OPINION:
Page 63 of the early spring 2024 Montgomery Ward retail catalogue advertises wheeled walkers for the elderly and handicapped, a heated foot spa and an organizer for prescription medicines. Page 66 advertises a pet carpet cleaner, a floor sweeper and other vacuuming machine products. The two pages in between? They’re filled with a dozen or so images of sexual toys — vibrators, mostly, with graphic names and salacious descriptions.
Montgomery Ward, for the unaware, is not Penthouse. It’s akin to Sears and Kohl’s and any number of other department stores around America. It’s not a catalogue that screams “For Mature Eyes Only.”
Yet beware.
From the mouths of America’s babes, and at a kitchen table near you, could very soon come the question, ‘Mommy, what’s a Double Dancer Personal Massager?’
This is the latest show of America’s cultural degradation — the normalizing of sex as just another fun activity, like dining out, or skiing; nothing sacred about it; no boundaries, no commitments, no discipline — if it feels good, it’s right.
It’s all about the self.
It’s all about the fleshly feel-good.
Retail has been taking a deep dive into what’s being billed as “sexual health,” a concept that suggests sex is a basic human need, same as food and water — it’s not — and that the more open that society can become about fulfilling that need, the better for everyone’s health. Thus, we get the “Apollo Power Stroker” openly sold on page 64 of a department store catalogue that’s mailed to millions of Americas’ homes with children of varying ages and parents who probably don’t know such product illustrations are within its pages. Surprise!
It’s not just Montgomery Ward.
“Retail Is Ready To Take On The Sexual Wellness Biz In 2023,” Glam reported in February.
From the article: “In the past few years, we’ve reached a turning point in terms of sexual health. Not long ago, it wouldn’t be possible to pick up a sex toy and your pantry essentials in the same shopping trip. But today, the conversation surrounding sexual wellness is shifting, and major retailers are following suit. ‘Intimacy is something we need in order to survive and feel good. In general, intimacy and sexual wellness [have] been becoming more normalized,’ Rebecca Alvarez Story, CEO of intimacy brand Bloomi, tells Business Insider.”
It’s great we don’t brand women any longer with a large letter “A” on their clothing to indicate their adulterous crimes. It’s great, too, we’ve moved past the point of making television sitcoms show two beds, not one, in scenes where husband and wife prepare to sleep; and pretending that men and only men enjoy sex — that women are too chaste for such desires. Clearly, sex is natural; sex is a gift from God. But sex is also dangerous outside of God-ordained boundaries and commands — and a growing secular society is busily working to undercut and blot out these biblical truths.
It’s becoming very difficult for today’s parents to shield their kids from this culture of ungodly grooming.
Schools tell kids they must recognize boys who want to pretend to be girls as real, genuine girls, and vice versa.
The LGBTQ crowd tells boys that it’s praiseworthy to put aside the sex God assigned and instead, wear pretty pink gowns and prance and dance in gay pride parades for half-dressed psychologically disturbed adults.
Democrats and the Marxists who’ve taken over their political party pretend that it’s normal to have working in this White House administration, in a position of dictating national health policy, no less, a man who dresses as a woman.
Television teaches recreational sex; video games glorify and intertwine sex with violence; teens are increasingly told they’re not normal if they want to wait for marriage for sex; simultaneously, faith-based communities are mocked for their beliefs — even condemned for teaching Bible-based boundaries and painted as intolerant and hateful for advocating for moral relationships.
Everywhere is cultural decay.
Everywhere are enemies of God.
The sex toy industry is moving off the Internet, out of the shadows of porn stores, away from the seediness of once-upon-a-time red light districts in cities, and into the open markets of neighborhood retail, where grandma buys her underwear; where parents take their kids for back-to-school supplies; where mothers buy their household cleaning supplies and teenage girls get their makeup and shampoo and dads go for deals on car batteries and oil filters. More than that, it’s entering your home and in ways that are completely unexpected.
“Consumers are embracing a holistic approach to health and wellness, and sexual pleasure in now part of a lifestyle,” said Stephanie Trachtenberg, director of marketing and public relations at New York City-based Satisfyer, in Drug Store News.
That’s fine.
But some consumers still want to have control over their children’s access to items deemed age-inappropriate or morally questionable.
At the very least, retail could give a warning label or two.
Shopping with the kids should not be shocking. Flipping pages of a department store catalogue should not go from “jacquard bed set” and “overstuffed recliner” to “French kiss charmer vibrator” then “chef-tested 4-slice waffle maker” in the span of just a few seconds.
Some things should just stay discrete.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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