Monday, October 08, 2007

Bad vibrations

A Southern Baptist minister friend sent me this link to a story this weekend:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVTk0RxEEvO0n78b2XK1H8vSPXiQD8S0L3FO1

It turns out that in addition to not hearing the two church/state cases I wrote about last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court also declined to hear a case about whether its constitutional to prohibit the sale of sex toys in Alabama. Their action means the law now says it is illegal to sell vibrators in Alabama, as well as Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas.

Now, to be clear, the law doesn't prohibit one from owning or using a sex toy in those states, or from selling a medical device (think back massager) that could be used for some other, ie, non-sexual, purpose. It's just selling anything that has an exclusive purpose of sexual pleasure, specifically genital pleasure.

I admit I haven't read the court documents on the case, and I certainly understand why the Justices might not have wanted to issue opinions about it (I'll leave it to Jon Stewart or SNL to take a shot at Judge Thomas' likely response) -- but I don't get it.

How can selling guns that kill people be legal when vibrators are not?



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like nobody wants to touch this post?? Hmmm.

I read elsewhere that "Alabama controls the sale of sex toys because the legislature believes they promote a “prurient interest in autonomous sex” through “the pursuit of orgasms by artificial means.” I have no way of verifying that allegation by another blogger, but I have no doubt that politicians are quite capable of such a line of reasoning. And I'll bet Senator Craig was nowhere near that decision making body. :>)

Unknown said...

i agree about guns and vibes...
searching for answers and church leaders are not capable in leading. finding answers becomes even harder.