Over the last week there have been some blows to our industry and I’ve been meaning to write about it since I heard. But, as many of you may know, the last week was also a busy one for this industry, with Valentine’s Day and all, so it has taken me until now.

In an unanimous decision, three judges from the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an Alabama statute which banned the commercial distribution of sex toys saying that the plaintiff, an adult toy retailer, had no fundamental right to privacy.

No fundamental right to privacy?

I can’t even begin to explain how much this frustrates me… or what frustrates me more- that the decision was unanimous or that what they are “upholding” is so against everything we are working for. I firmly believe in pleasure being our birthright and in each person’s right to sexploration. It makes no sense to me that a persons access to vibrators and nipple clamps could not be protected as right to privacy.

I know people will laugh this off as being an Alabama issue. But it’s not. It’s about oppression and shame and fear - - all of which exist in every state.

Case in point – Pink & White Productions ( the creative minds behind The Crash Pad and SuperFreak) new release, In Search of the Wild Kingdom, was set to premiere at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco. That is until the owner abruptly changed her mind offering no explanation. This is all within her right, as the owner, but I still feel the deeper impetus for this has to do with fear, shame and oppression. She said she had gotten complaints from the community. This from a theatre that has been a venue for many independent film festivals – even for Frameline, the annual San
Francisco Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender film festival.

Sometimes I agree with the people who have said I’m too idealistic. But that is the exact quality that makes me always believe that the glass is half full.

Good Vibrations being in this world as a positive force of sex positivity and sexploration is each persons fundamental right. Not only do I believe we all have the right to buy vibrators and have great sex, but I also believe we have the right to watch porn… even in public venues - - an event that I think helps normalize adult films therefore removing some of the fear, shame and oppression associated with them.

What a frustrating week.

Recently:

Give me an E - N - D - A … and Puhlease with a “T” !!!
Sex in Public
A Gay Debate…literally