Inside Oakland’s Only Black-Owned Sex Shop
Nenna Joiner is breaking barriers, destigmatizing sex and engaging the community
“What’s up, baby! How are you?” Nenna Joiner’s friendly voice welcomes a customer into Feelmore, the only sex shop located in downtown Oakland.
“I’m looking for single condoms I can try out,” the woman said.
“What size do you want? Are you gonna put it on a prosthetic? A person?” asked Joiner (who prefers the pronoun “they”). The back-and-forth continues, with Joiner helping the person weigh all the options. And there are a lot of options.
They’re in a sex shop talking about sex, but it’s a conversation so casual and comfortable that you’d think they were picking out the right type of flowers for a dinner party at a local boutique. It’s clear that Joiner has an innate ability for customer service — a way to make people feel comfortable enough to ask questions about the many toys and other sex items at the store in a way that feels natural and normal, unlike the cringe-worthy sex-ed classes kids are tormented with.
