The direction Wal-Mart is headed

I am posting here an opinion article I found online after hearing that Wal-Mart Canada is now selling "sexual well-being" devices.... I'm not voicing my opinion on this matter just showing you the news and how adamently people feel about it...

U.S. Wal-Marts should ease censorship policies
By Melanie Valm

October 04, 2005
Patrons can now find sexual pleasure in Canadian Wal-Marts.

The store that censors its CDs and video games and takes magazines it deems too sexual off its shelves is now selling vibrating rings.

This, surprisingly, is a promising move and would be a positive step for Wal-Marts in the United States to follow.

The rings are part of a new product line Trojan developed for women called Elexa. The line includes condoms, lubricants, freshening cloths and the vibrating ring, according to retail-merchandiser.com, a Web site featuring in-depth coverage and analysis of key issues and trends affecting modest-margin retailers.

Wal-Mart decided to sell the products because the store caters to mainstream Canadian tastes, according to a Sept. 17 article in Canada’s Globe and Mail. Trojan’s goal in producing the line and selling it in department stores is to make women comfortable when buying “sexual well-being products,” according to the article.

Although Wal-Mart censors its CDs, video games and magazines, selling the Elexa products is a step forward for the company’s Canadian stores. Stores such as Rite Aid and Walgreens in the United States already sell the rings, according to the Trojan Web site. Why not Wal-Mart?

The introduction of sexual products beyond condoms could ease people’s minds and make the discussion of sexual pleasure more publicly accepted in the United States. Instead of having to make a potentially embarrassing trip to a sex shop for a sex-enhancing toy, Wal-Mart really could become a one-stop shopping paradise.

Customers may think selling vibrating rings goes against the family-values stance Wal-Mart has a reputation for upholding.

An Edmonton, Alberta, boutique owner expressed curiosity about how Wal-Mart can display the products when sex shops in the city have to cover their windows so minors cannot see in, according to the article.

These apprehensions are unfounded. Selling a vibrating ring in a discreet package with a condom included has nothing to do with family values. On the contrary, if a wife is unhappy and wants to increase her sexual pleasure, it would probably work wonders as far as making her happier.

And when mom is happy, everyone is happy.

The vibrating ring is the only questionable product in the Elexa line. The other products, including condoms, lubricants and fresheners, women can already find at most drug stores in the United States.

A few sex shops in Edmonton have voiced concern about the competition Wal-Mart brings, according to a Sept. 18 Edmonton Sun article.

Wal-Mart, however, is selling one kind of vibrating ring as part of one line of sexual well-being products. Wal-Mart does not have an array of sex toys lining its shelves.

Customers who go to Wal-Mart and other drug stores and are willing to stand in line with a discreet box advertising a sexual product are the easily embarrassed customers sex shops most likely do not have to worry about losing — in Canada or in the United States.

Wal-Mart executives’ choice to include Elexa products on its shelves is a progressive step. If the company took the same step in this country, it would help people be more open and honest about their sexuality and help them become more comfortable and receptive of the natural act.

Maybe Wal-Mart will begin to loosen its censorship standards in other departments as well. This is a case in which the United States should follow in the footsteps of its neighbor to the north