SWEDEN — While it may be true that if you give a man a fish, he’ll have a meal, when it comes to the Swedish government providing its female citizenry with state-run pharmacy-accessible sex toys, at least two men will have complaints.According to one of the men, the so-far exclusive presence of clitoral vibrators, ben wa balls, and dildos represents “a misguided and untrue view of sexuality where a woman with a dildo is seen as liberated, strong, and independent, whereas a man with a blow up plastic vagina is viewed as disgusting and perverted.”

Both men have registered their dismay about falling behind in the sex toy race with the Swedish Equal Opportunity Umbudsman agency, insisting that the primarily female-marketed sex toy inventory is evidence of discrimination by government-run pharmacy chain Apoteket.

JämO has reviewed both complaints and deemed one of them groundless, stating that “Apoteket’s goods are made available to men and women, and therefore Apoteket does not break the law regarding sex discrimination.”

A 2005 amendment to the Swedish Equal Opportunities Act attempted to provide gender parity to citizens. Some see the hue-and-cry over pharmacy sex toys as another way in which men are attempting to make sure their voices are heard in what has been seen as a female-centric society.

Some results of the amendment have been the restriction of hairdressers and taxi drivers from offering lower rates to women, clubs and bars being stopped from providing special entry privileges to women, and the imposition of identical membership rates for men and women who use dating services. Salaries paid to women have often been boosted to match those of their male career track peers, creating greater wage equity.

Eva Fernvall works as head of products for Apoteket, which has been selling sex toys since June. Fernvall feels that the lower number of specifically male-marketed items is merely a result of poor market selection. “As I understand it,” she explained to the Expressen newspaper, “there are no products of good quality for men on the market. Should there be such products specifically for men, then there is nothing stopping us from selling them.”

Perhaps an Apoteket subscription to the AVN Novelty Guide is in order?