Indonesia Is Literally Burning Sex Toys

Customs officials went full Christmas special villain on hundreds of dildos last week

sex toys
Indonesia is setting sex toys ablaze.
Getty Images/iStockphoto

Not unlike the Burgermeister Meisterburger in the Rankin & Bass stop-motion holiday classic Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, Indonesian officials have declared war on toys this holiday season. But while the Burgermeister set fire to piles of toy trains and such as children watched on in despair, (yes, those films are much weirder and darker than you recall) Indonesia is busy burning dildos and masturbation sleeves beloved by adult customers.

Authorities in the conservative nation destroyed hundreds of sex toys last week as demand for the products has increased amid the pandemic, Vice reported. Sex toys are illegal in Indonesia, where officials claim the products are a threat to public morals. Customs officials routinely intercept sex toy shipments, with the most recent bust resulting in the destruction of 442 sex toys, which were torched in the city of Bangdun.

Sex toy sales have been booming across the globe throughout the pandemic, and despite the illegality, Indonesia has been no exception. Sex toys remain a lucrative trade in the nation, where one adult store proprietor told Vice he wasn’t even aware of the products’ illegal status, citing the thriving network of sex toy suppliers and distributors.

The majority of the toys are reportedly imported from China, where about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys are produced. According to Chinese toy makers, sales saw a 50 percent increase in the first half of 2020, sending Indonesian officials bent on saving their nation from moral ill into a tailspin.

Is it sad that this is real life and the Indonesian government is trying to prevent citizens from experiencing the joy of sex toys? Yes. But does it also sound like a great plot for an erotic stop-motion Christmas special in which a shirtless Kris Kringle and his community of ethically non-monogamous elves find a way to restore sex toys to the good people of Indonesia, spreading the gift of orgasm far and wide this holiday season? Yes, yes it does. Someone please pay me to write this film.

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