Texas Obscenity Statute

The Obscene Device Law is a Texas statute that prohibited selling sex toys. This law was introduced in 1973, and updated in 2003. Although the law is technically still in place, in 2008, a district judge released a statement saying that this statute was ‘facially unconstitutional and unenforceable’.

Originally the statute said that the sale of ‘obscene devices’ has banned. These devices were defined as being a device including a dildo or artificial vagina, designed and marketed as primarily for the use of stimulation. When it was updated in 2003 it even stated to include people who sol wholesale sex toys.

Not too many people have been prosecuted under this statute, however in 2004, Joanne Webb faced up to one year in prison after selling a vibrator to two police officers who were undercover at a sex toy party. Eventually Joanne was acquitted, and the officers were issued reprimands.