Pure Romance; Not Your Normal "Tupperware" Party

Some ads have been popping up on TV recently for something new called Pure Romance. This ad encourages women into hosting "Tupperware" like parties to sell "romantic" aids and novelties.

The website of Pure Romance is interesting. It has a soft women's touch, with a liberal use of the color pink and plenty of faces of successful looking women. There is none of the harshness of many adult oreinted websites that sell novelty items such as the old companies like Doc Johnson, the long time champion of selling absurdly shaped sex toys cheaply produced in Asia for a high profit. The profit model looks about the same for Pure Romance, many items look like they're similar to the old style sex novelties of the past, probably produced in China or Taiwan to maximize profits, but the same items are now marketed by women in "Tupperware" type parties rather than listed on some seedy looking adult business or website.

While Pure Romance offers women an economic opportunity to become a small time business operator, with the added draw of cash prizes and trips, not totally unlike the Mary Kay saleswomen who sometimes won a pink Cadillac as a top selling prize, the business of selling door to door sex toys and hosting parties does have some serious legal drawbacks not noted by Pure Romance.

It was just back in 2003 that Texas housewife, Joanne Webb, was arrested for selling a vibrator to undercover police and faced obscenity charges including one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. Joanne Webb hoped to earn a few extra dollars for hosting what was known as "passion parties" for Passion Parties Of Brisbane, a company in many ways similar to Pure Romance in their marketing of romantic sex toys at parties.

And while some judges have attempted to strike down laws in some states as unconstitutional banning the sale of sex toys, many Southern states have laws on the books that could make selling sex toys at "Tupperware" style parties a serious legal problem for the seller. Alabama has a law on the books that could land the seller a $10,000 dollar fine and one year of jail. In South Carolina, a screwball rightwing state legislator Ralph Davenport(A Republican for sure) authored a bill that raised the ante for selling sex toys at parties or otherwise to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The fact of the matter is that any housewife hoping to earn a few dollars by hosting any sex toys parties needs to be very sure that state or local laws do not make such activity a crime. Big government is involved in person's bedrooms, as the flurry of antiGay constitutional amendments in many states dictating who may have a relationship with whom is allowed by law clearly illustrates. Many, but not all states, have some sort of obscenity laws on the books somewhere. Generally selling in smaller communities is more risky as well, and increases the chances of an arrest by a local sheriff as well. In Jasksonville, Oregon, a theatre could not list the title of the film, THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, on their marqee without a public outcry, despite the fact that the Oregon Supreme Court had ruled any obscenity laws in the state as unconstitutional a few years earlier.

Any company that offers a woman an opportunity to host a "romantic" item or sex toy party must be upfront and honest with them if any legal barriers could land her in jail or prison, or with some huge legal costs, such as about $80,000 to hire a private criminal defense attorney, and whether such companies have any attorney representation available to provide potential sellers the latest in advice or provide them representation at company expense if they are arrested.

It's simply not that easy to go into some types of business as you would think. Legal barriers exist from some governments that impose a puritanical morality on the citizens that could make selling some "romantic" goods the legal hassle of a person's life. Any potential seller must be absolutely sure there are no such barriers in their local community to what should be a fun way for a few women to earn a buck or two. This serious legal side of the business is far less than romantic.