December 27, 2018 By TheNewYorkNews

We need humor around sexuality, masturbation, masturbatory urges

Did you know that Selling Sex Toys Is Illegal In Alabama?

Let’s talk about anti masturbation phobias: Alabama is the only state in the U.S. that bans the selling and purchasing of vibrators and sex toys.

You may think this is an old reminiscence of ancient 1800′ laws, but it’s quite astonishing the opposite: this new law has been established just since 1998.

We definetly need more humor around sexuality, masturbation, masturbatory urges.

Sherri Williams, the owner of Pleasures, a sex shop in Huntsville, Alabama, refuses to acknowledge the archaic law passed in 1998. In fact, not only has she kept her store in business, but, like a boss, she opened up another drive-thru sex shop in 2010.

Williams does this even though the law states that she could be fined $10,000 and/or imprisoned for one year. Williams has fought the law since 1998, and though she has not gotten it repealed, every day that she keeps her store open is another victory. The sexist aspect of the law is infuriating.

She says:

“Men are outlawing toys designed to help women achieve orgasms.”

On the other hand, as sexologist Dr. Jenn points out, Viagra could not be more easily accessible. The film “Sticky: A (Self) Love Story documentary about masturbation”, reminds us that while vibrators are unlawful, Alabama has some of the most lax gun laws in the country and the second most gun deaths.

This is the same ideology resulting in the #CocksNotGlocks protest currently taking place on a University of Texas campus in response to the fact that guns are allowed on campus while dildos are banned.

Sticky: A (Self) Love Story documentary about masturbation covers this topic, too

While the documentary discusses heavy topics like sexual shame, you find that you can easily keep watching because it somehow remains lighthearted overall.

Nicholas Tana, movie director of Sticky: A (Self) Love Story documentary, declared to the website Bustle:

“This movie is funny, but it’s no joke. Because of the sensitivity of the subject matter, we need humor to get past our fears, and then we can actually have a healthy discussion.”

Religion Never Explicitly Says Anything About Masturbation

Tana, like many Catholics can attest, grew up feeling great shame around his sexuality and masturbatory urges. In the documentary, he speaks to numerous religious leaders affiliated with different faiths, including a priest adamantly against any sexual activity not leading to procreation, and a refreshingly sex-positive rabbi who states that if God didn’t want us to masturbate, he would have given us shorter arms. Rabbi Ron Levine also goes onto explain that not a single sentence in the Old Testament utters anything about masturbation. Rather, Genesis contains a story about a man named Onan who, after marrying his deceased brother’s wife, pulls out before ejaculating during intercourse. This narrative was eventually transformed into some sort of religious declaration against masturbation.

Regarding the begin of the moral and medical panic surrounding masturbation, the film director declared:

“In the documentary, religious scholars and historians both said there is nothing in the Bible that says you cannot masturbate. It only talks about coitus interruptus. They think this guy, Dr. Martin, wrote these pamphlets back then that were anti-masturbation, calling it a sin and selling anti-masturbation medicines. Then the German Encyclopedia of Medicine picked it up and, without any study or research, put it in there like it was a fact.”

 

Want more of The New York New’s articles on Sex and Sexuality? Check out our category list, here, and find more on our archive page.

For more News about Sex and Sexuality, go to our category.

Follow us on our social networks for more updates and other news: official accounts.

---

#interview #AlfredKinsey #BettyDodson #BodyFreedom #Censorship #doublestandard #Ecofeminism #Ecofeminist #ecosexuality #Ecosexuals #environmentalactivism #environmentalactivist #ErikaLust #Eroticliterature #Femalepromiscuity #Feminism #FeministPornAwards #Feministpornography #FeministsAgainstCensorship #FeministsforFreeExpression #FKK #Freeexpression #Freedom #Genderequality #Lesbianism #liberalfeminism #Masturbation #Naked #NinaHartley #Nudism #Nudity #PatrickCalifia #PorYes #prosex #prosexfeminism #sexeducator #Sexwork #Sexworker #sexpositive #Sexpositivefeminism #sexradical #sexradicalfeminism #Sexecology #Sexology #sexualfreedom #Sexualorientation #sexuallyliberalfeminism  #newyorknewstimes #worldnewsandreport #worldnewsarticles #worldnewsdailyreport #worldnewsdigest #worldnewsjournal #worldnewslastweek #worldnewslatest #worldnewsmagazine #worldnewsnetwork #worldnewsonline #worldnewsreport #worldnewsrightnow #worldnewssites #worldnewssources #worldnewswebsites