Venus Envy store owner Shelley Taylor poses with a chest binder, an elastic piece of fabric used by transitioning youth to compress their chest area. (Chloe Fedio/CBC Ottawa) The fact an Ottawa sex shop and bookstore was fined — and then given a reprieve — for selling a chest binder to a teenager highlights the difficulty transitioning youth have accessing products that help them affirm their gender identities, says one local transfeminine student.

Earlier this week, Venus Envy, licensed as an adult store for those 18 and over, was fined $260 after a parent complained that it sold a chest binder — a sleeveless, elastic piece of clothing that gives the chest a flat appearance — to a teenager younger than 18.

That fine has since been waived, but the entire experience is both shocking and not that unexpected, said Violet Pelley, a transfeminine student at Carleton University.

'Incredibly difficult' to find chest binders

"It doesn't surprise me that this kind of thing would happen, but it also is, like, 'Come on. That's a little bit ridiculous,'" Pelley told host Alan Neal on CBC's All in a Day Thursday.

A sign at Venus Envy promotes gender expression in the section where chest binders are sold. (Chloe Fedio/CBC) It's also "incredibly difficult" to find products like chest binders, Pelley said.

"As far as I understand it, Venus Envy is the only place that sells [chest binders] in Ottawa," said Pelley, suggesting products like chest binders should be available at pharmacies.

"You can MacGyver and make makeshift things that do virtually the same thing, but it's not the same. They're very uncomfortable, they don't really work very well. These products are designed for trans people to help affirm [their identities]" Pelley added.

Fine waived after mayor, councillor stepped in

Venus Envy store owner Shelley Taylor told CBC Ottawa that the fine was waived after Coun. Catherine McKenney, whose ward includes the business, and Mayor Jim Watson promised to repeal the bylaw.

Until the bylaw is quashed, the store will make some changes to allow youth to shop there, she said.

"What we've been told by bylaw is that if we're not selling explicit videos or magazines...if they're not on the floor, we can be all-ages," she said.

"As of Monday, we're going to get rid of those and become an all-ages store."

Listen to the full interview here.