Grand Opening! owner Kim Airs is replicating a successful series of sex education classes for adults at her new West Hollywood location. Airs has been offering classes at her Boston location since 1995. Her first class at the West Hollywood location will offer sex tips for women on Monday night.
“”It makes us so much more of an information center about sexuality. That was the whole goal of the store anyway,” Airs told AVN.com. “It’s giving the customers a much more complete retail education and it gives us more credibility and respect as an adult retailer. It’s not, ’Here try this vibrator,’ or, ‘Here, try this whip,’ without telling them how to use it. “
Airs feels that her store does better because of the classes because of the openness the classes create between her and her customers. “It’s the same store whether you’re a virgin or you’ve been around the block a lot. We make it very easy for women to ask questions.
“If you want to learn how to give a better blowjob, or learn about anal, or S/M people look at you like you’re strange. So many people are quick to pass judgment. That’s why I teach to – normalize.”
While Airs has conducted workshops with Annie Sprinkle and has credentials from professional organizations such as the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) and International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWH), an organization that she is a charter member, it’s her experience as a call-girl for two years that she feels best qualifies her as a teacher.
“It was one of the best jobs I ever had and I learned a lot from it,” said Airs. “You deal with so many people that you are exposed to a lot of practices and techniques. When one thing doesn’t work you just try something else, “ said Airs, who spent two years in the worlds oldest profession on a part-time basis.
The class that she will be teaching on Monday will be “You Go Girl – Sex Tips for Girls,” two-hours of instruction for women in heterosexual relationships. The class, for women only, will take place in the Grand Opening! store, in a classroom setting in the middle of the store. The store will be closed for the duration of the class, but will open afterwards to allow students to purchase merchandise they’ve been turned on to during the class.
There is a $34 dollar registration fee for the class.
Airs will follow that class with one for men in heterosexual relationships on July 22. Airs teaches the course multiple times a year, and includes a relevant sports theme for each session. The “All-Star Game,” the theme for the July class, will be two-hour longs and Airs, an avid bi-sexual, will share her knowledge of female sexuality including tips such as where the G-spot is located. “A lot of men seem to think that its located toward the cervix and you have to go all the way back there to stimulate it. It’s up towards the front. And just gently massaging it with a couple of knuckles will be more than effective. Most nerve endings in the vagina are in the first third.”
Then on July 30, Airs will offer a class on the erotic art of the strip tease, followed by an August 4 introductory class on S/M.
Airs intends to ramp up her class schedules in September to include guest speakers and instructors, with classes at least once a week. She also wants to bring “You Ought To Be In Pictures,” her well-known armature porn festival, to West Hollywood next year. She says she needs the time to spread word about the festival throughout the Los Angeles area for local submissions to come in.
Of course, she’ll be famous throughout the country when HBO airs Porn 101: Xxxtra Credit, a documentary about the festival on September 13. The documentary has a cushy time slot – it airs right after Sex and the City.
The West Hollywood location of Grand Opening! Is located at 8442 Santa Monica Blvd. For more information call 323-848-6970. Airs invite those interested in the classes to sign up for her email list, which will announce new classes as they are offered, by emailing [email protected].
