The lawyer who sells sex toys

One can’t avoid having mixed feelings while waiting to interview Beverley Munga. The thought that was running through my mind was what line of questioning I was going to pursue. This was not happening because she is a lawyer, or a Vibrating Lawyer as she calls herself online, but because of her business of openly selling sex toys. “I never thought that the business would have been going strong four years later,” she says, without batting an eyelid, and with a straight face. Before I ask another question, I could tell she won’t bat an eyelid while answering any uncomfortable questions. She came back home in 2012 from the United Kingdom. Armed with two Masters Degrees in law, it can be said, she had options in her journey to a good life. Her friends, her family and other people in her life expected her to set up a law firm and hit the ground running – running after clients, and walking in and out of courtrooms. But that did not happen. She took a totally different path. Probably ascribing to the New World’s message that sex sells. she decided to start a business of selling sex toys in Nairobi. “I looked around and saw friends running businesses such as boutiques and i figured that I could venture into business,” she says. As her mind went into overdrive, contemplating suitable options, her thought trailed back to the time she was in second year at the University of Nottingham. “That was the first time I ever thought of selling sex toys,” she says. It came in the backdrop of a new culture. It may not have been a hard landing settling into a London life, but she admits, the liberalism astounded her. And also appealed to her. She had a deep longing for freedom. “In London, no one really cares what you do with your choices. Your sexuality is your business. People buy sex toys from shops much the same way we buy bread in Kenya,” she says. It mesmerised her. It was at such moments that she contemplated bringing a piece of London to Kenya. “I told myself, ‘I have never seen sex toys sold in Nairobi: what if I started such a venture?’” She had never used them herself. But what peaked her interest was that the candour around selling and buying them neither attracted blank stares nor scorn. The sex toy business, she admits, was supposed to be “a onetime thing.” “There was the curiosity of how the Kenyan market would behave. But at the heart of my ambition, I wanted to make profits,” she says. When her first order landed at JKIA, she fretted. Will anyone buy? What will people say? Will there be trouble? But all the trepidation would turn into jubilation for the then 27-year old. “Within three weeks, that first batch was sold out. I was not expecting that. That told me Kenyans wanted these products but were probably hiding behind conservatism,” she says. The second, third, fourth and fifth batches arrived and customers promptly placed orders. “I did door-to-door deliveries myself,” she says. “My customers ranged from your average girl on the streets to a married couple in Kileleshwa.” It has been four years and Beverley, despite initially hoping to stop after a while, has stayed put with the business. Her aim, she says, contrary to what many may believe, is to offer options “for couples who want that elusive pizzazz” in the bedroom. Running the toy business has meant that Beverley encloses herself within impervious layers – so tough that neither hateful messages nor online abuse can permeate. “I stopped caring about what critics thought of me. That is because I am conducting a legal business that is only different because I sell sex toys,” she says. The 31-year old however gets hurt by online trolls whose posts link her to prostitution. Some call her out for ‘wasting her parents’ money abroad only to come back and sell sex toys’. “I won’t lie to you, there are moments I questioned what I was doing, but I got really proud when a 61-year old woman, who had never had an orgasm, came back and thanked me for selling her a product. “The sad story of a woman whose husband suffered from diabetes and the couple needed some help made me realise that I was contributing to people’s happiness,” Beverley says. This Valentine’s Day, had she been dating, she would have gone out with her boyfriend to have a good time. She will however be busy making deliveries. Valentine’s, she says, is Christmas for her business – when couples go shopping. “February is the busiest month for the business,” she says. “So, I will make sure all my clients have what they ordered.” She will then take herself out to have lunch and a drink, all by herself, then head home to spend time with her dogs, in front of the TV watching one of her Shonda Rhymes series – Grey’s Anatomy or Scandal. She won’t be going back home to a husband or children. Beverley is at a point where she does not feel like settling down or even having children. “I knew that I didn’t want to get married at 14. All I thought of was becoming Martha Karua or Njoki Ndung’u or Wangari Maathai – women who fought for women’s rights,” she says. “In all sincerity, unless I feel something different, marriage and children are not what I am looking for. But let’s see what the future holds,” she says. “Why?” I ask. Beverley can’t quite put a finger on it. She however says there are several things, that she has experienced over the years, that have contributed to her decision against family life. “I have had some bad experiences with men,” she says. “I once dated a man who pulled dreadlocks off my scalp because he was jealous. Maybe such experiences have something to do with it.” She can’t forfeit her freedom. She wants to come home at 3 in the morning and not explain why.