To some women, the sound of a vibrating toothbrush or razor creates a Pavlovian response, generating sudden flashbacks of a recent night spent in personal pleasure.

Passion Parties are the younger, kinkier cousin of the Tupperware party, where toys for both sexes are displayed to emphasize partner play and experimentation in a safe environment. A host brings female friends into her home to have a consultant sell products to boost passion and experimentation in the bedroom.

Micah Card, a twenty-two-year-old SF State women's studies major, makes her living selling sex toys to women through Passion Parties, a fifteen-year-old company that sells, educates, and creates an open space for women to talk about sex. But it is more than selling the newest, strongest buzzing toy that gets Micah off. To Micah, who has been an independent contractor for nine months, it is about empowering women. "With every party I want to create one more space for women to be comfortable and feel free," Micah explains.

At a recent Passion Party, Micah starts her pitch to four college-aged women in a small one-bedroom Sunset apartment. "Passion Parties is a women-run and owned company operated for women," Micah tells them. "It is about empowering yourself. Things that taste good, we're gonna taste. Things that smell good, we're gonna smell. And things that buzz, we're gonna feel."

The party is off to a great start, and Micah has created a warm and inviting atmosphere for women to feel, play, and share with their friends. Moving from scented bath products to flavored goodies, and items of all sizes and textures, Micah keeps a calm and entertaining demeanor. With amazing one-liners like, "[It] feels like a Tic Tac on the clit" and "Someone smells like petty theft--oh it's my mom!" Micah loosens the crowd and starts to please the senses with her plethora of aromatic and edible products. As the host talks up a product, clients mark an order form where they can later, in private, place an order for the toys they want to have discreetly shipped to them.

The pleasure Micah gets from Passion Parties is infinite. As an independent contractor, she is her own boss and only orders the supplies from the company. Her entrance into the business began after she was declined a student loan for her last year at SF State and asked her mother's best friend to sponsor her and guide her in becoming a contractor.

"I needed to make money, but that is not why I chose this business. I didn't just want to work at the mall, I wanted a job that was fulfilling and had an overlap with my major. It's a special company, and all about women and how to succeed financially as well as sexually."

At first, it was hard for Micah to deliver sales pitches and she felt that she was doing a bad job, but eventually she realized that she was her own boss and had nothing to fear. The total time she spends on a single party is about six hours, but it is a task that Micah has come to love, feeling proud after every party that she is a businesswoman and creating a space for women to be open about their sexuality.

"It is exciting to see girls buying their first vibrators, to see their excitement. They are about to discover something amazing about themselves and are going to impact themselves and their relationships for the rest of their lives," Micah asserts.

Micah's hard work running her own business is an enormous task that her friends and family have helped her with. Her mother is open and will go to parties, while her father--who prefers not to know about the products--is more than willing to help with the marketing side.

"Most people see it as 'Micah owns a business,' not 'Micah runs a sex shop,'" Micah says.

Micah hopes that women will become more open with their sexuality and have safe
places to talk about it with their friends. She knows that by consulting at a Passion Party and starting the communication process, she is taking the first step in some women's lives to help create a space for them to talk. What started out as a way to pay for college, has led to independence in sexual freedom, intimacy, and business.