Paradise Marketing, Lube & Condom Company, Denied Insurance

Alright, now this one is just baffling. Paradise Marketing, which has sold condoms, lube, and other pleasure products since 1978, were informed that their workers’ compensation policy was canceled as of February 2022. The Hartford Company, one of the largest insurance providers in the United States, explained that they would not be renewing Paradise Marketing’s policy because the business sells adult products, which Hartford described as a “risk.” 

The idea that businesses selling adult products, whether they be porn videos or vibrators, are riskier for fraud or other legal liabilities is a common excuse for banks and landlords to deny services. 

Discrimination against sexual wellness product businesses is troubling for the same reason that adult entertainment censorship is troubling; these are impositions on everyone’s sexual freedom of expression and right to health access. Companies like Paradise Marketing that are in sex adjacent industries need to band together with the sex worker rights movement. Together, we can stand up to conservative prejudice and make the world safer for reproductive and pleasure justice.