Now that we are through Babeland’s holiday season (essentially Thanksgiving through Valentine’s), many of our staff are eager to take trips, vacations and time away from our desks and the store. And, of course, we take our favorite toys with us!

Traveling through airport security with sex toys is always an enjoyable adventure in my experience. In general, the male TSA agents tend to be really friendly, even recognizing the Babeland brand in my home airport. I have found the TSA women to be all business, and really resistant to learning a thing or two about the cool personal electronics showing on the x-ray screen. But I’m a sex educator, so that’s my baggage…

If you are nervous about being outed with your favorite vibe or lube, I suggest toys that travel more incognitio. The Lipstick Vibe, Chic Vibe and Discretion are all variations on cosmetics design and are very discreet. Pink lube looks like a perfume bottle, while our Ducky is a waterproof tub toy and so much more. You can even find a few discreet toys on sale: Secret Agent and Stowaway.

The best travel tip I’ve heard: take the batteries out before packing so your toys don’t go off and pose a security threat. And don’t wear your Teardrop or Jaguar through the metal detector.

MSNBC ran a story last week that school districts in Kansas must now get parents’ written permission before teaching their children sex education, as decided by the state Board of Education. Formerly most Kansas districts had an “opt-out” policy, enrolling students in sex ed unless a parent objected in writing. Arizona, Nevada and Utah also have such “opt-in” sex ed requirements.

This move seems to counter a Kansas Senate-approved bill requiring all school districts to continue requiring sex education classes for students and prohibit them from going to abstinence-only courses. This bill is now before the House. I guess if the state’s going to make mandatory sex ed, the Board of Education wants to cover their butts by making parents sign off.

I applaud the Kansas Senate for their fore-thought and hope someone is tracking teen pregnancy and STD rates in the state should this bill become law. I’m certain a correlation will be found between requiring students get accurate sex info and education and declining pregnancy & infection rates. In a 1996 study, Kansas ranked 26th in the nation for teen birth rates, with 50 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19. Arizona and Nevada ranked 47th and 45th, with 74 and 70 teen births per 1,000 respectively.
Boo and hiss to the Board of Education - especially the Board member hoping to restrict to abstinence-only sex education.

I just learned about an amazing group of women in India called the Blank Noise Project. They just held a blog-a-thon to raise awareness about what is called “Eve Teasing”. This is essentially a form of sexual harassment that happens in public to women in India all the time. Many women have blogged on this site about their daily ordeals from insulting comments to extremely inappropriate touching. Women talk honestly about their daily lives - their commutes, their jobs, their grandmothers, their daughters, their childhoods. They give advice on how to dress, how to walk, and how to gauge whether or not you can fight off someone who is harassing you. These stories are truly powerful and are shared through the power of blogging in this honest, open, brave way.