God Bless America!!! In the good ole state of good ole Georgia (and Alabama), you can purchase as many guns and bullets as they want with relatively little hassle, but if a good ole boy (or good ole gal) wants to buy a butt plug, they’re outta luck unless they have a prescription.
Yes, a prescription. From a doctor. For a butt plug.
I am trying to imagine the conversation. “Um, yeah, doc, I’ve been having trouble, um, achieving orgasm vaginally…”
“Oh yes? Have you tried more foreplay?”
“Yeah, it’s not that, I’m lubricated and all, it’s just–”
“Has your partner tried varying his technique?”
“Oh, no problems there, he’s GGG and a real sport, no, it’s just that, well, after my third baby things got a bit, hmm, looser down there and we find it’s just easier if we use a bit more stimulation to the, uh, posterior region, um…oh heck, can you just write me a scrip for a butt plug?”
Now, I am thinking that very few such conversations actually take place, because the fact of the matter is, if some backwoods town in some Southern state requires a doctor’s Rx for what is usually thought of as a sex toy, then discussions of sexual pleasure and how best to achieve it are not going to be very likely occurrences. I am also guessing women’s sexual pleasure is simply seen as not a real top priority.
But the fact of the matter is, in Sandy Springs, Georgia, a town ordinance makes it illegal to buy sex toys without a doctor’s prescription. The Guardian describes one woman’s frustration (get it? frustration?) with the law because, as a sufferer of multiple sclerosis, which can seriously reduce nerve sensation, she can only achieve orgasm with the aid of sex toys.
Wait a minute. SANDY SPRINGS? What the heck, ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THAT NAME? No I am not. Yes, I know it sounds like some crazy ham-handed metaphor for lady’s parts that are undergoing a drought; I mean, Sandy is even a lady’s name! Yes, I know, it’s crazy. But there ya go.
Anywho, the article also explains that sex toys have an interesting history. In fact, the vibrator was essentially invented as a medical instrument to relieve various female complaints associated with infrequent orgasm (the author calls it being “lady crazy”, Freud dubbed it “hysteria” which we now understand is symptomatically similar to “Post traumatic stress disorder”–in men, they used to call it “shell shock” because it was believed the loud noise of exploding artillery caused soldiers to experience these symptoms for years following military service), and I think most doctors born in the last hundred years would agree that sexual release is a healthy part of any adult’s existence, whether achieved with a partner or solo.
So why do these silly Southern states make it their business to deny people a healthy normal sex life? What gives, Georgia? (And Alabama and Louisiana?)
The law in Sandy Springs decrees that sex toys are “obscene material.” Fortunately for reasonable people everywhere, two residents have decided to mount, er, erect, um, INITIATE a lawsuit against the town for preventing them from purchasing these devices. They’re not suing for damages; just for the right to make their own decisions regarding something intimate and personal that is doing no harm to anyone.
A number of articles about the Sandy Springs case make the excellent point that open carry of loaded firearms is legal in most public places, including schools, churches, nightcubs and grocery stores; but the use of sex toys in the privacy of a citizen’s own home is a violation of a specific town ordinance. I am thinking this must be one horrible place to live; but maybe it will become less so if these laws are overturned. Viva Vibrators! Bravo for Butt Plugs!