By Anna Guido
Enquirer contributor

DOWNTOWN - In a room with about 170 women, you could have heard a pin drop.

Up front, Patty Brisben showcased her new product line to the rapt attention of consultants in training for her firm, Pure Romance.

The Milford-based company sells what it calls "bedroom accessories" - or what some people would call sex toys.

SEX ED FOR ADULTS

How do companies like Pure Romance affect public health? Pure Romance requested a study several months ago with researchers at Indiana University in Bloomington to answer this and other questions. The company didn't pay for the study, which will take another two years to complete, but it did contribute $15,000 to $20,000 to IU. The focus of the research partnership is to determine how the adult retail industry can play a positive role in the sexual health of the community. "Preliminary studies show that businesses like this are reaching a unique segment of American women in ways that we as sex educators and public health professionals have never been able to do," said Michael Reece, a professor of public health at IU and director of the sexual health research working group at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. Assisting Reece in the study is Debby Herbenick, a sex educator at the Kinsey Institute, which is one of the nation's leading sex research organizations.

Business is booming. Sales in 2002 were $20 million. Last year, Pure Romance sales reached more than $30 million, and this year's sales are projected to reach $40 million.

"Yeah, look out Hustler," Brisben, a single mother of four told the crowd as they cheered and laughed over her products.

More than 700 women from 40 states were at the Hyatt Regency Cincinnati Friday for the company's annual training, which ends Sunday.

"My dream was to help women break through the stereotyping of their sexuality, learn about their bodies and become their own role model," Brisben said.

Recognized by FemPreneur magazine this year as the No.1 female entrepreneur, Brisben has overseen employee and sales growth averaging 62 percent a year for the past four years.

She started the company in 1993 and sold nearly $500,000 worth of Pure Romance products - most of which are manufactured in the United States for her company.

Pure Romance has 50 employees at its Milford offices and more than 4,000 independent consultants nationwide.

Chris Cicchinelli, the company's executive vice president and Brisben's oldest son, said one reason business is thriving is its sales approach.

The in-home "party" style of selling to female customers offers a more comfortable setting in what has typically been a male-dominated industry, Cicchinelli said.

Consultant Kim Webb said this is often the case with her clients. "The majority of women who come to my parties walk away thanking me for showing them how to be comfortable with their own bodies," she said.

Webb, a former Cincinnati resident who now lives in Tucson, was in town for training. She said she switched careers (she used to work in property management) to help bring balance and more money into her life.

Webb works a flexible 20-hour-a-week schedule and earns an average $3,200 a month.

Brisben got into the business for many of the same reasons. Before starting Pure Romance, she worked for 10 years as a consultant for a California-based bedroom accessories company. When that company closed, Brisben ventured out on her own.

"I really didn't know what I was getting involved in," she said. "But I knew it was going to be a long process because of all of the taboos.

"I just never realized I was going to take it to this level."

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