LoveLife Plus - Sex education bravehearts

0UR SEX & LOVING BRAVEHEARTS		LoveLife Plus exists to assist ordinary women and men to enjoy their human sexuality and to benefit from the health effects of sexual expression. In this 21st century, we acknowledge the ongoing struggle of sex educators to reach people with constructive and educational information which enables them to achieve their sexual potential. This section salutes those who have been before us - blazing the sex education trail - and relating their stories and lessons learnt to inform our own efforts.
A tribute to BEATE UHSE A recent visit to Germany provides us with our first in this series of Sex Education Champions.
	The Erotica Museum in Berlin is a legacy to the work of BEATE UHSE - a household name in Germany and Europe generally, and a "brand" that is recognised by 98% of the German population - more widely known than Bosch or Nivea or Daimler Chrysler. The Beate Uhse Company Today in Germany and Europe, the Beate Uhse public company is phenomenally successful - with 80 shops across Germany selling sex toys and erotica and 1100 employees. In the first six months of 2004 Beate Uhse recorded a global turnover of EUR135.7 million - a rise of 5.5 per cent compared with the same period in 2003 (Beate Uhse Deutschland AG Annual Report, August 12, 2004).
The company expects further expansion of profits through innovation, the purchasing and the power of the Beate Uhse brand and through the marketing of Mae B., the new erotica shop line specifically targeting women. New outlets have recently opened in Amsterdam, Poland and in shopping centres and airports throughout Germany. Around 14 million mail order catalogues are sent out in Europe and the USA every year. The Beate Uhse pay TV channel has a rapidly expanding number of erotica fans with 20 per cent more viewers subscribing in the past year. History of Beate Uhse Beate Uhse's commitment to sex education began during the Second World War. Chronology of Events: October 25, 1919 Beate was born in Eastern Germany. Her mother was one of the first five women doctors in Germany; her father a landowner. 1935 Beate leaves school at 16 and becomes a pilot 1939 Beate marries Uhse - a pilot with the Luftwaffe 1944 Beate's husband dies in a night fighter mission; Beate is left with a young son. She gets a job in an airplane factory delivering planes to military warehouses. 1945 Beate steals a military plane and on a last flight out of Berlin and with her 2 yr old son and his nanny, flees to Flensburg. In the years immediately after the war, Beate is overwhelmed by the social impact on families of soldiers returning home to unemployment and poverty --- and the inevitable pregnancies caused by the lack of contraception and birth control information. She produces booklets on the rhythm method of contraception (which she calls Script X) and sold these together with contraceptives and sex aids. 1949 Beate starts a mail order company in Flensburg with the objective of "Matrimonial Hygiene". She contracts a rubber factory to make condoms and other products. 1962 Beate opens the first German sex shop - the Institution for Marital Hygiene and starts a film production company making films, which provide information on healthy sexuality. Between 1960s and 1980s, 3000 legal cases are brought against her by people trying to prevent her business from operating. She wins all but one of the cases. 1981 Beate brings her three sons into the company and the slogan changes to "More pleasure in Love". 1999 Beate's company goes public on the German Stock Exchange. The new slogan is "Increased Sensual Pleasure". 2001 Beate Uhse dies in Switzerland aged 81. Beate was quoted as saying, "Not everyone that makes music at home is a concert virtuoso. That holds for husbands and spouses. I'm there to teach them a little."

Last updated 3 February, 2007