Buy Dildos on the Taxpayer Dime in Louisiana
Well, this is mildly outrageous: In Louisiana, it's totally cool to buy lingerie and other sexy-time stuff with Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. Looks like it's edible underwear and jelly-bean flavored lube for dinner again tonight, kids!
Actually, though they're most associated with food stamps, EBT cards serve as a repository for a host of state and federal assistance mechanisms, including cash benefits from the federal government which can be used relatively open-endedly. The only things prohibited from purchase with these benefits are alcohol, tobacco, lottery tickets, and adult entertainment (including casino games). According to Gonzales, Louisiana, TV station WAFB, local store Kiss My Lingerie has been accepting EBT cards as payment for about eight months now.
I hate to be one of those people who makes a huge deal at any hint of benefit abuse, so let's acknowledge that we don't know how many (if any) people have used federal benefits at Kiss My Lingerie. And undergarments in general are a pretty basic necessity, so not beyond the pale as an EBT purchase per se.
But you can sure buy your bras cheaper at Target than at a lingerie shop. And from the looks of things, the kinds of items Kiss My Lingerie sells are pretty far from basic undergarments. EBT benefits could also be used there to purchase "toys and novelties."
UPDATE: I reached out to the owner of Kiss My Lingerie earlier today to ask whether people were actually using EBT cards at her store and, if so, approximately how many. She just wrote me back, and here's her response:
zero so far.
Looks like low-income Louisianans prefer food to sex toys, after all.
