Dildo Diaries (2002)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Directors:

Laura Barton (co-director)
Judy Wilder (co-director)

Genre:

Comedy | Documentary

Plot:

In the early 1900's, a new invention (and one of the very first uses of the electric motor) was created to address the 'problem' of women's hysteria...

Plot Keywords:

Texas | Sex Toy | Legislator | Sex Shop | Lesbian Interest

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Molly Ivins	...	Herself
Annie Sprinkle	...	Herself
Carol Queen	...	Herself
Lynn Raridon	...	Herself
Scott Tucker	...	Himself
Anton Michael	...	Himself
Jane Liszewski	...	Herself
Kat Sunlove	...	Herself
Louis Sirkin	...	Himself
Janie Liszewski	...	Herself
Dona Edwards	...	Herself
Amanda Love	...	Herself
William Margold	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Warren Chisum	...	Himself
Debra Danburg	...	Herself
Senfronia Thompson	...	Herself

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

IA Films Inc.

A Probing Look at Legislative Insanity

"Dildo Granny" directors Laura Barton and Judy Wilder stuck their businesses where no G*d-fearin' straight white Chr*stian male in the state of Texas had dared before: into various sex shops in the Austin area. This hour-long video documents Texas' ridiculous law regulating the sale of dildos.

Texas makes it illegal to own more than five dildos, or to use them to commit "sodomy", which for them is defined as any sexual contact other than missionary position sex between married people. Back in the early '90's, Molly Ivins raked the idiots of the state legislature over the coals, but more than eight years have passed, and this law is still on the books. Hence, Barton and Wilder invite Ivins back to recap for us, and the results are hilarious.

Being a native New Englander, I had a hard time understanding Ivins' drawl at first, but no matter, we easily see that if Ivins is a shotgun toting pickup driving Texas Mama, her shotgun is her mouth or her pen or her keyboard tapping fingers. No one is spared from her pithy fusillade of recollections.

The highlights of the video are clips gleaned from official tapes on the statehouse floor, where legislators debated what exactly "sodomy" means, and what should be its punishment. Tell-it-like-it-is legislators Senfronia Thompson and Debra Danberg muse about the nonsense they endured during that debate and others.

While the video was hilarious, the ensuing discussion with the directors was much more sobering. Texas sex shop owners and employees are being arrested if they have more than five dildos on their premises, or if they refer to them without using euphemisms. Worse, they are being prosecuted via Title 18 (Rico laws), whereby their assets are being confiscated just as if they were racketeering or were involved in organized crime.