'I wouldn’t buy it here, people might recognise me'

Spar doesn’t just care about what’s on students’ plates. Their product range also includes items for students' activities between the sheets. Last week, the grocery store unveiled a large shelf with all kinds of sex toys. The goal is to break the taboo surrounding sex toy use.

Recent research by Rutgers & Soa Aids Nederland into the sexual health of people aged 13 to 25 shows that they are initiating their sex lives later than they used to. By offering sex toys, the supermarket aims to start a conversation about sex. Well, they certainly have. 

You can’t miss the EasyToys shelf. Right in the middle of the store, there is a huge pink rack with dildos, cock rings, vibrators, condoms, lubricants and gift sets. The closer you get to it, the more chatter and laughter you hear. Many students pause and take pictures. “I don't mind it. I wouldn’t buy it here, so near to the university and the university of applied sciences. That'd be a bit weird and I don’t want to be recognised. I would rather buy these things online. Etos and Hema also carry this type of product, so can't Spar do it too?”

Two students think that the assortment is too much aimed at women. “How am I supposed to use this as a man? Stick it up my ass?” one guy says as he looks at the dildos. It is striking that students do not want their names mentioned in the article, even though most of them claim not to mind the new merchandise. The topic of sex causes more discomfort than students would like to admit.

A Spar employee doesn't mind the expansion of the range, either: “We also sell condoms and pregnancy tests, so why not sell sex toys too?” According to the employee, Spar sold quite a lot of sex toys in the first few days. “It’s worth your while.” Colleagues Lotte and Kevin won’t be walking out with a dildo or cockring any time soon. “I work around here, so there’s a good chance a colleague will see me buying a sex toy. I don’t want that. Besides, employees are probably not the target group, either. I’d rather buy something like that online.”

Mark works for Brand Agency, an advertising bureau hired by EasyToys. He is busy organising products on the shelf. He says he is impressed by the reactions he's getting from the students. “They are curious and positive. I heard a guy say to another that he has a similar stroker at home. I wouldn’t dare say it just like that.” 

Student Tarik appreciates that Spar is trying to break a taboo, but he has his doubts about whether it will work: “It’s awkward to buy sex toys here because people you know are around. I don’t know if this will break the taboo in the end.”

This leads to an intense conversation between research assistants Milou and Paulien, who approve of the supermarket's decision, and the students Daan, Niels, Jens and Jasper, who were raised Christian. They say it will take a while to get used to seeing sex toys in the supermarket. A fifth friend had just stormed out of the store, shouting: “You need to stop touching yourselves, bunch of perverts!” After the initial shock, the guys open up for a conversation. “It’s so weird that they are selling this at a supermarket, there are freshmen here!” one of them says.

“Do you have to be 18 years old to have sex? People start masturbating at the age of 14. This is about pleasure, which is a positive thing," the ladies argue. One of the boys replies, honestly: “You don't see this kind of thing in our little village."

Another friend tries to make a connection between the sale of sex toys and the fight against the declining birth rate: “When a woman menstruates, she is ready for pregnancy. But people are having children much later now, so they are trying to reverse that trend. Maybe sex toys can help with that.”

Milou and Paulien are critical: “In the end, it’s all about pleasure.” 

They are not impressed by the argument presented by one of the students, that children could be exposed to sex because of the sex toy sheld. “Do you see kids around here often? Well, it doesn’t matter anyway, they don’t know what these things are.” The boys have to laugh  about that too: “Maybe they’d think they’re lightsabers.”