Startup that makes sex toys for women



The ads submitted by women’s sexual-health startup Dame Products to run in New York’s transit system show female-focused sex toys.To get more news about 中文字幕日韩欧美一区二区三区, you can visit our official website.

But they don’t look like anything specific — just smooth, if odd, shapes in shades of green, blue, maroon and light pink. One ad included the words, “Toys, for sex.”

Dame says they were rejected by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in December for promoting a “sexually oriented business.”Now, Dame is suing the MTA for rejecting its ads, alleging free speech violations by the agency, which is run by the state of New York. In its complaint, the company cites what it deems inconsistencies in ads that the MTA allows, including one featuring phallic-shaped cacti promoting a men’s health startup that sells erectile dysfunction medication.

The startup says it spent roughly $150,000 to develop and revise the ad campaign it believed would be approved to run. But the MTA said in a memo to Dame that the proposed ads “promote a sexually oriented business, which has long been prohibited by the MTA’s advertising standards.” The memo is cited in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday by Dame in federal court in New York.

“The MTA’s FAQs about its advertising policy clearly states that advertisements for sex toys or devices for any gender are not permitted, and advertising for FDA approved medication – for either gender – is permitted,” MTA spokesman Maxwell Young said in a statement. “In its proprietary capacity as the operator of a transit system used by all New Yorkers, the MTA is constitutionally entitled to draw reasonable content-based distinctions between different types of advertisements and to consider its diverse customers.”Dame says that prior to the rejection, it had collaborated with Outfront Media, the company that serves as the MTA’s advertising contractor. After several months of back and forth, a representative for Outfront told Dame that it had “no objections” to two ads featuring its small, wearable vibrator called Fin, worn between the fingers, with two different text options: “Toys, for Sex” and “Get from Point A to Point O.”

However, Outfront said some of the other ads submitted weren’t suitable, according to the complaint. Outfront, which was not sued by Dame, declined to comment.

In late November, weeks after Dame submitted its revised ads based on the feedback, the same representative said the ads had been rejected and that the MTA would be releasing a new FAQ about its guidelines, according to the lawsuit. On December 3, the representative forwarded a memou from the MTA’s chief development officer regarding its decision to not approve the ads. The updated FAQ specifies that “advertisements for sex toys or devices for any gender fall within” the prohibited “sexually oriented business” category.I think it’s important that we are fair, and it is unfair that these other companies are being allowed to run advertisements that are validating sex in some way, and our company that targets female enjoyment is being viewed as inappropriate,” Alexandra Fine, CEO and cofounder of Dame Products, told CNN Business in an exclusive interview.

The Brooklyn-based company, started by Fine and Janet Lieberman — an engineer who serves as cofounder and chief technology officer — aims to get people talking about consensual sex that is pleasurable for women.