Elections in Thailand: legalize sex toys, the naughty proposal of a conservative party

BET À DAY

Lagging in the polls, a conservative Thai party has decided to spice up its campaign for next month's general election by proposing to legalize sex toys, officially banned in the kingdom.&nbsp ;

Despite its reputation for sexual freedom, Thailand, which is predominantly Buddhist, remains very conservative and vibrators, dildos and other intimate devices are illegal there.

Trading in them is punishable with a sentence of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 1,800 dollars.

They are nevertheless freely available on street stalls in the red light districts of Bangkok.

Ratchada Thanadirek, a member of the Democratic Party leadership, said the government was missing an opportunity to collect taxes on imports.

“Sex toys are useful because they could lead to a decrease in prostitution , divorces due to libido imbalance and sex-related crimes,” Ratchada Thanadirek said in a statement on Monday.

The royalist Democratic Party is Thailand's oldest party, having given it 4 prime ministers, but it flopped in the 2019 election and is down in the polls for the May 14 poll. p>

The party says that in addition to reducing prostitution and the divorce rate, legalizing erotic stimulators will also boost public finances through taxes on imported devices.

OK While sex toys are considered “immoral” in some quarters in Thailand, many continue to enter the kingdom illegally from abroad, the party said.

Ms Thanadirek noted that there was currently no quality control on these imported accessories and that some of them were at risk of short circuit, which posed safety problems.

The party was embroiled in a sex scandal in April last year when 14 women filed formal complaints against former leader MP Prinn Panitchpakdi. The latter denies the charges, but the case is still before the courts.