An erotic toy company’s donation to a U Med School chair is raising eyebrows in cyberworld today, but the U’s rep says the company, Adam & Eve, is only one of many donors to the position, MPR reports.
The company — whose naughty website sells sex toys and porn and is blocked by this paper’s server — donated an undisclosed amount to the creation of the chair, named after Joycelyn Elders. A controversy in her own right, Elders is famous for saying masturbation should be taught as a means to reduce HIV. Her tenure as surgeon general under President Bill Clinton was cut short.
The Strib quotes Adam & Eve spokesman Chad Davis as saying the company donated a five-figure amount to the chair, which altogether generated more than $2 million from more than 275 donors worldwide. Adam & Eve has a history of donating to sexual health causes like the Med School’s chair, formally titled the Joycelyn Elders Chair in Sexual Health Education.
Eli Coleman, director of the Med School’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, told MPR he realizes the stigma of the donation but points to the high number of donors as reason that Adam & Eve’s won’t have too much influence on the position.
He’s candid with MPR: “We do know that many individuals and couples enjoy erotica as part of their healthy sex relationship, and we have evidence where that can be helpful. We’re also aware some people get lost, and we treat people who have problems with internet pornography.”