BDSM MEDIA NEWS!!!!
December 14, 2012
Wicked Wanda’s screens S & M display behind cardboard barrier
Source: Ottawacitizen.com. - Ottawa Citizen - Canada
CANADA - OTTAWA - Sex shop owner Wanda Cotie wants Ottawa to understand the context behind her store’s controversial S & M display.
Wicked Wanda’s Adult Emporium became a target for criticism and discussion last week after it unveiled a front window display featuring leather-clad Barbie dolls in provocative poses.
Dolls of both genders are used to depict scenes of whipping and bondage in the store window.
Resident Shannon Lee Mannion complained about the display to Councillor Diane Holmes and other community organizations, concerned that it “overstepped the bounds of propriety.”
Coties said the display has now been partially hidden from view by cardboard. The dolls and their props are arranged on a miniature stage, and now only the top two figures are visible. It was covered to a height of five feet, which Cotie said was a response to the fear that small children might see.
Cotie stressed that the store did not mean to offend anyone, but rather wanted to promote discussion.
“I didn’t sit there planning how to shock Bank Street,” she said Wednesday.
The display was created Dec. 2 by a Wicked Wanda customer who has a fetish for dressing up Barbie dolls, Cotie said.
“She asked me if she could do an installation in the window.”
The work was done for free, Cotie said, and she approved it the next day.
Cotie said the display was based off the popular fan-fiction novel Fifty Shades of Grey.
Cotie said much of the misunderstanding about the content of the display comes from a lack of knowledge about its purpose.
“It’s not about hurting somebody. It’s about negotiation, communication, and sharing with your partner.”
The sex shop owner said there are many people who like the display.
“So far 95 per cent of what’s been out there (about the display) has been positive,” she said.
As for concerns that the display represents violence against women, Cotie said that the display featured several women in dominant positions.
The sex shop owner also said although she is reluctant to ask the display’s creator to take it down, she is still open to hearing people’s concerns.
“They can call by phone,” she said. “They can also contact us through the website.”
“I’m a single mother,” Cotie said. “I’ve raised three daughters (…) and they’re all healthy normal children.”
“I push the envelope because I have a business that pushes the envelope. If I was selling shoes …”
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