This absolutely infuriates me. I was raised Catholic in South Louisiana--not exactly a nurturing environment in which to learn about sex and masturbation. It wasn't until I moved out of Louisiana that I found people I could talk to and learn from in regards to masturbation. I was guilted my entire life thinking that I would go to hell just for having impure thoughts. And I can't honestly say that I don't still have some of that guilt today. Therefore, it is frustrating to see courts in this country making the stigma surrounding masturbation and sex even worse. I didn't think I could hate the Supreme Court more than I did, oh, but I do.

True that you can't get sex toys ... and that's a real shame. But I guarantee you -- just about every house features a hand-held multi-pressure Swedish shower device. This from someone whose originally from Alabama, raised in a home with three. Just about anything can be a sex toy. That said, the ban is ridiculous, much like the politics of my (former) home state.

Related question: is it really true that Good Vibes is no longer worker-owned??

I never realized that sex toys were banned in MS. Perhaps, I am saying too much, but I have bought sex toys MS, down on the Gulf Coast. Is it banned throughout the whole state, or just the northern part?

Incitewxriot: Maybe it's the sort of thing where they can sell sex toys but they can't call them sex toys or say that you can use them for anything other than "novelty" purposes. I know in Georgia there are plenty of shops that sell sex toys, but the packaging all says "for novelty use only,"

Alabama does sell sex toys, but they have to be "for novelty use " only. I am embarrassed that my home state feels it has the right to dictate what can be sold to adults. Unfortunately, this is only a small example of ridiculous hypocritical posturing that passes for policy in Alabama.

prof/activist: It was a workers' cooperative until 2006, but no longer. It's now owned by some company in Cleveland.

ugh, i'm originally from dallas and i lived in birmingham for a brief period of time and i'll tell you what, i will never live in a state that bans sex toys again if i can help it.

I live in NY, and anytime I see sex toys, they're always marketed as "novelties," too. Maybe they just don't change the packaging for other state? I kind of just thought that it was universal that "novelty toy" was a euphemism for "sex toy."

Seriously, the south is getting more and more sexually oppresive. And the right says that the court is still not conservative enough, their refusal to hear an appeal about sex toys says how far to the right SOCTUS has really gone.

Are those states gonna ban hands next? (unless those hands are imported or for "novelty" uses, of course)

I live in Augusta, Georgia, one of the bigger cities up there with Atlanta and Savannah, and we have sex stores here. I've never noticed the "for novelty use only." Actually I'm not even sure what that even means. I mean, sticking something in your vag is a pretty "novel" way to use anything, I guess.

A definition of "novel" I found says "useless but entertaining." If sex toys are considered novel, shouldn't sex be considered novel as well? I mean, besides the babies, it doesn't serve a purpose besides pleasure.

alecksander: I really have to disagree. Dildos are very carefully designed for vaginal (or, as the case may be, anal) insertion. It's people in advertisements using them like this (sfw, pretty much) that should be called a "novel use". Nobody designed the things to go there.

See, I don't really understand this. I recently moved from Boston, MA to Waco, TX a few months ago, and right after I got here, my toy died. My boyfriend got on google and we promptly went down to our local porn shop, where we selected a nice toy, among some other stuff. Seriously, I've never seen so much porn in one place at one time in my life. And they had a nice selection of dildos and vibes. How is that shop open if its illegal? I mean, it's not like its hidden or anything. Theres a huge neon "XXX" sign over it so you can't miss it coming off the highway.

Kiss, as a fellow Texan: first, my condolences on your move to Waco. Eeesh. Second, you'll find sexual hypocrisy isn't hard to find down here. The Southern religious right, especially prominent in Waco, has more Larry Craig-types ("do as I say, not as I do") than you can shake a stick at. Of course Waco (and everywhere else) has porn shops selling everything under the sun. People publicly condemn them and then privately give them their business.

Kissedadrunkgrlx, DrkEyedCajn, count yourselves lucky. I'm a Texan, too, but I live in Oklahoma. Which means there are only two types of sex toy shops in town (Priscilla's and Christy's Toy Box), both with pretty much the same limited selection (they seem to take the novelty thing more seriously). Plus, no real porn. Purely Cinemax-style. So if y'all have got selections like that to choose from, enjoy it!

It’s just another example of “family values� pandering conservative politics. All things sexual are condemned, but commerce still trumps everything. Lip service is paid to the “values voters� while it’s business as usual for the sex-shop operators who merely refer to their wares as novelties (or medical devices) rather than sex toys and do their business on the outskirts of town rather than in the local mall.

It’s a win-win-win situation; the “family values� crowd gets the unseemly businesses out of the nice part of town (yet still accessible), the sex shops still make money (much of it off of the “values voters�), and the politician is still supported by both.