Come As You Are August Newsletter

Welcome to our new newsletter!

We've been working hard to bring you a more frequent, relevant and easy-to-read guide to the goings on at Come As You Are - and we hope you'll love the new format as much as we do!

Here's what you can expect from our new newsletter:

Be Accessible: We've increased our font size and changed our font to the easier-to-read, and appropriately named VAG. Working Harder to Make Sex Easier: We'll now be publishing this newsletter monthly to keep the information fresh and to ensure you hear about new toys, books and DVDs as soon as they hit the shelves.

Contribute Co-operatively: We'll be frank: a paper newsletter isn't he most environmentally responsible form of communication. In 2006, we nudged almost 5000 of our newsletter subscribers off of lettermail and onto email and we promise to keep on nudging.

Create Nerdy Fun: We've produced this entire newsletter in-house: we designed, wrote, printed and folded this newsletter ourselves. Sometimes we just create a whole lot of nerdy work, but fortunately, we think it Is a whole lot of nerdy fun!

In other news, we're both happy and sad to announce that there have been some other big changes at Come As You Are co-operative.

Founding member, Cory Silverberg has recently left the membership of the co-operative after 13 years of dedicated service to pursue his interest in collecting Foursquare badges, and Sarah Forbes-Roberts will be on parental leave to raise our collective spawn.

We're half-joking about both, of course, but we'll miss them both terribly and are so appreciative that they've entrusted us with running this great co-op for all of you!

new sex toys, adult dvds & erotica

Fleshlight Cyborg
Indulge in the most out-of-this-world fantasy this Valentine's with the Fleshlight Cyborg sleeve! With ridges, bumps, and grooves unique only to this limited edition Fleshlight, the Cyborg brings you one step closer to realizing your deepest, darkest sci-fi fantasies, and Fleshlight's flashlight-like case, is easy to clean and keeps your new toy discreet, and can be removed for a more intimate experience with a partner. Amazing for sci-fi fetishists, Fleshlight collectors, and folks just looking to delve a little deeper into the unknown. | Learn more about Fleshlight Cyborg.

| $85.00

Jimmyjane Form 3
Whether you’re looking for a solo or shared adventure this Valentine’s Day, Jimmyjane’s Form 3 truly puts pleasure in the palm of your hand. The Form 3 provides true multi-mode and multi-speed vibration in a slick silicone package, and it’s unique concave design allows you target the sensation precisely by pressing down on the centre of the toy. The slim, curved profile of this vibrator makes it quite ideal for partner play. Waterproof. Rechargeable. Amazing. This item is currently out of stock | Learn more about Jimmyjane Form 3.

| $145.00

Jimmyjane Form 6
The next generation of luxury vibrators is here. From the creators of the Little Gold and Little Steel, the Form 6 is Jimmyjane's remarkable, rechargeable multi-function silicone creation. With two independently-controlled vibrating 'pleasure centers', a sleek and streamlined design that is fully waterproof, the Form 6 is the new gold standard for luxury sex toys. Now improved and waterproof! Charging station fully encloses the Form 6 for a clean and discreet charge every time. This item is currently out of stock | Learn more about Jimmyjane Form 6.

| $185.00

Lelo Tiani
No one can keep up with the Swedish creators of these true objects of pleasure. New from the waterproof, rechargeable Insignia line comes the truly wireless and wearable Lelo Tiani. Similar to the We-Vibe in design, Tiani is designed to be able to provide vibration to the wearer during sex, hitting all the right spots - and adding a remote control for easier access to Lelo's sensitive variable speed and multi-mode vibration. This vibe is also discreet enough to be your little secret when you're out on the town, and the remote control provides endless possibilities for pleasure. Even more amazingly, the remote control vibrates and pulses along with the vibrator allowing the controller to feel exactly what you're feeling when you're feeling it. This is vibe that truly brings people together, instead of getting in the way of intimacy. | Learn more about Lelo Tiani.

| $165.00

Minna Ola Vibrator
Do you know that feeling when you're so taken with someone or something and words just don't do justice to the object of your affection? The Ola from Minna Life makes us wish we'd never called another toy 'ingenious' or 'revolutionary' or 'waterproof' if only so we'd have words special enough to convey how intelligent, beautiful, functional and, well, ingenious this toy really is.

On the surface, Ola appears to be a rechargeable vibrator with all of the bells-and-whistles we've grown accustomed to: very high quality parts and hypoallergenic materials, long lifespan and awesome one-year warranty, multi-mode and multi-speed vibration, and the list goes on. What's truly special is that the Ola is not controlled with buttons or a dial, but it responds to your own touch.

Looking for mild vibration? Squeeze Ola gently to produce a gently vibration. Want more? Squeeze a little harder.

When you find a pulse or a speed you dig, Ola will remember it for you, and play it back as many times as you'd like. Or! Change it up as you go and discover something new every time! Ola's smooth curves make it great for g-spot play or external fun - solo or with your partner. | Learn more about Minna Ola Vibrator.

| $165.00

Yes! Baby Fertility Friendly Organic Lube

Yes! Baby Fertility Friendly Organic Lube
Fertility-friendly (or sperm-friendly) lubricants are an incredible breakthrough for folks looking to keep using lube while trying to conceive. Back when we opened in 1997, the only lubricant we could offer to people wanting to ensure their lubricant wasn't interfering with conception was egg whites (seriously!). While fertility-friendly lubricants won't get you pregnant, they've been clinically shown to not interfere with sperm motility. Yes! Baby is more than a fertility-friendly lube. Instead, this is a kit completely with two lubricants (for when you're actively trying to conceive, and to help maintain pH when you're not) and ovulation test strips. Like all Yes! products, this lubricant is certified organic and water-based.

Ingredients: Aloe vera*, Guar gum*, Locust bean gum*, Honeysuckle Flower Extract, Sodium chloride, Citric acid, Sodium hydroxide, Flax extract*, Xanthan Gum, Sodium chloride, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol. * Indicates certified organic ingredient.

This item is currently out of stock | Learn more about Yes! Baby Fertility Friendly Organic Lube.

| $32.00

Action
After just a quick flip though Action, patterns emerge that point to Kern’s favourite personal touches – a fondness for nylons and high heels, on-location shooting and a subtle appreciation for 90’s pop culture. Upon giving this volume some more attention, though, it becomes apparent that the models’ personalities and senses of humour play a vital part in the creation of the photographs, too: cigarettes being smoked from between toes, pin-ups posed with birth control pills in hand, gleeful interactions with sex toys and groceries all add curiosity and quirkiness to this sexy visual feast.Complete with an accompanying DVD and a clever disguise in the form of a reversible dust jacket, this gorgeously glossy book of photographs by erotic photographer Richard Kern is definitely an amusing and exciting ride! Edited by Dian Hanson | Learn more about Action.

| $19.99

BK-731
Whether you’re a fan of Manara’s rich signature style of illustration, or simply curious about the lush history of the relationships between artists and models, this book is a worthwhile experience! Manara’s versions of more than sixty famous and not-so-famous artworks centered around the female form are vibrant, sensual and breathtakingly rendered in a colourful variety of media. Included on each page are intimate anecdotes from art history and legend, bringing a range of contexts into this visual ode to artist’s models and muses from prehistory into the imagined future: “…while we’re ready to reward artists with honors and recognition, nobody seems to remember the models. This work hopes to be a modest attempt at this acknowledgement.” | Learn more about BK-731.

| $40.00

Brazen Femme
Femmes frustrated with their relational identity to Butches and pissed-off over stereotypes that they are simply to amazing to fit spill their guts on these pages in the form of poetry, comics, prose and essays on the fabulous and tremulous world of Femmes. Professors, sex workers, journalists and the unemployed articulate their relationship to femme(inity) and their re-making of gendered femininity through their hardbreaks, invisibility in queer communities and daily embodied living. Broaching such topics as dealing with ageing, racism and gender, mothering and fat phobia, these Brazen Femmes break through the rigid Butch/Femme barrier with their fierce and bold articulation of their gender(s) | Learn more about Brazen Femme.

| $21.95

Burlesque West
Showgirls, Sex and Sin in Postwar Vancouver
Burlesque West, the book that spurred a national controversy over public funding of academic work on sex history, is the first to take a critical look at western Canada's history of burlesque, peeler bars and the lives of strip-tease workers. Becki L. Ross's extensive research, with first-hand accounts from exotic dancers, club owners and bookers, delves into the exciting world of the entertainment industry that held Vancouver as one of the most notorious and saught-after night-scenes of the burlesque circit era. Ross's recognition of the complexe and mutlifacited lives of exotic-dancers, from work-related issues such as fighting for unionization, to their efforts for entreprenural self-promotion really strips bares superficial stereotypes of the sex club industry. Taking into account the class and racial geographical divide of west versus east Vancouver, Rossi's historical work operates with an anti-racist and cross-sectional framework, looking at the influences of different communities on the exotic entertainment industry that helped fuel the economy of one of Canada's largest city. | Learn more about Burlesque West.

| $29.95

Fast Feminism
Fast Feminism combines the velocity of speed theory and beat poets with a perversion of post-structural thought to create a theory-in-action that takes no prisoners from the old guard of male stream philosophy and sexology. Triumphing the female phallus and tracing it's concealed and broken path throughout medical, philosophical and pornographic history, Shannon Bell reclaims the power of the female body that has been lost in the muck of patriarchal knowledge. Bell's life-long work around the female phallus shows the political and personal importance of embracing and taking pride in the magnificent feats of female ejaculation. This face paced and chaotic living theoretical work is speckled with recounted scenes of racy sexual encounters, fusing sex theory and practice whilst giving it to the dead old white men of the academic past. For gender theory lovers who are tired of the droll of academic work, Fast Feminism's erotic, taboo-breaking and mind-shaking prose will have you on the edge of your seat, or maybe under your sheets. | Learn more about Fast Feminism.

| $16.00

Juxtapose Erotica
Juxtapose Erotica features oil based, graffiti, water-colour and graphic art depictions of nude women in various states of undress by artists such as David Choe, Audrey Kawasaki and Tomer Hanuka amongst many others. Fantastical illustrations of octopi women, bodacious babes and surreal glowing bosoms and bottoms grace the pages of this eclectic collections of erotic art. Despite the intro that attempts to make the problematic distinction between "pornography" and "erotic," this compilation of gorgeous erotic contemporary art is a must for art and erotic lovers alike. | Learn more about Juxtapose Erotica.

| $30.95

Love and Lust: A Sex Journal
What's a sex fantasy that you would actually do at a moment's notice, no questions asked? Where are all the places you would like to have sex? How long can you stand to be teased? In this guided journal of love, lust and sex, Suzie Bright will put you on a path towards sexploration as you think about your desires, sexual history and hopes for the future. Write down your naughtiest fantasies, confess your dirtiest sexcapades and delve into your own sexual self in these pages awaiting your inscripture. Includes a lock and two keys for privacy or to be thrown away with abandon. What will your sex journal say? | Learn more about Love and Lust: A Sex Journal.

| $23.95

Paying For It: A Comic Strip About Being A John

Paying For It: A Comic Strip About Being A John
Chester Brown's comic "Paying For It" delves into his personal experience as a john, dealing with loaded topics such as possessive monogamy and the stigmatization sex workers and johns. A much needed entry into discussion around sex work, Brown's work is not without faults (with his over-generalization of sex work activism, depictions of feminists as sex-negative and generally body and beauty normative ideas); yet we are grateful for a comic that brazenly begins the much needed discussion around sex work. | Learn more about Paying For It: A Comic Strip About Being A John.

| $24.95

Sovereign Erotics
A Collection of Two-Spirited Literature
This book is a collection of poems, essays, fiction and non-fiction alike that, not unlike it's authors, cannot fit neatly into any defined box. One of the first to give voice to the highly misunderstood lives of the two-spirited person, this book truly represents the humour, thoughtfulness and complexities of the two-spirites community. With contributors ranging from Western Canada to Eastern Samoa, spanning such topics as friendship, love, sexuality, memory and loss, this queer indigeounous collection is a mile-stone voicing indigenous resilience. | Learn more about Sovereign Erotics.

| $26.95

The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie
"The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie" explores the interesting dualistic sex culture in Syrian inner-city markets, where veiled women buy hoards of imaginative and playful racy lingerie. Pictures of Syrian lingerie tacked with plastic butterflies, tweety-bird, feathers, cell phones and sequence abound, all paying tribute to the Syrian humorous approach to their often secret sex lives. Complete with interviews from various walks of life and tales from Lingerie lovers and those not-so-enthused, this interesting exploration into this niche industry demonstrates the colorful outcome of class distinctions and religious convictions, all reflected in the openly displayed burlap g-strings and curtain bras of the Syrian market place in Damascus. | Learn more about The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie.

| $32.50

Expert Guide to Positions DVD
Explore new ways to have sex, and master those old stand-bys with Tristan Taormino and the Expert Guide to Positions. Learn about factors to consider when choosing a position (angle and access, friction, orgasm, mood, etc), how to alter favourite positions to achieve new sensations, why some positions are better for different situations, how to accommodate positions for anal penetration, and much more. Excellent for couples who want to add new and exciting positions to their repertoire as well as new couples exploring and learning about each others' bodies. Can also be used as a game - put the movie on while having sex, and copy the positions that the couples in the movie are performing! This item is currently out of stock | Learn more about Expert Guide to Positions DVD.

| $35.00

Erotic Memoir: A Writing Workshop
With Susie Bright
A sex journal is like any diary - it simply doesn’t hide or lie about the sexual part of life. It’s a place to preserve your private adventures, remind yourself of close calls, and think about your fantasies, as well as contemplate things you’ve never put to words before. In this workshop, Susie Bright will get you writing, on the spot, to bring candor and articulation to your sexual history and philosophy. She’ll give you the prompts and chops to say what needs to be said to explore the sexual aspects of your life through memoir.

When: Tuesday, March 27th, 2012. 7:30-9:30PM (Doors open at 7PM)
Where: Come As You Are
Cost: $35/person
| Learn more about Erotic Memoir: A Writing Workshop .

| $35.00

Sex Positive Parenting Workshop
With Susie Bright
What’s a sex-positive parent to do? There’s your own life as a lover and a parent, and then there’s seeing your children develop their own sexual perceptions and values. Let’s unpack the sexual revolution of parenthood, from the time when you first get pregnant, the baby-and-little-kid years- to finally, the real marathon: kids reaching puberty and mom hitting menopause. Yes, this IS the place to talk about things you won’t hear on Oprah. There’s physical and practical information to share, and emotional and ethical questions that can’t be ignored. What are the most important things you can do, as a parent, to give your children sexual sanity? How do you nurture and enjoy your own mojo as the years go by? Come with your questions- I’ll have plenty more for you, plus some answers you won’t hear anyplace else.

When: Wednesday, March 28, 2012. 7:30-9:30PM (Doors open at 7PM)
Where: Come As You Are
Cost: $35/person
| Learn more about Sex Positive Parenting Workshop.

| $35.00