The July 24, 2025 cover of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Credit: Design by David Loyola

Sex toys are like spiders. Even if you don’t see them, you’re probably within six feet of one. Despite the privacy and convenience of internet shopping, Tampa’s historic Todd Couples Superstore still has in-store customers, as do the dozens of adult shops littered across the Bay area.

But an abundance of thrusting, vibrating, sucking inventory doesn’t mean satisfaction for all. Local sex toy startups by and for women and trans folks are putting feminism first.

We shall (over)come

The start of Donald Trump’s second term made progressive women like Tiffany Freisberg feel anything but horny. But the former St. Pete Pride president and head of LionMaus Media advertising agency didn’t want to separate sexuality from her activism.

At the start of this year—coinciding with Trump returning to office—she launched Shebang!, the American sister of Sh!, Europe’s first sex shop by and for women.
“Until women and gender-expansive people have full autonomy over our bodies, we can’t claim true freedom in any part of our lives,” she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

“That’s a huge goal of Shebang!—to reclaim even a small piece of that power. To give ourselves permission to experience pleasure on our own terms, without shame, without apology. It may be one small step, but it’s a meaningful one. And it’s just the beginning.”

Kathryn Hoyle founded the London shop in 1992 after “an ill-fated attempt to buy a toy in a seedy male-run shop.” Her mission grew to empower women and queer people across age, race, class, religion, and orientation during the reign of ultra-conservative and homophobic Margaret Thatcher.

Hoyle began promoting not just pleasure, but bodily autonomy, speaking openly about issues like menopause, vaginismus, and reclaiming sex after cancer or assault. Freisberg spent her late teens in London, after being raised Catholic. Walking into Sh! meant taking her first steps into the world of sexuality.

“I was 18—nervous, unsure of what to expect. But the moment I walked in, all those fears disappeared,” she recalled. “I was offered a cup of tea and greeted with a warm, welcoming smile. It was a women-only space, and I immediately felt at ease. I could ask anything without embarrassment. And it was genuinely cool—women in overalls were making the toys right there in the shop. It was a world away from the seedy, dirty storefronts I’d seen around London.”

Remembering that feeling years later, she reached out to Hoyle, during COVID-19 lockdowns with hopes of creating a similar space in Tampa Bay. They decided that she would bring Sh! to America and reimagine it as Shebang!

“Our mission is to help women reclaim their bodies and their pleasure—boldly, proudly, and without apology.”

For now, Freisberg operates the site while doing pop-ups and events, along with running a small appointment-only retail section at The Body Electric yoga studio in St. Pete. Next year, she plans to open a brick-and-mortar location and bring manufacturing from London to Tampa Bay. The brand’s toys and lube will continue to be handmade in small batches, Freisberg said.

A dollar from each sale is donated to the ACLU, and customers are encouraged to vote, protest and speak out in the name of women and the queer community.
“We don’t believe the stigma surrounding female pleasure is accidental, and we’re here to challenge it,” she said. “Our mission is to help women reclaim their bodies and their pleasure—boldly, proudly, and without apology.”

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English 1OH1

Sara Williams is using her love of literature to fight shame. When the St. Pete erotica writer wanted to start selling toys in 2020, she knew she’d have to think about discreet packaging. But then she wondered, why?

“Why do we need to hide them? Why can’t we just, like, have them out for show?” Williams recalled in a conversation with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

She came up with the idea of packaging toys in book-shaped boxes with not-so-subtle names. Her shop, Cliterature, sells toys in boxes titled “Moany Dick,” “Pleasure Island,” “The Great Gaspy” and “Anna Karenicum.”

She’s crowdfunding to release more titles soon, including “Fuckleberry Finn” and a BDSM kit titled “Spankenstien.”

Cliterature is online only, but bibliophiles can host “book club” parties where Williams brings the collection to them.

She was nervous at first to start a one-woman sex toy shop, but at these parties and adult industry events, she said shame and fear are just about the only things off the table.

“It’s a very open and accepting community. No one is disrespectful. Everybody is open to anyone’s lifestyle, no one judges,” Williams added.

This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2025.