Parent Freaks Out Over Sex Ed Class Trip to Adult Toy Store

MIPPLE CITY, Minn.—In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea for Starri Hedges, both director of the Gaia Democratic School and its sex ed teacher, to have planned a sex-ed class trip to the Smitten Kitten adult novelty boutique. Of course, it's not as if the kids wouldn't learn a lot from the trip, and Smitten Kitten owner Jennifer Pritchett told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that she considers her store to be "an educational resource about sex and sexuality," adding, "We leave it up to the discretion of parents and guardians as to when, if, and in what capacity they seek resources from our educators." Part of the reason Pritchett can make that statement is that the store's sexually explicit merchandise—DVDs, books and magazines—is less than 15 percent of its stock, with its main sale items being lingerie, candles, feather boas, incense, heart-shaped candy dishes, bedazzled lunchboxes and the like, as well as a decent selection of dildos and vibrators, all discreetly packaged and displayed. Indeed, when the store opened in 2003, Pritchett committed to promoting "an inclusive, shame-free environment where it’s OK to talk about all kinds of consensual sex"—and even had a section set aside for educational workshops which are offered free of charge. It was that last offer that drew Hedges to schedule the class trip to the store. "What I saw happening on our trip, I thought it was beautiful because kids could talk to these sex educators without any shame, without any fear," Hedges told a reporter for the Associated Press. She also noted that while there, some of the older kids bought condoms. Trouble was, although Hedges took just a dozen kids on the trip—half of the private school's entire population—included among them were the 11- and 13-year-old daughters of Lynn Floyd, who was upset that the trip hadn't been cleared with any of the parents beforehand. "I just struggled to think that I wasn’t involved in that," he said, adding that he considered the lack of notification "a major breach of trust." Floyd and his ex-wife have pulled all three of their children out of the school, and it was reported that the "school community" would meet last night to discuss the field trip, though no report of what occurred at the meeting has yet been published. But Floyd wasn't the only one upset; there were also the Minneapolis city ordinances to contend with, one of which states that those younger than 18 should not be exposed to "sexually provocative written, photographic, printed, sound, or published materials deemed harmful to minors," and indeed, Grant Wilson, Minneapolis business license manager, said that if a store had explicit adult toys in plain view, it shouldn’t be allowed to have minors in the store. In fact, yesterday, city inspectors visited the store, on orders from Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal, who said that the city plans to issue a violation notice for failing to comply with both the city ordinance and a local zoning ordinance, though she said the store could bring itself back into compliance by reconfiguring its space or covering the "offending" items. As for Hedges, she's having second thoughts about taking another of her classes to Smitten Kitten. "It was certainly the first time we have taken that kind of field trip and it will probably be our last, which I feel bad [about] because the kids had so much fun," she said.