You've Come A Long Way Baby: Sex Toys Used By Majority Of Women In U.S.

I have always liked the quote that has been attributed to the late comedian Lenny Bruce who was arrested numerous times for obscenity due to his nightclub act.

Speaking about his arrests on obscenity, Bruce supposedly told his audience that what he found obscene was the salaries paid to teachers in Nevada. Now flash forward to the current times and we have certain states that talk about obscenity in terms of sex toys.

The Supreme Court of Alabama last year upheld a state obscenity law banning the sale or promotion of sex toys.In 1998, the Alabama legislature passed an amendment to its obscenity laws that made it a crime to distribute "any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for anything of pecuniary value."

Supposedly the purpose of the law was to protect children and unwilling adults from exposure to obscene materials and sexual aids. The Supreme Court of the United States may be taking up this law in the near future that will define more clearly the sexual freedom of an individual.

So what about sex toys? Are they only used by a distinct minority in the United States? According to a survey done by the makers of Trojan condoms, nearly half of all Americans use a vibrator.The study also indicated that more than 50% of women and 45% of men said they’ve used one, and vibrator users also rated themselves higher on sexual health indicators such as erectile function, level of desire, and frequency of genital self-exams.

Another perhaps more reliable study conducted by Indiana University and published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine says that fifty-three percent of women and nearly half of all men report having used a vibrator.We've come a long way baby if you examine past studies. Alfred Kinsey in 1953 and Shere Hite in 1976 concluded that vibrator use was “not appreciable” and “less than 1 percent.” Quite an increase.