Not all butt plugs should glow in the dark

[Fleshdancer]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/11/08/violetblue.DTL

When I worked at a sex toy store, we could smell the boxes before we even opened them.

Once the boxes of mass-manufactured "novelty" vibrators, dildos and assorted sex toys were open, the chemical smell would fill the room and linger wherever we kept the back stock. Some materials stank more than others; certain "lifelike" or "cyber" materials smelled like wet asphalt. Each item was individually packaged or bagged, often with misogynist or offensive marketing or labeling. So, we'd don sterile gloves and put the products into plain, clear, sealed bags. But each of the "jelly rubber," "jell-lee", and "sili-gel" products would be oily, with beads of some kind of chemical sweat oozing through its often visible pores.

It was so not hot.

It's ethically tough to sell sex toys you think might be toxic. For years I had a well-rehearsed speech I'd give to every customer who bought a fun, though chemically dubious item: Wash it first, please use a condom on it; if you don't, then clean it thoroughly, and throw it away after it loses its shine or after a month or two of enjoyment. It didn't take a brain surgeon (or Dildo Hut clerk, often confused) to figure out that the novelty industry was making a mint off having sex toys manufactured cheaply and sans health regulations in China. "Made in China" is printed on most sex toys. And selling sex toys as novelties means no one is responsible for how they are used (or if they function properly, or if they function at all).

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Consider this article my PSA for the day