SYDNEY — Australian supermarket chain Woolworths abandoned its sales of battery-powered vibrators Friday, following the Christian advocacy group FamilyVoice Australia’s call for a boycott.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Woolworths began offering the Durex Vibrating Bullet clitoral stimulator across 900 stores last week, but by Friday it was clearing its shelves of the product. In addition to FamilyVoice Australia, other organizations, including Australian Family Association, agreed that a supermarket is not an appropriate channel for sex toy sales.
Although contained within a sexual health aisle where condoms and vibrating cock rings reside, it was the section’s proximity to “family-oriented” products within the supermarket that was opposed.
Fiona Patten, president of the Australian Sex Party, told the publication she agreed that children shouldn’t be exposed to sex toys. ''While I have no problem with anyone selling vibrators, I think they should be sold from an age-restricted area.''
Nevertheless, in the article sexologist Nikki Goldstein defends the open introduction to pleasure products. “We are taught to view such products as dirty, naughty, shameful and outside the boundaries of normality, and that's wrong. A vibrator is no different to a vitamin in that it does something positive for your body.''
In the report, a Woolworths’ spokesman issued a statement saying that the Durex vibe was better suited for pharmacies rather than supermarkets.
Durex responded with its own comment arguing that: ''Products that assist Australians to have great sex should be made easily available to consumers through a variety of channels.''
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