"Ignacio Sergio Acosta, a clerk at Trixx Adult Bookstore in El Paso, was arrested in 2003 for selling a vibrator to two undercover police officers. "

Is it weird that I kind of feel sorry for the cops? I'm just imagining two cops who've grown up wanting to join the police force, to protect and to serve and to catch bad guys and prevent them from hurting people. They're assigned to...what, vice? I guess, and they're thinking "This is it--I'm gonna go undercover and bust a drug dealer, or break up a prostitution ring!" And then they get the assignment: "What? You want me to...go buy a vibrator? Really? Like, I have to go undercover and everything? To...bust a vibrator-seller? Oh...OK. I guess." And then their buddies are all "Oooh, dangerous assignment, McLeary, think you can handle it? Better wear a bullet-proof vest and hope the dealer doesn't suspect a wire! Yeah, this'll make your name on the force..."

Also, can we also assume that they're banning the sale of viagra and porn?

But I thought that this law was not enforced….? I mean I know at least one sex toy store in Houston. It can't possibly be illegal because it’s right there in plain view, and I have personally made purchases there several times.

Rotfl, EG.

A friend of mine just moved to Houston.
I'd better warn him...!

People of Texas! Come to Massachusetts. We're cool with that.

This includes purchasing them online, from outside-of-Texas retailers?

And how do they go about enforcing such things?

This means no one's getting off in Texas.

sojourner,
Its not 'legal' in houston, they're just a little sneaky about it. I asked a guy at a store once about this (the old leather in exile before it closed) and he said they can get away with selling them only if they don't explicity call them sex toys. For instance selling dildos labelled as "safe sex instructional devices" for learning how to put condoms on and such. They get away with it because of the use of the word "primarily" in the law.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/2/164731/413

This means no one's getting off in Texas.
Posted by: nonwhiteperson

Thats probably why they are all bitchy.

For those of you who haven't purchased sex toys in Texas: a lot of shops get around the law by affixing a label that says "For novelty use only. Not to be inserted into body." Or somesuch. Last time I was in Austin, I bought one just for the label. Freakin' hilarious.

11-minute documentary on this ridiculousness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYXUUsDGxkU

My favorite part: "Oh, that's a butt plug."

this is amazing. i'm posting it immediately.

Thanks, Vervain!

I just noticed that the ban is on devices "designed or marked as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs."

So...it would be legal to buy a vibrator designed for chimpanzee genitals? Or for your pet dog?

Thats probably why they are all bitchy.

It's still the men's and lawmakers' fault.

Wow, didn't know I was breaking the law. How do I dispose of this contraband? I suppose I should take it to the local police station and hand it over...

Maybe they have a corresponding increase in cucumber sales???

Wow. I wonder what would happen if someone launched a campaign to completely inundate some police offices with sex toys, "turning in the contraband" and whatnot?

"Maybe they have a corresponding increase in cucumber sales???

Pissing myself! (laughing, that is)

Yet another reason to despise Texas, but not quite up there with execution of innocent people, or being the staging area for the Bush presiduncey. Somehow, I think this brief prayer (last question, scroll down) is appropriate here.

My dear Texans, just get the Hitachi wand! It's a massager! Really!

Texas' new slogan:
Don't mess with yourself in Texas

"Yet another reason to despise Texas"
Oh come on people! You mean it is worse than Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Montana, Ohio, Kansas, South Dakota, etc etc.?

It is very easy to buy sex toys in Texas, or at least in Houston, I have done so several times. There were no funny labels and no body told me I had to be buying it for educational purposes, maybe that was the assumption, I don’t know. It did look like a pennies and it did vibrate (I am referring to the video).

I meant to write "penis" not "pennies".

IIRC vibrators for animals are legal because it is believed to improve the fertility of artifically inseminated cows, mares, etc.

Also if I recall correctly Texas repealed it's beastality law the same year it tried to reinstate the sodomy ban.

So according to lawmakers in Texas

Vibrators for humans = Illegal

Homosexual sex = Wish it was Illegal

Sex acts with animals = Legal