A Spanking Directory
a1 Cunning Linguists
A3 LicListCatholic church wants to sue a sex shop out of existence
Rants, Raves and Reviews — By Adele on 4 June, 2008 9:11 pmOn the whole, I try to be patient with religious institutions and people who attend them. I’m an atheist, but if they want a god to pray to, that’s up to them, right? Live and let live, right?
I wish that more churchmen felt the same about those of us who are in the business of attending to people’s sexuality.
…A skirmish in the culture war between those who believe in sexual empowerment and personal freedom versus the local West Chester, PA religious establishment, escalated into a full scale legal battle when Jill McDevitt, the owner of Feminique Boutique, an adult sex education/retail establishment in downtown West Chester, was served with legal documents informing her that she was being sued by the powerful St. Agnes Catholic Church and its spiritual leader Monsignor Edward Deliman. – writes Nina at Lazy Geisha
Nina has published an interview with Jill, talking about this issue. It’s very edifying. That thing that floored me, actually, was Jill’s description of what’s in the shop:
In the front of the store there’s a seating area with couches and coffee tables where I host private seminars on sexuality and relationships. There are two racks of lingerie, two shelves of games including “naughty dice”… foreplay card games, a box of fake scented rose petals and so on. There is one shelf of lubricants, one large case of various edible body products… edible massage lotion and the like. There is also a large case of massaging products, lotions, shaving cream, perfumes. On the counter with the register there are some samples…. up a step and through a door is a small table with some fur paddles, feathers, and satin eye masks. Hanging from the walls are some vibrators… on the other end of the counter I sell breast cancer fundraiser t-shirts that have two baseballs where the breasts would be and the words “save 2nd base” across the front, 50% of the proceeds are going to a local cancer charity… we will be getting more t-shirts soon.
Dude… a proper den of iniquity, that! Those fake rose petals are *sure* to lead the locals straight to hell. It’s hard to picture a sex shop that’s tamer than Ann Summers, but this sounds like this may be it.
*bitch rant on* Is the Monsignor afraid the shop’s going to dry up his supply of nubile teenage boys? *bitch rant off*
Share on Facebook
Digg This
Bookmark
Stumble
9 Comments
Adele,
Thanks so much for mentioning this and linking to my post.
What’s truly shocking here is that the good padre has never been in the shop and yet he “just knows” that there’s porn in there and that it must be stopped!
Jill’s shop is so vanilla that it’s laughable that these people are so hysterical about it. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry over the absurdity.
I had one of the religious opponents to this shop say to me in another thread on my journal where I write about this:
“Knowledge is a dangerous thing”
I cannot imagine anything quite so frightening than someone who believes that.
Thanks again,
- nina
Hi Adele,
I’m a long time reader 1st time commenter. I really enjoy your blog and read it frequently. I’m not an atheist, I am a christian and I’m sick of towns trying to run sex shops out. I’m never bought from one but I have been in a few when I was in Florida. Did I have to go in? No. Neither does anyone else. We all have free choice, or we should. Its nobodys business if people like to go in adult stores and they shouldn’t tell others not to by trying to run places out of their town.
Compared to other countries we do have far more freedom but it seems that little by little its becoming more eroded than it once was. I hope the shop will be able to stay open and in business. I’m glad you brought this to attention so that maybe some others can say they want to make their own choices too.
Lauren – Not only have you had the courage to comment here for the first time, but you’ve also had the courage to declare your beliefs.
I applaud you.
Thanks, Adele, for the latest absurd episode of the Sex is Sinful show. I’m sure Texas readers of your blog are very happy to see the show move north! Seriously, what is with these people? Lauren is right– if you don’t like the store, don’t enter. It’s pretty simple.
Enjoyed the bitch rant, too.
Maybe he’s jealous – the shop is probably more popular than his church. It certainly sounds like it achieves more good for society in general.
My local church has ancient pictures of children entering the burning jaws of hell and a saint being tied up and shot with arrows. I needn’t go on.
Is there a petition where you can protest against this “lawsuit”?
I would sign it immedatly!
I dont get what he’s sueing her for.
Surely what shops can sell is controlled by the local government. So what would it have to do with any religious organisation.
It also amazes me how a man who works for an organisation that used to torture and burn people and still goes to great lengths to cover child abuse can take the high ground.
Hey, Adele, love ya blog !
Though i’m a Christian, i think the church shouldn’t be such an a*shole and destroying other people’s businesses.
It’s nobody’s business whether the person wanna enter into the sex store, i went in there too and don’t care what others would think.
As a Catholic I follow the tradition of Saint Paul
who said “All things are lawful for me but all things are not beneficial for me. I am free to
do all things but I will be dominated by nothing.”
It should be noted that wherever the Catholic Church has a large presence like California or
Massachussets people generally tend to be more
liberal so its more beneficial to the Church to train minds to resist unethical temptations than
try eliminate them which isn’t going to happen.