Bill would make sale of sex toys illegal in South
Carolina
By SEANNA ADCOX
Associated Press
COLUMBIA - Sugar 'N Spice manager Pat Irons says a proposal to outlaw the
sale of sex toys in South Carolina is outrageous.
But banning the sale of sex toys is actually quite common in some Southern
states.
The South Carolina bill, proposed by Republican Rep. Ralph Davenport, would
make it a felony to sell devices used primarily for sexual stimulation and allow
law enforcement to seize sex toys from raided businesses.
The measure would add sex toys to the state's obscenity laws, which already
prohibit the dissemination and advertisement of obscene materials.
People convicted under obscenity laws face up to five years in prison and a
$10,000 fine.
South Carolina law borrows from a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling to define
obscene as something "contemporary community standards" determine as "patently
offensive" sexual conduct, which "lacks serious literary, artistic, political or
scientific value."
While Davenport's proposal is probably aimed at shutting down X-rated adult
bookstores, Irons said, it hurts customers of "couples-oriented" stores such as
her West Columbia shop, which sells everything from lingerie to bridal shower
novelties to lotions.
At Sugar 'N Spice, sex toys are displayed in a separate room. Buyers include
men and women who "need a little help" because surgery or medical problems are
affecting their marriage, Irons said.
"We've been selling these sex toys for 27 years," she said Friday. "Even
pastors shop in here. They send couples in here they counsel for marriage
problems. It's probably going to hit people like that harder than people
realize."
Davenport, from Spartanburg County, did not return several messages Friday to
talk about his bill, which was introduced last month. No other legislator has
signed on as a co-sponsor, and its passage this year seems unlikely.
Recent police raids in Davenport's county have targeted adult-oriented
businesses.
The sheriff's office there seized movies, sex toys, sexual-enhancement pills
and surveillance tapes from two businesses in January.
One of the stores, Priscilla's, sued the sheriff's office, claiming the raid
violated constitutional rights and asked for the return of the seized items.
Sheriff Chuck Wright refused.
The case has not yet gone to trial, Maj. Dan Johnson said.
Johnson said he knew nothing of Davenport's proposal and was unsure how it
could help their investigations, which involve undercover detectives renting
movies or buying magazines and prosecutors determining whether they're
obscene.
"We're focused on the hard-core magazines, videos ... the hard-core porn," he
said.
Other states that ban the sale of sex toys include Alabama, Georgia,
Mississippi and Texas, said Mark Lopez, an attorney for the American Civil
Liberties Union.
Alabama's law banning the sale of sex toys has been circulating through the
courts since its passage in 1998. U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith Jr. twice
ruled against the law, holding that it violated the constitutional right to
privacy, but the state won both times on appeal.
In February 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, which is
back in the lower courts.
"People think it's distasteful. It makes for good campaign fodder and panders
to the conservative side of people. That's why we see the laws in the South,"
Lopez said.
The ACLU got involved in the case, he said, to "keep the government out of
the bedroom."
Though the laws don't punish people for owning sex toys, banning their sale
is a backdoor attempt to discourage their use, Lopez said.
"People have a fundamental right to engage in lawful sexual practices in the
privacy of their home," Lopez said. "It's not like this stuff is available in
Macy's."
