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Food stamps recipients can now buy women’s lingerie and “adult specialty items” like sex toys, dildos, and pasties in Louisiana.
Tyana Williams reports for WAFB, March 11, 2014, that beginning 8 months ago, Kiss My Lingerie, a store that sells not just lingerie but also “adult specialty items” in the Magnolia Shopping Center in Gonzales, Louisiana, has posted on its front door that the store accepts most credit cards, including the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) or food stamps card.
A woman who works near the store and asked not to be identified said in the last few weeks, she’s noticed more people going inside the adult shop. That’s when she saw the message on the front door of the store that the EBT card is listed as an acceptable form of payment.
“We were told anything could be purchased there, with the food stamp card,” she said. “No child I know eats edible underwear.”
The woman said to her knowledge, the EBT card is supposed to be used for the support of children. A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) said the EBT card, or the Louisiana Purchase card, is not just for food stamps. There are also cash benefits available for other family needs. The only things the cash benefits do not cover are alcohol, tobacco, lottery tickets, casinos and adult entertainment.
State officials say there’s no violation of the law with the store accepting the card for lingerie and other adult items. The EBT’s cash “benefits” are part of a federal program, and Louisiana does not dictate how families spend the money of those cards, which could be less than $200 a month or up to $400 a month.
“It’s still the taxpayers dollars that are being used in a store like that and that really upsets me,” the unidentified woman said.
DCFS said there are less than 10,000 people who get the cash benefits, compared to 835,000 people who use the card strictly for food benefits. Retail stores must apply to the federal government if they want to accept the EBT cards as a payment type.
The website of Kiss My Lingerie says:
Kiss My Lingerie offers a wide range of products such as lingerie (bras, panties, specialty items), bridal lingerie, corsets, adult novelty items (toys), lotions, oils, games, books, and soon videos.
Below are two “adult novelty items” you can buy with your food stamps: the “Lots of Dicks” gift wrap, and sequinned pasties.
WARNING: Eye Bleach Alert! 
H/t Red Alert Politics and FOTM’s swampygirl
~Eowyn
