Men in Sweden are irked by a state-run pharmacy that sells sex toys only for women.

Two men have dragged the pharmacy chain Apoteket, to Equal Opportunities Ombudsman, the government referee on sexual discrimination, complaining their discriminatory nature.

According to one of the petitioners, Apoteket, had a "misguided and untrue view of sexuality whereby a woman with a dildo is seen as liberated, strong and independent, while a man with a blow-up plastic vagina is viewed as disgusting and perverted."

However, refuting the claims, Eva Fernvall, the pharmacy's head of retailing, said it was simply a matter of maintaining standards.

"As I understand it, there are no products of good quality on the market for men," Times Online quoted Fernvall, as saying.

"Should there be such products specifically for men, then there is nothing stopping us from selling them," Fernvall added.

It is unlikely that the pharmacy chain would be hauled before court, but men are resorting increasingly to the law to fight for their rights across a wide spectrum of issues.

The two men were exercising their rights under a 2005 amendment to the Equal Opportunities Act, which was supposed to right the balance in a society in which women were seen as winning more and more ground.

Source-ANI
RAS/S