Twenty-five years ago, Evanston native Searah Deysach was at a crossroads and realized she needed to shake up her professional life.
Deysach had done a pastry program and worked in kitchens for a while before she “boomeranged back to working in an office at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).” She had already gotten her BFA from SAIC and was pursuing a graduate degree in fiber and material studies. Her goal was to become an artist or teacher; however she dropped out and opened an intersectional feminist, sex-positive sex shop for everyone called Early to Bed instead.
When Deysach opened Early to Bed in 2001 she became the first woman and first queer woman sex toy shop owner in Chicago.
“It feels pretty wild to be honest to hold this title,” said Deysach. “I came into this industry not knowing anything about running a business or the sex toy industry at all, but I was so lucky to have immediate support from my queer community and from women all over Chicago who were looking for a store like the one that I created.”
Just before Deysach opened Early to Bed, she was in a sex toy discovery process. She was unhappy about the store choices in Chicago, and decided to “make the store I want to go to.”
Deysach was already comfortable speaking about sex and “had a real interest in the products and excitement about the industry,” so owning a sex toy shop “where I was helping people find joy” was a natural fit for her.
Early to Bed is currently located in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood at 5138 North Clark Street down the street from her last job at Kopi Café. The store has had two other locations over the years.
“It is so amazing to be part of such a vibrant community full of independent stores, queer people and a really robust and supportive Chamber of Commerce,” said Deysach. “I can’t imagine being anywhere else in the city.”
What made Early to Bed unique in its early days was Deysach’s decisions to take the toys out of the packages “so each item has a tester you could turn on and see how it worked” and have both workshop events and a mission statement centered on sex positivity. She has strived to create a safe, friendly, low stress and comfortable environment for people to peruse the store’s products.
Early to Bed isn’t Deysach’s only foray into the sex positivity business. She was a sex columnist for the now defunct Punk Planet and Ms. Fit Magazines, and wrote her own blog called “Screwy Sex Toys” about the ridiculous aspects of the sex toy world.
Deysach said she got the opportunity to write for Punk Planet in the early 2000s because she was “close friends with the editor Dan Sinker, who was one of my strongest champions in opening Early to Bed. He even purchased our domain name for me as a birthday present at least a year or two before the store was open.”
Due to Deysach’s role in the community she has gotten numerous opportunities to “spread the good word about sex toys and masturbation in some pretty unique and wonderful ways. I’ve been on stage at Lincoln Lodge doing semi-comedy bits back in the day, as well as spoken about the work I’ve done for a ‘creative mornings’ event and been invited to answer questions for Dan Savage’s podcast.”
Additionally, Deysach has invited “some of my sex-world heroes” to speak at Early to Bed, including Betty Dodson, whom she calls the “grandmother of feminist masturbation”; writer and sex educator Tristan Taormino; and “fetish-diva” Midori, among others. She co-sponsored an event with Nina Hartley and worked with Annie Sprinkle, Madison Young and others in the adult entertainment world. Deysach said they are “some of the kindest, most loving, delightful people I have come across in my life.”
When Deysach isn’t working, she spends time with her wife of 11 years, Dawne, whom she met in 1998 when they were both grad students; their 16-year-old daughter, who likes to live an anonymous life; and their pet bunny, that she thinks “might be one of the oldest living rabbits on the planet.”
One thing Deysach wants people to remember, especially in these fraught political times when people’s rights are under attack, is that “pleasure is revolutionary. Taking time to find solace in your own pleasure or sharing pleasure with another person is a big fuck you in the best way to a government that is trying to restrict our access to peace and quality of life.”
