Editing Sex toy (section)

===United States===
{{see also|Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act|Texas obscenity statute}}
Sex toys and lubricants have become increasingly available in major commercial outlets in the United States. On-shelf displays tend to be more discreet than the offerings on web sites. These items tend to be displayed in the "sexual health" sections of stores.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/110965|title=Sex Aids on Retail Shelves|website=[[Newsweek]]|date=13 February 2008|access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref>

Until recently, many [[U.S. Southern states|Southern]] and some [[Great Plains|Great Plains states]] banned the sale of sex toys completely, either directly or through laws regulating "obscene devices".<ref>{{cite web | title = Lingere Store Accused of Violating State Obscenity Laws | publisher = KBCD.com | url = http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=6554592&pass=1&nav=3w6y | access-date = 2007-09-28 | archive-date = 2015-07-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150704134651/http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=6554592&pass=1&nav=3w6y | url-status = dead }}</ref> In 1999, [[William H. Pryor, Jr.]], an assistant attorney general in [[Alabama]] commenting on a case involving sex toys and discussing to what end the devices are used, was quoted as saying there is no "fundamental right for a person to buy a device to produce [[orgasm]]". A federal appeals court upheld Alabama's law prohibiting the sale of sex toys on Valentine's Day, 2007.<ref>Rawls, Phillip. [https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-01-2390404063_x.htm Court leaves Ala. sex toy ban intact], USA Today, Oct 1, 2007</ref>

In February 2008, a federal appeals court overturned a [[Texas]] statute banning the sales of sex toys, deeming such a statute as violating the Constitution's 14th Amendment on the right to privacy.<ref>{{cite web| title = Appeals court overturns Texas ban on sex toys | date = 14 February 2008 | publisher = NBC News | url = https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23155562 | access-date = 2008-02-14 }}</ref> The appeals court cited ''[[Lawrence v. Texas]]'', where the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in 2003 struck down bans on consensual sex between gay couples, as unconstitutionally aiming at "enforcing a public moral code by restricting private intimate conduct".  Similar statutes have been struck down in [[Kansas]] and [[Colorado]].

[[Marty Klein]], author of ''America's War on Sex'' and an advocate for the moral value of sex toys, has described the sex toy bans as a form of [[erotophobia]] and [[genophobia]], claiming the "extraordinary erosion of personal liberty, coupled with the massive disrespect of and fear of sexuality is no joke" and that the "Supreme Court [of the United States] has declared our orgasms a battlefield, and sex toys another casualty."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Holthouse|first=David|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005085548/http://www.damemagazine.com/features/f261/AlabamavsDildos.php?Page=2|url=http://www.damemagazine.com/features/f261/AlabamavsDildos.php?Page=2|archive-date=5 October 2009|title=Alabama vs. Dildos: Attorney General Troy King stands hard against stimulators|magazine=Dame Magazine|access-date=7 June 2017}}</ref>