Consent Calling - Feminist Sexshop Collective

Quite simply, it's about sex.
To be a bit more precise: It's about sexual self-empowerment. We want to open a sex store, but not just any sex store – we want something that is much more than just a store: A place of education, exchange and inspiration. We believe that sexuality is overrepresented in today’s media, while at the same time, it is rarely shown in its richness and diversity. In addition, self-pleasure is still a taboo for many people. We have too little knowledge and experience how sexuality can actually be negotiated without shame. In addition to safer spaces, most people simply lack the words to think and speak about their sexuality. Therefore, a place that is accessible to everyone and where different approaches to addressing one's own sexuality is needed.

And this is where we come in:
The sale of toys (in our selection we pay attention to sustainability and self-defined criteria such as body safety/body compatibility, no body depictions, etc.) and individual counseling can be an opportunity to explore and expand one's own pleasure. Sexpositivity, for us, has the highest priority. We want to celebrate sexuality and pleasure! At the same time, it is equally important to us to offer literature, workshops, seminars and other events to discuss topics about sexuality as well. Topics such as: How can I live consensual sexuality? How can I educate children in an age-appropriate way? How can I implement open relationship concepts in practice? How do I tie up my partner in a way that we both like and feel safe? These are just a few of our ideas, we are excited to hear about everyone else’s!

In addition to working on a theoretical level, we also want to actively fight social constraints, norms and systems of oppression. We want to make sexuality visible beyond hetero- and cisnormativity and free ourselves from the capitalist striving towards performance and efficiency in bed. Because, in today’s prevailing patriarchal system, the personal is and remains political. That's why it is central for us to address these issues on all levels, which means to be active on demonstrations and investing in feminist networking a lot too.

By working on different political levels, we strive to contribute to the sexual liberation of everyone. And to realize our vision, we need your help!

Consent Calling wants to dedicate itself to one's own pleasure in every dimension. We want to make room for questions, one's own fantasies, insecurities and needs. Generally, we do not want to address a specific target group. Preferably, we want to reach people of all genders, all age groups – in short, the whole society in its diversity.

Our goal is to build a place where everyone can explore sexuality. We want to contribute to the fact that one's own sexuality should be seen as something positive and consent is the basis of sexual self-determination.

We want to open a space to collectively overcome the speechlessness around sexuality and enable an honest, open and feminist exchange. And, thinking big, we would like to engage people in broader feminist issues and struggles, in order to make a difference together.

Let’s be honest:
- Don't you want to finally feel comfortable in a sex store?
- Doesn't it annoy you that you can't hold toys in your hands before purchasing them in online shops?
- Wouldn't you rather learn about pleasurable sexuality instead of shameful sexuality?
- Aren't there far too many topics about the body and sexuality that still don't have an appropriate place to be addressed?
- Wouldn‘t you like to see a place where sexuality is not slut-shamed and where queer sexuality is not understood as a mere deviation from the norm?

One other note about our funding:
Maybe you have already seen that our "rewards" are not material, but symbolic. There are two main reasons for this. On the one hand, our supporters already benefit from their contribution due to the fact that Consent Calling can be created as a space for everyone. On the other hand, we would have had to set our crowdfunding goal much higher with material rewards. Because we would have had to spend a large part of the money on the rewards themselves, as well as shipping and taxes. Our rewards therefore come in the form of these estimates, so that you can better understand what sums we theoretically need for the implementation of our offers and goals. We want to give you a feeling for what we could achieve and implement with the amount you support us with.

We hope that you are convinced by our project, even without a direct material item in return and that you believe in the vision behind it just as we do. Therefore, we are all the more grateful for every single contribution from you!

Consent Calling is non-profit oriented and focusses on our feminist mission to create a new and sex-positive space for Munich. However, a prerequisite for this is a certain amount of start capital, which is not yet available. Therefore, we are dependent on your support. The final sum will define how far ahead we are able to plan and which next steps we can dare to take.

We would like to make it transparent that we can only start looking for a space, once we have reached the corresponding funding amount. Especially in a city like Munich with its horrendous rents, we all probably need some patience until we can welcome you in our store.

The following points serve as an estimate for what would be possible with which amount of funding:

1st level: 14.400 €:
With this amount, we could set up a small pop-up store or container as a first point of contact (if we can find a suitable space that is) and start offering a limited selection of toys and products. For workshops we would still be dependent on cooperating with other institutions and initiatives and could still not pay external workshop providers. However, we would be able to continue investing into networking.

2. level 23.300 €:
Here, we are approaching our real goal, which is the possibility to search for our own space in order to give sexuality the room and framework it deserves. With this sum we could, depending on the size of the store, finance the first rents, the store and office equipment and create a broader offer. Depending on the size of the space, workshops can then be held internally, and even more resources can be put into collaborating with other feminist groups.

3. level 37.700 €:
The more money we have available, the more likely it is to find a suitable store space in a good location that meets all our needs. With this amount we could pay a part of the rent deposit and further expand our product range and workshop series and invite and pay exciting external workshop instructors.

4. level 61.000 €:
This would cover the first year of the Consent Calling Sexshop without financial worries! Rent, deposit and commission, a great selection of products and workshops, store and office equipment, a website with an online store, capacities for further networking and public relations would be covered. Here, we could even pay some first wages (to our kind salespeople and consultants in the store) and the many hours of work do not have to be done on a voluntary basis only.