Last year, after participating in Gustavus’ performance of the Vagina Monologues, a “vagina not so fun fact” (in my opinion ridiculous fact) stuck with me: Vibrators are not legally sold in all states of the United States. As I was conducting research to remember where specifically the ban on sex-toys still existed, I came across this really neat (and perhaps outdated) entry from a blog entitled Objectify This: The radical notion that people are people.
The blog post (dating back to October, 3rd 2007) mentioned the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear a case challenging Alabama’s ban on the sale of sex toys, and the law’s subsequent upholding. The post includes the reactions of pleasure store owners and also descriptions of how nonsensical it is: the law “does not ban the possession of sex toys… Residents may legally purchase sex toys out of state for use in Alabama, or they may buy sexual devices in Alabama that have a “bona fide medical” purpose.”
Not only was I pulled into the specific post about Alabama’s continued ban on sex toys, I noticed how the blog touches on so many themes from our class: female sexuality, objectification, gender roles, women’s rights, racism, sex, power and politics (all three words were tagged!) The most recent post talks about both the Stupak Amendment and Sarah Palin. Check it out!
The post about Alabama: http://objectifythis.com/?p=163
Objectify This! http://objectifythis.com/
Note: I was unable to find more recent data about the ban, thus I believe we can assume it is still in place for Alabama.