s mission is to celebrate sexual expression and exploration, banish shame, and help our customers to better love themselves and others. We do that through our sex shop, educational classes, and community events. What may appear to just be a lot of fun (and is), ties back to a deeper mission of sex-positivity and liberation.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

WinkWink is an inclusive, woman-owned, “not creepy” sex shop and education space. We also offer sex coaching, where our coaches can meet with clients and help them have the sex live they envision. Our space is centered around serving primarily women and queer folks, creating a space that feels comfortable, fun, and informative without being creepy (something we’ve heard people sometimes experience in traditional sex shops).

Our staff are not just salespeople; we have deep conversations everyday about the most intimate parts of peoples’ lives. That means understanding how to respond to concerns related to sex and trauma, aging, disability, shame, and relationship issues. We feel honored to hold these experiences and have frank, intimate conversations in our space.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Sex toys and sex shops can be intimidating to a lot of people, so our social media is all about personality and education. While we’re often irreverent and humorous, we also strive to offer information that will help people to feel comfortable in our shop. In building a social media presence, I’d advise thinking about the vibe you want to create and then developing content that achieves that goal. Focus on quality followers and content, rather than quantity.

Because we are in the sex toy industry, we run into a lot of social media challenges that other businesses don’t face. From being unable to buy targeted ads to having content pulled from platforms, we often have barriers that keep us from maximizing revenue. That being said, every single follower and engagement we’ve had is completely organic, and I’m proud of that.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When opening the shop, I was tasked with the choice of our age limit policy. Our store doesn’t sell any legally age-restricted items, so I was free to create any policy. After a lot of thinking, I decide to not have an age limit at all. I believe that information about sex should be available to anyone who needs it. I heard from parents that young people have access to so many harmful representations and inaccurate education about sex, they would like that the shop remain open to anyone.

That choice has been very well-received in our community but has garnered negative media attention from right-wing national media. I also serve on a the local school board and media outlets have created narratives about my dual roles. We’ve had intense backlash for our decisions, including armed protesters at the shop, death threats, and vandalism. In 2022, all of our shop windows were smashed out in the middle of the night.

Despite all of this, we haven’t changed our policies and continue to stand our ground in how we operate. We have unwavering commitment to serving our whole community and refusing to change our mission based on threats and bullies.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.winkwinkboutique.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winkwinkboutique/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/winkwinkboutique

Image Credits
Photography: Anthony Ponce de Leon