Sex toys ban has implications for other sectors

SOCIOLOGIST Dr Tye Salandy is uncertain the wider population understands the implications of Section 46 (g) of the Criminal Offences Act. This section of the law is being used to prohibit the importation of sex toys into the country.

In an Newsday article on Friday, courier company Websource, like other courier companies, warned its clients against trying to import banned items which would be seized by the Customs and Excise Division, with adult toys being on the top of the list.

The law states: “Any person who offers for sale or distribution or who exhibits for public view any profane, indecent, or obscene paper, print, drawing, painting or representation may be deemed a rogue and a vagabond and liable to imprisonment for two years.”

Salandy told Newsday the Act also forbids the sale, distribution and exhibition of “indecent content.”

And it does not only affect sex toys, but “a wide range of areas including art galleries, Carnival, cable broadcasters and entertainers.”

While the law is not enforced, at any point it could be, he added. The public, he said, is “vulnerable to however law enforcement interprets “indecent” at a point in time. This, he said, was just one example of “many colonial laws that remain on our law books and successive governments have shown little interest in identifying some of these archaic colonial laws.”

He added there were still laws on TT’s books that “outlaw or restrict obeah, public gatherings, same-sex relations, marijuana, drumming, fortune telling, begging, loitering, placarding, indecent attire, suggestive attire, and insulting, annoying or violent language.

Salandy said when these laws are “usually” enforced it is a certain class of people who bear the brunt of being targeted and charged.”

“Social biases against various communities are weaponised through these laws and so it is time for these laws to be changed. The principle is that once actions and choices are not damaging to others in society, or otherwise infringe the rights of citizens, then it should not be a crime.”

Feminist organisation Womantra, in a post on its Facebook page on Friday last, said the ban on adult toys was more like, “customs clamps down on orgasms.”

Citing statistics from The Statistic Brain Research Institute, Womantra said, “44 per cent of women aged 18-60 have used sex toys during their lifetime and 12 per cent masturbate with the assistance of a sex toy at least once a week.”

The organisation added that both men and women enjoy sex toys and many regard the use of them as an essential part of sexual pleasure.

It said the “prohibition comes from outdated legislation that deems adult toys indecent, obscene and profane.”

Womantra said TT’s legislature “is still invested in maintaining the respectability of its citizens by framing the use of sex toys as deviant, effectively kink-shaming us all.”

Angelique Nixon, board member of the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO), said she was uncertain why TT’s Customs and Excise Division was doing this at this time.

She said people will explore their sexuality however they see fit and people should have a right to get sex toys and other things they need.

“For human beings, our sexuality is very important. People being able to explore their sexuality is really important.”

The Customs and Excise Division falls under the Ministry of Finance. Repeated calls to Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s phone were unanswered.