Gibson Mhaka
ALTHOUGH sex is a most thrilling exercise, rated to be ten times better than gym workouts but there is a key aspect of people’s sex lives that they don’t always pay enough attention to.
Are sex toys a turn on?
Do women enjoy experimenting with them in bed?
Well, a recent court application by a women’s rights and leadership organisation Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE) challenging the ban on sex toys as prescribed by the Customs and Excise Act, arguing the law infringes their right to pleasure, opened a Pandora’s box about this ground-breaking pleasure product.
On the other side, the court application which caused cultural shockwaves has apparently aroused men’s fears as they were being rendered obsolete by vibrators.
WALPE executive director Sitabile Dewa lodged a court application challenging the legality of Section 47 (1) b of the Customs and Excise Act which criminalises the importation of goods regarded as indecent, obscene, or objectionable.
In a statement, WALPE said the law is archaic and infringes on women’s rights to sexual pleasure, right to choice and association.
The law was recently used to convict Ayanda Muponda, a socialite who was involved in the sale of sex toys.
Muponda was sentenced to a two-year prison term which was wholly suspended on condition she does not repeat the offence and performs 640 hours or community service.
In October this year, Gwanda State University (GSU) lecturer Shirley Chipunza was fined $60 000 for importing sex toys from Germany.
Meanwhile, in separate interviews with B-Metro people expressed mixed feelings over WALPE’s application to challenge the banning of sex toys with some women arguing that owning a sex toy was like having a well-stocked fridge, basically something that every woman should have in her purse and bedroom.
Emma, who did not want her last name used for privacy reasons, welcomed WALPE executive director Dewa’s court application saying sex toys were designed scientifically to fulfil one’s sexual desires without the burden of emotional attachment.
“We welcome the court application because the banning of sex toys infringes on our right to pleasure as women. This is because just like masturbation, vibrators are great and they’re easy to use like when you want some one-on-one time without the help of anyone else.
“Remember it is not an easy task to stimulate your mind and body both at the same time and this is where a sex toy plays that part.
“Even for married women sex toys will help them to boost their bedroom romance with their partners. With the option of joy toys, they can lengthen their intimacy duration with their partners,” said Emma.
Gladys from Cowdray Park also supported Emma’s views saying vibrators were good especially when one was not in the mood for foreplay.
“It’s true that the law violated our right to pleasure as women and the right to privacy. As much as I love the connection of another person, but with a sex toy, I am able to control my own pleasure. They always make you reach the Promised Land and sometimes men don’t,” she said.
Another woman who also requested her name not be published said the court application was a big step forward as it was difficult to control what people do in the privacy of their own homes.
“I think people have the right to decide for themselves whether these devices help their intimate life or not. What people do in their own private time with themselves is their own business. Even if the court application does not succeed, women will always continue flying under the radar to avoid being arrested,” she said.
Brian Sibanda however, applauded the ban saying it was a blessing at the right time since men were now being rendered obsolete by vibrators.
“Judging from the fact that a lot of husbands were being replaced by these obscene devices, the law banning the use of sex toys should not be overturned.
“This is because as men we are being rendered useless by these vibrators. As men we should however, fear not, because it is just that kind of false praise given to these vibrators.
“Just imagine they don’t talk to women, they won’t kiss them and hold them as men do and these are the kind of stuff that makes sex more pleasurable,” said Sibanda.
Sibanda is not alone in his line of thought.
Allen Sithole, who held a similar view, added that if women need vibrators to have orgasms, there was something wrong with them.
“Men, unlike a sex toy, can read women’s facial expressions and during the act. They know how to respond to their squirming and moaning,” he said.
Mrs Erica Moyo, who has been married for 20 years said sex toys were alien to African culture.
“The truth of the matter is that the use of sex toys is ungodly and unacceptable. It will do more harm than good because it makes you imagine things that you should not imagine.
“First and foremost, we must understand that God created men and women for each other, hence the use of sex toys makes you go out of the limits that God has set.
“You are just dealing with plastics, and I think it is a perversion to use a vibrator on your skin,” she said.
