AdvertisementGo ad freeage verificationTexans Might Soon Have to Show Photo ID to Buy a Dildo Online Mar 25, 2025 at 10:27 AM A new bill introduced by Angela Paxton, wife of Texas AG Ken Paxton, would impose privacy-invading age verification requirements on online sex toy retailers. Dean Black via Unsplash / Collage via 404 Media A newly introduced bill in Texas would require online sellers to show a photo ID before buying a dildo.SB 3003, introduced by Senator Angela Paxton (wife of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton), would criminally charge online retailers for selling an obscene device without verifying the buyers age. Sellers would have to require customers to submit their government-issued photographic identification, or use third-party age verification services that use public records or other reliable sources to verify the purchaser's identity and age, the bill says. Owning a credit card, which already requires the holder to be over 18 years of age, would not be enough.Like the regressive and ineffective adult site age verification laws passing all across the country in the last few years, this law would drag Texans back to a not-so-distant time when sex toy sellers had to pretend vibrators were for massage.Hallie Lieberman, journalist and author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy, sold sex toys in Texas in the early 2000s under the states six dildo law, which criminalizes the possession of six or more obscene devices, defined as "a device including a dildo or artificial vagina, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs." That law is still on the books but is now considered unenforceable and unconstitutional. Lieberman told me sellers got around the law by claiming the toys were for medical purposes. This bill could send retailers back to that time.I can see something like that happening again, with people saying on their sex toy store websites that vibrators are for back massage and butt plugs are for rectal strengthening, Lieberman said. It's similar to how sex toys were marketed in the early 20th century to get around obscenity laws and the Comstock Act (which unfortunately still exists and may be used to prevent access to contraceptives and sex toys nationwide.) Butt plugs were sold as cures for asthma and vibrators for sciatica. We are literally going back in time with this law.Lieberman told me she had to call the clitoris the man in the boat at the time to avoid breaking the law. When we can't speak openly about our bodies and sexual pleasure, when we're forced to use euphemisms, we not only are under informed about our bodies, but we also feel shame in seeking out pleasure, she said.Like age verification laws for websites, the bill would make buying sex toys online harder for everyone, not just minors, and would send consumers to less-safe retailers with lower-quality, possibly dangerous toys. And also like those laws, people who do upload their government ID or undergo other age verification measures could risk having their purchases exposed to a hostile government.The government should not have a record of what sex toys we buy. This isn't just a frivolous concern, Lieberman said. In a nation where the president has declared that there are only two genders and that transgender people don't exist, where trans people are erased from government websites and kicked out of the military, it would be dangerous for the government to have a record that you purchased sex toys designed for trans people. Imagine you're a school teacher at a public school in Texas and there's a record you purchased a sex toy designed for queer people in a state where a parental bill of rights bill was just passed prohibiting discussion of sexual orientation in schools."We are literally going back in time with this law."Texas legislators have been trying to limit access to sex toys for their constituents for years. In late 2024, Hillary Hickland, a freshman member of Texas Republican House, introduced a bill that would ban retailers in the state from selling sex toys unless they file paperwork to become sexually oriented businesseseffectively forcing stores like Walmart, CVS and Target, which sell vibrators and other sex toys, to take those products off their shelves and forcing brick-and-mortar boutiques to verify the ages of all customers. The bill was referred to Texas Trade, Workforce & Economic Development committee earlier this month.Paxtons bill would charge online retailers with a Class A Misdemeanor if they dont verify ages, and would open them up to fines up to $5,000 for each violation.Paxton did not respond to a request for comment.Sam Cole is writing from the far reaches of the internet, about sexuality, the adult industry, online culture, and AI. She's the author of How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex.More from Samantha ColeMore like thisSenator Tries Bringing Anti-Porn Age Verification Law to New York The internet is a dangerous place for children, rife with sexual material that is harmful to minors," the Republican lawmakers wrote. "The ease of access to this material is downright scary." Feb 5, 2025 Chaturbate Will Pay Texas $675,000 for Violating New Porn Age Verification Law Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the popular porn webcam site in March. Apr 26, 2024 Arizona Governor Strikes Down Age Verification Bill, Says It Violates First Amendment While we look for a solution, it should be bipartisan and work within the bounds of the First Amendment, which this bill does not," Arizona governor Katie Hobbs wrote. 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