Bakgrund: Studier visar på att arenor som ger råd och stöd kring sexuella problem för vuxna saknas i såväl Sverige som internationellt. Internationell forskning tyder på att information och stöd om sexualitet skulle kunna förmedlas via sexbutiker. Idag finns det inga studier på hur kunskap och stöd förmedlas via sexbutiker i Sverige. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att belysa mötet mellan kund och säljare i sexbutik, med fokus på kunskapsförmedling och stöd. Metod: Studien baseras på kvalitativa intervjuer med åtta personer som arbetar i olika sexbutiker runt om i Sverige. Materialet analyseras utifrån två teoretiska perspektiv, genom att använda begreppet tillit från professionsforskningen samt att se på försäljning av varor, kommoditeter, i relation till förmedlandet av kunskap och stöd. Resultat: Ingen av de åtta informanterna har en examen i sexologi. Deras kunskap i sexbutiken har växt fram med tiden och genom informationssökande. För att skapa en känsla av tillit använder informanterna miljön; den fysiska butiken, tystnadsplikt och professionellt utseende och ärlighet. Vuxna personer vänder sig till sexbutiker, inte enbart för att köpa sexhjälpmedel men också för att få kunskap och stöd. Informanterna rapporterar att de anpassar sig till de kunder som kommer in i butiken och tar på sig olika roller såsom undervisare, vårdgivare och lyssnare. Sexhjälpmedel, kommoditeter, som kan köpas i sexbutiken kan visa hur konsumtion kan kopplas till det sexuella handlingsmönstret och kan till exempel fungera som kommunikationsstartare. Studien visar att sexbutikerna samarbetar med exempelvis hälso- och sjukvården genom kunskapsutbytesrelationer. Hälso- och sjukvården och butikerna hänvisar kunderna till varandra. Det är dock inte alla butiker som hänvisar sina kunder vidare. Diskussion: Resultatet är i linje med tidigare internationell forskning som visar att sexbutiker har potential att förmedla kunskap och stöd till kunderna. I Sverige förmedlas kunskap och stöd via sexbutikerna och detta bör erkännas och uppmärksammas med bland annat samarbete med den akademiska världen samt hälso- och sjukvården. / Background: Studies show that places providing advice and support on sexual concerns for adults, are lacking in Sweden as well as internationally. International research suggests that information and support on sexuality could be distributed through sex shops. Today, however, there are no studies on how sex shops in Sweden convey this task. Aim: The purpose of the study is to shed light on the customer/staff interaction in a sex shop environment with a particular focus on information and support. Method: The study is based on qualitative interviews with eight people working in various sex shops, located in different parts of Sweden. The data is analyzed by using two theoretical perspectives, partly by using the concept of trust from the profession´s research and by looking at the sale of sex aids, commodities, in the relation to the mediation of knowledge and support. Result: None of the eight informants have a degree in sexology. They have gathered experience over time and through actively seeking information. To create a feeling of trust the informants use the environment; the physical store, confidentiality, professional appearance and honesty. Adults do not exclusively turn to sex shops to buy sex aids, but also to gain knowledge and support. Informants report that they adapt themselves to the customers who come in to the store, and take on different roles such as teachers, care providers and listeners. Sex aids, commodities, which can be purchased at the sex shop can show how consumption is linked to the sexual pattern of action and can, for example, act as a communication starter. The study shows that the sex shops collaborate with, for example, health care in knowledge-exchange relationships. The health service and the stores both refer customers to one another. However, not all stores refer their customers further. Discussion: The result is in line with previous international research showing that sex shops have the potential to convey knowledge and support to customers. In Sweden the sex shops provide knowledge and support and this should be acknowledged and recognized through cooperation with the academic world as well as the health care system.

The sex shop has existed as spatially Othered and ideologically transgressive. However, the last decades have witnessed both a literal and figurative move into a position of normalcy and legitimacy. Previous research conducted on this topic has covered this shift, and the importance of a “feminization” of the market for this to happen. While the previous research is extensive on the “new” sex shop, it has partly overlooked the hybridization of the traditional with the feminized. This essay has thus aimed to discern the trends of a “mixed-gender” sex shop, in order to both contribute to the understanding of the Swedish context as well as how class, gender, and past & present work as distinctions within this. The results show that a stereotypical femininity and masculinity is visually used by the store as tropes of distinction. As abstract ideals they converge in a rhetoric of an aspirational class, that sees knowledge as well as consumption as vital to a “sexual health”. However, while the commodities on offer are partly marketed with such sophistication, they are equally advertised as realistic resemblances of genitalia or parts of the body. Thus, the sophisticated consumption is diversified with a realistic, at times vulgar, address. The conclusive observation here is hence that the traditional sexuality-related consumption can coexist with a feminized version within one and the same store. Consequently, this essay sees that a plurality of desires is a part of the market’s continual expansion.