Working on Defenses

Do you prefer someone who is being more direct?  Or would you prefer that someone is more subtle and polite?

Perhaps it depends on the situation?

Well, last night, I was at a friend's housewarming party after having finished working at a party earlier that evening.  At some point, I was asked what I did.

Being that I didn't have time to switch purses, I brought out the product binder to show them what I was talking about.

Photo by Najmat

At one point, I overheard someone make a comment about the fact that I was talking about penis rings.  So, I turned around and said, "Oh, Hi.  My name is Cecilia, and I sell sex toys."

Not a bad introduction, if I do say so myself.

Well, one person turned around and said that she's skeptical about sex toys because she's allergic to latex.  I told her that we have tons of toys that are great for those with a latex allergy, specifically some that are medical-grade silicone.

She said she still couldn't be sure, but her posture and body language just exuded the fact that she was extremely uncomfortable.

I felt really awkward, all of a sudden, like my good advice was not good enough.  Even though I had tried to  be really professional with her, she just seemed extremely resistant to anything I had to say.  I knew it wasn't the time to ask her anything more.

Luckily, some of the other people in her group were a bit more open minded, and we had a conversation about the state of sex education for youth and adults.  One of them even asked for my business card.

While I don't expect that everyone would be as comfortable as I am with talking about sex, I guess I was just not ready to come across someone like that at this particular house party.  It's silly, really, that I would assume that.  But I did.

I think this is something I'd like to improve on:  When someone puts up that kind of wall, how can I get them to peek over the top of it even for a second?

Ask and You Shall Receive

It's time for me to start answering some questions.

So send them in!

Check out my Sea Goddess Says page above for more information!

Fair Warning to Whipper Tickler Lovers

Got a kitty?

Caught in the act!

 My new kitty, Yoni, got a hold of my Whipper Tickler...

It's hers now.

Why I am a Goddess

In my early 20's, I thought I would give direct selling a try.  So, I started selling AVON.

It was fun selling such neat products, but I was definitely not making any profit.  In fact, I was probably buying more for myself than selling.

Then, I discovered Athena's.

I was fresh out of graduate school, planning to stop my direct selling business, but also having trouble finding work at the time.  I attended an Athena's party (by Goddess Michelle), and had so much fun.  I was encouraged to consider becoming a Goddess, but I didn't go for it right away.

When I decided to join Athena's, I wanted to work on being comfortable with public speaking.  I had already done quite a bit of performing, but was still very scared of doing anything on my own.  Funny thing about Athena's...you're never really on your own.

Yes, this is my own business.  Yes, I can control the amount of parties I have.  But Michelle and the Home Office (and now Amy, my upline), are never too far.  They helped me through the entire experience, from building me up to keeping me motivated.

The Training Team is fantastic!  When I signed on (I signed up for the $250 kit), I opted to attend the 2 days of training in Woonsocket, RI.  The first day of training was about the business.  The second day is about sex education and meeting all the new products.

But, there's so much more!  The company is really good about keeping in touch - you always hear from the Mother Goddess herself!  I'm always getting party leads from the Home Office and from friends, and I don't often feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I have.

Three times a year, we're able to attend Sales Meetings that are always so much fun and energizing!  I always come back super excited (if you want to look back at previous posts about Sales Meetings, you can read exactly how excited I am).  The Athena's community is strong and supportive.

Now, 3 years later, I'm still proud to be an Athena's Goddess.  Though I became a Goddess for supplemental income, I continue being an Athena's Goddess because of all that I share with my parties.

While there's a lot of technical and logistical information to keep track of (it is a business after all), I love doing the parties.  Lugging those toys to people's living rooms and talking and laughing about sex and pleasure - it's all so worth it.

Not only do I get to provide a route to further self-love, but I get to promote self-care.  I get to walk away feeling like there are more women, men, couples who are able to have fulfilling sexual experiences, and hopefully that will lead to more fulfilling life experiences.

I want to share that feeling even more.  How about $99 for a $250 kit?

If you're looking for supplemental or even a complete source of income, if you want to make a difference in your life and others, if you want a community that will support you through ups and downs and sadnesses and celebrations...Athena's is a wonderful choice.

**Any questions?  Email me, and I'll send you more information about becoming a Goddess!**

My First REAL Exposure to a Sex Toy

This is a true story. All names will be changed to protect the innocent and strange alike.

By the time I was in college, I was already sexually active with my long-term high school boyfriend.  I did not consider myself uneducated about sex and all it's possibilities, but I knew that I had a lot more to learn and experience.

By my second year in college, I had turned 18, and had already visited the back/X-rated part of a shop in the small downtown district of Santa Cruz, CA.  So, I was familiar with sex toys in that I knew what they looked like.  But at this point, I had never touched one, owned one, or really been near one that wasn't in a plastic cover.

I was living in a lounge-type room with 3 other girls.  Two of the girls I still love very dearly.  One of the girls was a strange duck.

Here's an example:  One day, we all decided to walk over to the gym to go swimming.  As we were all preparing, the strange duck sat patiently in her bathing suit and hiking boots (our campus was hilly and in a forest).  We asked her if she was going to put on more appropriate clothes for walking through campus, and she said that she thought it would be fine if she just walked the approximately 1.5 miles in her suit and boots.  We promptly told her otherwise.

But things just got more strange.  And I'm not even going to go into how her and her boyfriend would have sex early in the morning while the rest of us were in the room!

Three of us were sitting in our room and doing work, and the strange duck suddenly says, "Hmm...that's interesting.  They have "penis" in the Spanish-English dictionary, but not "dildo."

I'm not really sure why that was relevant to her Spanish homework.  She said she sometimes thought about those things, and decided to look it up in her Spanish-English dictionary.  Simple as that, I guess?

Well, within the first semester, we knew that we were going to have issues.  It all culminated one fateful night.

She usually went to sleep much earlier than the 3 of us did.  She would put on her eye mask, her headphones, and sometimes a pillow over her head.  Though we knew she was trying to sleep, the three of us would live it up.

This particular evening, we had a couple of friends over.  We were laughing, talking, watching tv.  My friend was sitting at my desk.  The way our room was set up, her bed was next to my desk.  Suddenly, she stood up and started freaking out, pointing to our "sleeping" roommate.  Here's what she saw:

La Dilda

We laughed so hard, we were surprised that she didn't wake up!

Maybe a half hour later, after we had already calmed down, she suddenly perked up and asked us all to quiet down.  She then went on about how we always stay up when she's trying to sleep, and how she would prefer that we all turn everything off by 10pm.  She also said that we needed to talk the next morning about our rooming together.  We all definitely agreed.

The next day, we all got together and sat in our room.  She talked about what she wanted from us as her roommates, ranging from us quieting down by 10pm to not having people over as much.  As young college students, we were unhappy with her requests.

One of my roommates, who had been keeping relatively quiet for most of the strange duck's requests, suddenly said, "You know, we'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't sleep with your dildo!"

The strange duck became flustered.  She sat herself down and told us that her boyfriend gave it to her as a present.  In fact, it was the only thing he had ever given to her that she could physically hold.

A roommate blurted, "Oh my god!  Tell him to get you a freakin' teddy bear!"

Needless to say, she moved out the following semester.

**********************************

In the end, while that story still makes me laugh, I was sad for her.  She clearly had feelings for her boyfriend, enough that she used the toy as a safety blanket instead.  But he perhaps only saw her as his play thing.

Obviously, these days, I've had much more exposure to toys, and in not such an unhealthy way.  As a Goddess, it's almost such a complete change from that situation.  My old roommate and her boyfriend were very sexually open with each other, but perhaps almost mainly sexual.  Often at parties, I hear a lot of hesitance from both people in the relationship, depending on the toy and the relationship.

It makes you think about your own relationships and how you'd like to address the sexual aspect of it.

Now, it's great when couples are able to be comfortable with themselves and each other - or at least willing to test it out - enough to talk about what turns them on.  And while I'm not advocating that most of your gifts to each other be sex toys, changing it up from romantic to raunchy isn't so bad once in a while.