Agarkov, a ruddy, heavy-set man, is the director of Intim, a Moscow salon that has been selling contraceptives and sexual aids for more than two years. A branch was opened a year ago in St. Petersburg, one block away from the Moscow train station. Business has been brisk, but it has not been risqu?.
"The majority of Western stores that disseminate sexual products are oriented toward pornography or sado-masochism," Agarkov said. "Our store is a bit different from Western sex shops in that it is oriented more toward medical help."
Located in the Medical Diagnostic Center for Medicine and Reproduction, a northeast Moscow clinic that offers treatment for sexual problems and infertility, the unobtrusive store is easy to miss. Once inside Intim, however, visitors are not likely to forget what they have seen.
Lining the counters of an outer, dimly lit room are various medical preparations, including "Orgasmus" creme from Germany, a variety of stimulants and medicines to treat potency problems, as well as a shelf for prophylactics. The inner room, where customers pay a small fee to enter, is slightly more provocative. A variety of primarily Dutch-made sexual aids line the shelves, inflatable dolls hang from the walls, and a small rack of women's lingerie stands almost discreetly in a corner.
Scornful giggles are not appreciated at Intim. "This is help for people who are alone," Agarkov said pointedly, adding that the store does not sell pornography or products designed to encourage people with "perversions," as he put it. Children are also strictly forbidden to enter the store, he said.
Agarkov, a sexologist by profession, said his store was one of the first to provide a necessary educational service in Russia, calling it "the first good advertisement for oral contraceptives and protection against AIDS." The store's impressive staying power, he added, was probably due to the unusual help it offers neglected groups like the homosexual community and those suffering sexual problems.
The shop provides a range of educational pamphlets and a range of products appropriate for both homosexuals and people with potency difficulties or performance anxiety. Although he prides himself on the service he provides more marginalized groups, Agarkov said that many of his customers were more traditional male-female couples looking for new ways to explore their sexuality.
While mores in Russia have not relaxed to the point that Intim can openly advertise its wares next to real estate shares and imported furniture in mainstream newspapers, Agarkov said he believes the atmosphere is growing more and more favorable for enterprises like his. As sexual taboos disappear, he predicted, his business will continue to grow.
But business, of course, is secondary to what Agarkov sees as the master plan. "Our aim is not just for it to be easier for people to talk about sex," he said. "We want to train people how to be sexual."
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