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" In 2007, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an Alabama law prohibiting most sales of devices &amp;quot;primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs&amp;quot; didn&amp;#039;t violate the constitutional right to privacy because the state needed to preserve &amp;quot;public morality.&amp;quot; Basically, this made it illegal to sell a sex toy in Alabama. The following year, however, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a similar law in Texas, saying it was unconstitutional that &amp;quot;an individual who wants to legally use a safe sexual device during private intimate moments&amp;quot; couldn&amp;#039;t buy one without breaking the law.  Two competing federal court rulings disagree over whether it&amp;#039;s constitutional to ban the sale of sex toys. And Melissa Davenport, a 44-year-old woman with a vibrator (and a need for it), is on a mission to fix it. &amp;quot;We believe that there is a split on the issue that the U.S. Supreme Court may need to resolve,&amp;quot; said Gerry Weber, her Atlanta-based lawyer. As if the opposing rulings weren&amp;#039;t confusing enough, a state appeals court in Corpus Christi, Texas, ruled that the federal court decision \u2014 the one allowing for the sale of sex toys \u2014 wasn&amp;#039;t binding on the state courts. As a result, in 20 Texas counties, it&amp;#039;s illegal to own more than six &amp;quot;obscene devices&amp;quot; \u2014 their magic number for indicating that someone is trying to sell them. In addition to parts of Texas, all of Alabama and various cities throughout the country, from Maine to New Mexico, categorize the sale of sex toys as a crime in most instances. Enter Davenport, Georgia, resident who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996 and happens to run a business that sells &amp;quot;romance products&amp;quot; at home parties. (Weber, her lawyer, wouldn&amp;#039;t allow her to answer any questions pertaining to the business.) Davenport is part of a lawsuit filed in federal court seeking to overturn the ordinance that prohibits her from buying or selling sex toys in Sandy Springs, about 15 miles north of Atlanta, unless the buyer has a &amp;quot;bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement purpose.&amp;quot; The lawsuit states that Davenport, who has been married for 24 years and has an adult daughter, was largely unable to have sex by 2003 because the disease was affecting her central nervous system, preventing her arousal. &amp;quot;We were making each other miserable,&amp;quot; she said in an interview with Esquire.com on Tuesday. &amp;quot;After so many months had gone by, frustrations had built up. We decided to see how we could help ourselves.&amp;quot; The solution? A vibrator. In fact, it worked so well that Mrs. Davenport has spoken in front of MS groups, sharing her knowledge of how to combat some of the seldom-discussed effects of the disease. The case isn&amp;#039;t about whether she meets the medical exemption to get a vibrator, nor whether she could drive to Atlanta and get one legally, Davenport said.  &amp;quot;I just think it&amp;#039;s ludicrous,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s an invasion of my privacy \u2014 anyone&amp;#039;s privacy \u2014 whether they have a medical reason or not to be forced to share what&amp;#039;s going on in their bedroom with their doctor and in the store. The city attorney for Sandy Springs, a community of about 100,000 people, didn&amp;#039;t return calls seeking comment. A violation of the ordinance is a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $10,000 and a possible jail term of up to a year of &amp;quot;hard labor.&amp;quot; A spokeswoman for the city said she couldn&amp;#039;t recall anyone being arrested under the law. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m willing to see this thing through whatever direction it goes,&amp;quot; Davenport said.  If necessary, Davenport said, she&amp;#039;s prepared to head to the Supreme Court. RELATED: Georgia Woman Suing for Access to Sex Toys Study: Americans Just Repeat Everything They Hear Why We Need to Talk About Therapy You May Have &amp;quot;Porn Brain&amp;quot; How to Write a Love Letter The Overmedication of Our Kids Is Worse Than We Thought Photo credit: Getty Images Via Esquire "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a26342/legal-ban-on-sex-toys/>