Romantic Product Salesmen: A Bygone Occupation

Abstract

Romantic product salesmen sold what now are popularly known as “sex toys” but in their day were called “marital or sex aids.” They plied their trade in the Bible Belt and served a primarily male clientele. By playing on their clientele’s sexual ignorance and sexist attitudes, romantic product salesmen were able to sell merchandise that ironically, increased rather than decreased their customers’ sexual frustration at outrageously inflated prices. With the spread of X-rated bookstores to the Bible Belt in the mid-1960s, this little-known and secretive occupation vanished from the American cultural landscape.