Just finished Buzz and what stood out for me were the several mentioning’s of the lack of legality to sell sex toys/vibrators, even in the 80’s – I had completely forgotten about this. One of my first jobs in high school was Assistant Manager at a store called Art Emporium located in an upscale mall. We sold art prints (framed and posters), but it also had a variety of novelty items, similar to the better-known store, Spencer’s. I had forgotten that on our shelves in the back of the store where we sold a few varieties of vibrators (hard plastic ones, maybe one or two kinds), we always had to ensure there was a sign visible to the costumers “For Novelty Use Only.”
On occasion we had one well-to-do, influential woman who would stop by the store and demand that we remove them from the shelves (she went as far as complaining to Corporate Headquarters). We would put them in the stockroom for a few days and then they’d be right out again with their sign. Even at 16, I didn’t understand why this woman was so insulted by them (and figured she could really use one). I also recall that was probably the most stolen item in the store because most were too embarrassed to buy it outright. How ridiculous that this battery-operated piece of plastic could get someone in trouble, even then?
Something else that stood out for me- page 159, the purchaser of a Prelude that was so moved, she wrote a poem (so poignant):
I rejoice in finding a part of me
lost since birth. In a horrible age of
machines it is in a paradox that a machine
led me to rediscover my offended birthright.
