are-sex-toys-illegal-in-mississippi

are sex toys illegal in mississippi

Sex toys – taboo topic, yet a curiosity to me. I recently heard that they are illegal in a place called Mississippi. How could that be? I needed to know why, for I had never heard of states legalizing — or outlawing — sex toys! I had to find out more.

Turns out it all started in an infamous case, your usual sort-of David and Goliath-like story. In 2004, a single Mississippi resident named Patti Rogers felt that business owners should have the same rights and laws as customers when it came to buying sex toys, so she decided to fight against the law.

Rogers argued that this law was unconstitutional, as it limited her ability to express herself and her right to pursue her own pleasure. Unfortunately, her argument wasn’t enough to turn the tide of the Mississippi legal system, and her case was ultimately dismissed.

Despite her argument not sticking, Rogers helped many people in Mississippi understand the importance of sexuality and sexual rights. Since then, many businesses and organizations have fought, often successfully, to change Mississippi’s archaic law.

One great example was McRae’s, a retail store in Jackson that found itself in a legal battle with the state after stocking its doors with a variety of sex toys. They fought hard and won: In 2009, the US District Court ruled that the state’s law was in fact unconstitutional.

This gave McRae’s the right to continue offering their diverse and unique products to customers in Mississippi, as well as the entire United States. This case eventually led to the Supreme Court making its own ruling in 2015, extending federal protections against sex-toy bans to five other states.

So, while the sale of sex toys in Mississippi was deemed illegal for many years, it appears progress is being made at a slow but steady rate. No longer is the sale of sex toys seen as something to be ashamed of or hidden away; it is more openly accepted in today’s society.

And while there are still some restrictions to sex toys in Mississippi — like the ban on the sale of those designed to resemble human organs and those that made out of realistic-feeling materials — it’s coming a very long way in terms of being open minded with regards to self expression, sexuality and pleasure.

This progress is evident in the more lenient regulations surrounding the sale of sex toys in recent years. For vibrators example, the Adult Novelty Research Group, LLC is now allowed to sell and distribute sex toys and accessories in Mississippi. This is a big step forward, as it makes it much easier for people to access the toys they are seeking.

It’s also worth noting that, in an effort to keep customers safe, the state of Mississippi now requires retailers to provide customers with updated and relevant information about any toys they may be interested in purchasing.

This is a positive sign of progress, and one that suggests that, while sex toys remain legal in a few states in the US, the right and need to explore one’s sex life should be available to everyone. And this is why it’s so important to continue advocating for the rights of individuals, especially when it comes to pleasure and self-expression.