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Quality of sex products sparks concern
July 26, 2004
Li Jinfa (not his real name) was lying in bed. What he was finding hard to
endure was not his lonely nights but the anger he felt towards his toy woman.
The toy woman was supposed to be his "sex comforter". Li had bought "her" from
a local sex shop for 900 yuan (US$108).
On his wage, this was not a small sum, almost one-month's pay, and he took a
long time thinking about the purchase before finally making up his mind to buy
''her''.
However, the decision didn't bring him much happiness. Despite all his care in
using "her", she burst from time to time. He went to the designated repair shop
to have his "woman" mended three times in the first six months but that didn't
help much.
"It was not a small amount to have it repaired - the money was almost enough to
buy a new TV set," said Li in an interview with Modern Family magazine.
He took the sex shop to Luwan District People's Court, sued it for selling a
sub-standard product, and demanded his money back.
However, the sex shop had all the legal licences necessary for selling the
product and insisted that the toy woman had blown up simply because of Li's
improper use of "her".
Li was having enough difficulty in finding the evidence to prove his charges
without also having to endure the embarrassment of people around him gossiping
about the case.
"In their eyes, I was firstly abnormal in using the toy and, secondly, I was
shameless in bringing such a case to court," he said.
To make matters worse, he found the media started to show an interest in his
case. It looked like it might not be long before he became a "famous" person in
the city and "that sort of fame would be awful", he was quoted as saying.
After some agonizing, he decided to withdraw his action against the sex shop.
Although Li finally gave up, he had proved himself to be very brave compared
with many other users of sex products who either regard the shoddy goods they
have bought as bad luck and don't say anything or who quickly surrender after
an initial argument with the sex shop.
A woman surnamed Lin bought an electric sex comforter for 300 yuan (US$36) from
a local shop only to find that it broke within a fortnight of purchase. When
she tried to obtain a refund from the shop, the owner told her that "the
product has no quality problem - it broke because you used it too often".
After being told this, Lin was so embarrassed that she even abandoned her
original intention to complain to the Consumers' Protection Association.
The association said complaints about sex products were very rare in Shanghai.
"So far this year, no one has reported any quality problems with sex products,"
according to Lao Jianhong from the association. "Although we can conceal their
names, most people still find it too shameful a topic to talk about."
Inadequate supervision
"However, what really matters is that the sex product market is free from any
official monitoring or management," said Professor Tong Chuanliang from the
Shanghai International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital.
Sex products used to be supervised by the Drug and Food Administration but on
August 28 last year, the administration lost responsibility for monitoring the
market.
"Sex products are not so much medicines or medical equipment to cure diseases
as 'entertainment' tools," said Zhang Renwen, an official from the Shanghai
Drug and Food Administration.
Oversight of the market has passed to the industrial and commercial bureaus of
the government. However, as most sex product shops are open only at night,
inspections can be quite difficult.
To make matters worse, there is still a lack of any specific regulations
covering the quality standards for sex products in China.
All this has contributed to a mushrooming in the number of factories
manufacturing sex products with some 10,000 now competing in the market, making
China the world's major producer and giving the country 70 per cent of total
world sales.
"But a large percentage companies are not qualified to develop and produce
adult products," Professor Tong said. "They earn big money by imitation and
producing counterfeit products,"
The China Youth Daily reported that a sex toy in China priced at around 500
yuan (US$60) costs only 40 yuan (US$5) to produce and keeping costs down was a
major reason for poor quality.
An examination conducted by the State Bureau of Quality and Technical
Supervision last year found that only 70 per cent of condoms sold in the market
were safe.
Irresponsible ads
And the picture for sex medicines was even more worrisome.
A recent survey in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong showed that 98.5 per cent of
sex product shops were selling fake Viagra or other medicines supposedly
containing sildenafil citrate - Viagra's active ingredient.
Sales of these fake medicines made up more than 55 per cent of the revenue of
the sex shops and in Beijing the figure was as high as 72.2 per cent.
A survey of 225 purchasers of the fake Viagra and other medicines found that 40
per cent of them were now suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes and
mental depressive disorders.
"The consumers will not launch a lawsuit or appeal unless the medicines cause
big problems, which just makes the counterfeiting more serious," said Professor
Tong.
In his eyes, to improve the situation, effective control over the rampant
exaggeration contained in advertisements for sex products was necessary.
For example, the mail boxes of city residents are often crammed with
advertisements for sex toys and exaggerated descriptions of the effects of sex
medicines. A similar position exists on websites.
Every sex product shown in the advertisements is described as being a miracle
which will ensure a better sex life and which will also cure people with sexual
dysfunction.
"What I am concerned about is the influence on youngsters who are exposed to
the advertisements and to adult products shops everywhere," said Hu Xiaoyu,
another doctor from the International Peace Maternity and Child Health
Hospital.
"There is an adult product shop near the primary school my son attends," said
Qiu Ling, a mother living in Hongkou District.
"He passes by the shop every day which displays sex toys and sexy pictures in
its windows. Although children need sex education, it is too early for them to
know about sex products."
But the real situation is that the shops are not banned from selling sex
products to children and the children are encouraged by the shops to try out
the products.
A 13-year-old boy in Hongkou District was found by his mother to be using a sex
toy which he bought from a sex product shop near his home.
"He has been silent and depressed in recent months and would go to bed as early
as he could. I was so shocked to find he was using a sex toy," the mother said.
She vowed to launch a lawsuit against the sex product shop. But she will find
there are no regulations forbidding sex product shops from selling their goods
to children.
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