× Expand Photos by Melany Willis Willow Rosen and Sarah Michaelson, founders of Box, the new sex resource store on Cherokee Street.

The first scheduled event at Box, the sex store opening this summer on Cherokee Street, is actually about not having sex.

Called “The ‘No’ Workshop: How to Say It and How to Take It,” the workshop lets participants role play with rejection by taking turns saying, “No!” to a variety of offers ranging from the innocuous (“May I call you sometime?”) to the explicit. (The Facebook event page warns, it “may not be an exercise for the prudish.”)

The workshop, like the store itself, goes beyond the bump ‘n’ grind, broadening the discussion around sexuality into a nuanced, inclusive look into the many ways that sex intersects with our personal lives.

“Our store is about how to be healthy with your sexuality and how to make decisions that are best for you,” says Sarah Michaelson, a midwife and Box’s co-founder. “It’s about making decisions around your body instead of allowing other people to define what actions you are going to take or what discoveries you’re going to make.”

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Besides hosting workshops and support groups, Box will sell supplies and accessories for St. Louis’ sexually adventurous, including high-quality toys made of silicone, wood, metal, glass, ceramic, and stone, as well as art, stickers, and patches designed by local artists, according to co-founders Michaelson and Willow Rosen, a student midwife who moved to St. Louis from Cleveland in August.

But what really sets Box apart from the typical seedy sex shop is it’s focus on inclusivity. The store’s mission is to cater to people “who are often invisible or fetishized in conversations around sex,” such as people with developmental disabilities or transgender people.

× Expand Photos by Melany Willis “When Sarah and I go out, we hear people talking about Box, and they don’t know who we are."

Michaelson says her sister, who has a developmental disability, inspired her comprehensive approach to sexuality education.

“People were terrified of talking to her about sex, telling her about her body, even the anatomy of her own body,” Michaelson says about her sister, who has a genetic disorder that causes non-cancerous tumors on nerve tissue but is capable of having a healthy sex life. “Her sexuality is supposed to be more hidden when, in fact, she’s way more open about talking about sex than I ever was.”

With its focus on diversity and self-expression, Box will fit well in its new digs on a popular corner of Cherokee Street, at Ohio Avenue. Next door, bartenders at The Whiskey Ring have already been talking up their new neighbors to patrons, and Bespoke, the custom clothing store across the street, is making corsets for display and sale in the new store.

“The neighborhood is really open to any kind of new and interesting ways to bridge art and counseling and community support networks,” says Michaelson.

Michaelson and Rosen started an Indiegogo fundraiser for $10,000 to help with initial costs, especially their $15,000 initial inventory budget. Catering to a diverse clientele means investing in a wide range of specialized toys and accessories.

“The fundraiser is mainly to help us get the range of stock and inventory we’d like to get and to have that padding that is inevitably needed for the unexpected adventures in small business,” says Rosen.

Michaelson and Rosen hope to open Box in July, fulfilling their dream of building a sex-positive resource store in St. Louis. The unique idea is already drawing plenty of buzz.

“When Sarah and I go out, we hear people talking about Box, and they don’t know who we are,” Rosen says.

Rosen remembers breaking into tears when she told her father they’d found a storefront and telling him, “We’re going to do wonderful things.”