Matt Young
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As we shelter at home, now more than ever Madison could use A Woman’s Touch. Ellen Barnard, co-owner of the city’s only sexuality resource center, located at 302 S. Livingston St., says people are finding ways to stay entertained while society is all but shut down.
“Oh yes. There is no question. Since the quarantine, people are saying in surveys that one of the ways they are spending time is more sex with their partner or more sex alone,” says Barnard, who notes traffic on pornography websites has jumped since shelter in place orders have been implemented nationwide. “You know, sometimes when you can't go anywhere else, it’s a great choice.”
A Woman’s Touch has been in business for more than two decades, selling all manner of bedroom accoutrements including erotic literature, lubricants and massage oils, adults toys and lingerie. The “sexual boutique” found its niche by providing sex-positive literature, workshops, and judgment-free expertise from its staff. Barnard says most of its referrals come from health care providers and therapists.
But the federal government apparently doesn’t approve. The store, which has been closed since March in compliance with the state’s safer at home order, was turned down for a forgivable loan under the Paycheck Protection Program. The reason?
A longstanding rule of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) prohibits assistance for businesses with revenues coming from “the sale of products or services for the presentation of any depictions, display, or live performance of a prurient sexual nature.” Lumped into the same category as strip clubs, legal brothels and pornographers, A Woman’s Touch and other “sexuality boutiques” become ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program.
“It's not a new rule and for a long time we have wished the government would see the light and exempt businesses like ours. I guess we were hopeful the SBA might treat us differently given the global pandemic,” says Barnard. “What’s happened instead is we had to lay off our whole staff. The limited sales we have online are going towards rent, fixed expenses as we try to hold on.”
“We are fighting, like many other businesses, just to stay here and to one day reopen when it’s safe,” adds Barnard. “We expect to lose money most of the year and [the federal loan] would have helped us survive.”
Another Wisconsin business is challenging the SBA rule excluding businesses “of a prurient sexual nature.” Silk Exotic, which owns four strip clubs in the state, filed a lawsuit in federal court earlier this month.
Madison attorney Jeff Scott Olson says U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman has already handed his clients a win by issuing a temporary restraining order against the SBA, keeping Silk Exotic in the running for emergency funding. Olson says the lawsuit centers around the word “prurient” and freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment.
“The SBA has been interpreting ‘prurient’ without regard to the true meaning of the word, which is appealing to an unhealthy or sick interest in sex. Any healthy interest in sex is not prurient as the Supreme Court uses the term,” says Olson. “The SBA’s policy certainly discriminates against a lot of legal businesses. Any kind of discrimination based on a business exercising their First Amendment rights is prohibited by the Constitution.”
According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report, Adelman seemed sympathetic to Olson’s argument during a preliminary telephone hearing on April 15.
“You clearly are punishing them," Adelman told the government lawyers in referencing the SBA’s denial of funds to Silk Exotic. "You're saying, 'We don't like adult entertainment, so you don't get the money everyone else does.' How can that not be punitive?"
The initial $349 billion allocated for the Paycheck Protection Program was exhausted in less than two weeks and Congress is expected to add $320 billion more in funding by the end of the week. In the first round the feds approved $7 billion in loans for more than 30,000 Wisconsin businesses.
Olson says securing the preliminary injunction for Silk Exotic is “what this case is all about.”
“Like so many other businesses, they need these loans now to keep meeting their payrolls,” says Olson. “It will probably be many months before the case is finally resolved.”
For now, the lawsuit won’t impact other businesses like A Woman’s Touch — which Barnard says shouldn’t be in the same category as adult entertainment, because her store focuses on sexual health and wellness.
“But maybe it will finally crack this silly clause open because it's time, way beyond time,” says Barnard. “We are just one small store, one small business, without the resources to challenge a huge bureaucracy.”
Barnard says A Woman’s Touch is encouraging regular patrons to shop online on its website to help the store survive while non-essential businesses are shuttered. She agrees that social distancing measures are necessary now to keep the public safe, but it also cuts into what made the store successful before COVID-19. When picking out a vibrator for yourself or a butt plug for your beau, it’s helpful to see and feel the product before purchasing.
“If people wanted to shop online for the products they could just go Amazon and maybe it’ll work for them, maybe it won’t,” says Barnard. “We thrive on providing a hands-on, educational and interactive experience. One of the things we hear frequently from people in the store is they bought something online and it was awful. They realized they really needed to see things up close and personal.”
For now, Barnard is preparing for when she can open the brick-and-mortar store to even a limited number of customers when “safer at home” restrictions are eased. She plans on supplying staff, and maybe patrons, with gloves and masks if necessary.
“I really do believe we offer a welcoming environment to everyone and provide a valuable service for the community,” says Barnard. “We just want to continue to do what we have been doing for 24 years.”
