FORT WORTH, Texas — Six months after her arrest, a Burleson woman continues to sell sex toys at “passion parties”. Now, she’s fighting to overturn the state’s obscenity law.
“The women who are there love being there,” Joanne Webb said of what some call a Tupperware party, with a twist.
“We also have some edible products,” Webb said.
“You just turn it on and it buzzes and it makes your bath experience or spa experience a whole lot more wonderful,” Webb said.
Webb’s most recent passion party was near Houston, but she said she usually does them in North Texas, excluding Johnson County, where she was arrested last November.
“The parties aren’t dirty, they’re not gross, they’re fun,” she said.
Burleson Police said Webb broke obscenity laws by selling a vibrating sex toy known as a dildo to two undercover officers posing as a couple.
Webb, a former chamber of commerce leader and fifth-grade teacher could get one year in jail.
“You know, I really don’t see that happening. If it does I’ll be shocked. It’s a possibility, yes,” she said.
Webb has appeared in Johnson County court, but no trial date has been set while her attorney challenges the Texas obscenity law in federal court.
“The thrust of the legal argument is, ladies and gentlemen, couples have a right in their home to privacy and to be able to purchase items in connection to their relationship without fear of arrest,” Webb’s attorney, BeAnn Sizemore, said.
“On the one hand, you can have Bob Dole on public television shouting the praises and the joys of Viagra, but when a woman goes into a private home and talks to women about how they can achieve the same kind of joys, it’s a criminal offense,” she said.
“I continue to fight. I continue to push my business to help women,” Webb said.
Webb said she would continue her invitation-only parties, even if it means risking another arrest.
Burleson police won’t talk about the case anymore, nor will the county attorney.
With no court dates set, the case could drag on for months.