Bad Vibrations: Where Dildos Still Get You Hard Time

Most recently, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Texas law prohibiting the sale or promotion of sex toys violated the right to privacy by the 14th amendment. But this was not before a well publicized enforcement of the ban. In 2003, Joann Webb, a Chamber of Commerce member, wife, and mother of three, was arrested for selling vibrators to two undercover cops at a Passion Party in Texas; her case was dismissed after an eight-month legal battle.

Webb’s story is profiled in Passion and Power: The Technology of Orgasm, a documentary that tracks the origination of the vibrator, from its use in women’s medicine to a tool for female empowerment. (Betty Dodson famously quips: “Independent orgasms, I guarantee, will lead you to independent thought.”) It is therefore not surprising that women are at the forefront of protesting the sex toy bans. Alabama sex shop owners Sherri Williams and B.J. Bailey were two plaintiffs in the ACLU case. Nall is sending pigs to politicians and Lisa L. Lawless, founder of the National Association for Sexual Awareness and Empowerment, has assisted both Sherri Williams and Joanne Webb.

And while the sale of Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs is perfectly legal, visitors to sex shops in Alabama can purchase a sex toy only if they sign a waiver stating it’s for a medical purpose. Ironically, the good doctor first used vibrators for just that—inducing hysterical peroxisms (a.k.a orgasms) in women. But at least in the 19th century we didn’t have to sign a waiver.

Photo Source: wokka on flickr (cc)