July 29, 2004

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  11th Circuit Nixes Sex Toys

  
  

  Jonathan Ringel
  Fulton County Daily Report
  07-29-2004
  
  Americans do not have a fundamental right to sexual privacy, a 2-1 decision of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said on Wednesday.
  
  The split panel upheld an Alabama law — nearly identical to one in Georgia — that made the sale of sex toys a crime punishable by up to a year in prison.

  
  

  Senior Judge James C. Hill provided the swing vote in favor of Alabama’s right to prohibit the distribution of “any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs … .”

  
  

  Plaintiffs included six people who used sex devices — some on the advice of therapists as a means to combat depression and improve their marriages. One woman used a device because she suffers from a chronic disability that makes intercourse painful.
  
  Only Georgia and Texas also have bans on sex toys. Shops can survive prosecution if they can prove their products are “for novelty use only.” 
  
  In Georgia a physician may prescribe the use of a sex toy, but the allowance does not apply to a therapist who has only a Ph.D.

  
  

   

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