Well, that post title should get some search traffic, eh? 😉 No, it’s not Pam Anderson and it’s not anything pornographic. It’s Pam Spaulding who writes the blog Pam’s House Blend and she’s writing about the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a challenge to Alabama’s ban on selling of sex toys.
Pam’s House Blend: Guess if you’re in Alabama and need a vibe, you better do it mail order or over the internets. 🙂 I’m still trying to figure out how the exemptions are defined. Is a strap-on ever used for law enforcement purposes? No, I don’t want to know. Paging Roy Moore…
(AP): The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday a constitutional challenge to an Alabama law that makes it a crime to sell sex toys. The high court refused to hear an appeal by a group of individuals who regularly use sexual devices and by two vendors who argued the case raised important issues about the scope of the constitutional right to sexual privacy.
The law prohibited the distribution of ‘any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.’ First-time violators can face a fine of up to $10,000 and as much as one year in jail.
The law, adopted in 1998, allowed the sale of ordinary vibrators and body massagers that are not designed or marketed primarily as sexual aids. It exempted sales of sexual devices ‘for a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial or law enforcement purpose.’
Georgia and Texas are the only other states that restrict the distribution of sexual devices, according to the court record in the case.
I wonder how Georgia, Texas, and Alabama feel about the unregulated sale of cucumbers and bananas. Well, I guess they are not primarily sold as sexual aids, so it’s OK.
I wonder if adult shops could sell likelike latex penises under the guise of medical demonstration devices for instruction on proper condom use, along with explicit warnings on the product: for medical demonstration purposes only, not intended for the stimulation of human genital organs. (Sort of like how headshop owners sell bongs as “waterpipes” with warnings “for tobacco use only”.) Oh, wait, we’re talking about Georgia, Texas, and Alabama… they don’t want to educate anyone on proper condom use.
I wonder if a shop could market itself as selling vibrators for livestock. These items only intended to stimulate non-human genital organs.
I wonder what the legislative, judicial, or law enforcement purpose could be for the use of a dildo. I imagine a congressman or judge banging the Jeff Stryker Replica Cock like a gavel to open a session. And what about the law enforcement use of a dildo? I guess it’s so the Alabama, Texas, and Georgia police won’t have to soil their broom handles and toilet plunger handles anymore during interrogations like the NYPD.
The truly maddening thing about all of this is that it is not illegal to possess or use the items in question, only illegal to sell them. What exactly is the crime here? Persuading others to have orgasms? Contributing to so-called “moral decay” by insinuating that sex might be something enjoyable aside from it’s procreative function? No, what it is really about is that uptight neo-Puritans don’t want an adult shop in their neighborhood, because in their mind, despite any evidence, adult shops lead to more crime and perverts in their neighborhood.
I’m always fascinated by the unhealthy American fear and loathing of sex. In my mind, it’s the second most embarrassing feature of American culture (second to our ingrained racism).
