It’s understandable that communities would want to reduce the sleaze factor of sex-oriented businesses. But our editorial today argues that legislative and city efforts to restrict their signs, tax their products, and rezone their locations could be doomed to legal failure.
The reaction of local lawyer Steve Joseph to these efforts is revealing: “Oh, make me some money. I’m loving it.”
Lawyers might be the ones who benefit the most from these laws. Like it or not, sex businesses have First Amendment rights, and they have a record of successfully defending them in court.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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50 Comments
These are all ways of trying to harass the adult businesses out of business because some people find them objectionable.
Gee…if those holier than everyone people don’t like those adults stores, how about they don’t go into them?
Nawww..probably too logical for people like the southwind morons.
Why is it that these holy rollers think they know how best for me to live my life. I don’t try and tell them where they should go and what they should believe.
Why do they feel it’s ok to try and control my life?
I find Fred Phelps obescene, yet he pays no taxes and his kids have state, taxpayer funded jobs.
Regardless of how many of us good Christians are opposed to these shops and support laws restricting them, you can’t deny the underling social factor they bring into the equation.
These laws can be and usually are backed up with more than just religious convictions.
If there was a way to sue states for harassment, a lot of this crap would never get off the ground!
Nathan, the anti-porn Marine. Must make you real popular in the barracks on a Saturday night . . .
“Reasonable” restrictions on signage should be allowed. That is where these shops cross the line from their own private enjoyment to imposing on others.
Do you still not understand the RESERVES Proudlib?
We need reasonable restrictions on all signage. Make the restrictions you want imposed on sex shops apply to all businesses.
I’m a Libertarian on the whole Sex shop deal. No one is putting a concealed weapon to anyone’s head to go in there.That said, for the flippin’ Eagle/McCain to defend them in the name of the First Amendment when the Eagle/McCain has supported unconstitutional restrictions of protected First Amendment political speech (campaign finance reform) is hysterical.
I certainly don’t want this crap in my neighborhood, and it has nothing to do with religious reasons.
I agree Todd. REASONABLE zoning and signage restrictions. I don’t want a QuikTrip in my residential neighborhood either.
The key is to be reasonable instead of draconian. For example, why not allow them in a bar district?
If the goverment outlawed everything that upset NIBY’s there would be no commerce.
Pancho – what does a porn shop add to a neighborhood?
Todd, a porn shop adds nothing to a neighborhood and as Ben says, there should be reasonable restrictions. However, these businesses wouldn’t survive if there wasn’t a demand for their products/services. Put them in a bar district, out on the edge of town, out of town on the interstate. But lets get over making such a fuss about businesses that obviously have a lot of customers. Don’t like sex shops? Stay out of them. Don’t try to push your morals off onto people who don’t share them.
It is not a matter of commercial interests in a residential zoned area…that is not even close to the issue here. Nobody wants the traffic of a commercial retail business in their neighborhood, regardless of what is sold.
The issue is that a vocal extremist group thinks that since these shops are objectionable to them, then nobody should ever be able to go into one.
The adult store attorneys will not only make a pile of money fighting this, precedents suggest they will also win.
Southwind does not speak for me, nor does Mayans.
Nobody thinks a sex store belongs in a neighborhood. For the record NIBY means “not in my backyard” They’ll block anything that they don’t like from Landfills and prisons to Walmarts and Targets, how many other projects can people think of that were blocked by people who didn’t want an “increase in traffic”
Btw someone with the name santiagoshouldn’t throw rocks at a glass house.
Anybody thinking Mardi Gras with beads and flashes? ;)
God knows that we wouldn’t want to put any restrictions on a business that validates and encourages the belief that women are meant to be used as objects for male sexual gratification. Why, that would be unconstitutional!!!!Where are the women on this issue? Why am I always in this battle by myself?Boys, it time to grow up.
Every thing should be within reason. This sign issues is not an issue in that most signs outside of the porn shops are not flashy, have words by themselves are not porn. Unless it is the reader that gives that power. They are straight forward, “Adult books, movies, private booths”. But if those simple words are offensive to someone I would suspect that they are looking for something to be offended by. It is the idea and not the words that are found offensive. Everytime I hear about another push on this subject I think of the porn shop on Harry just passed Washington. It has been there for years, long before the activist Christian church came in. What windows there are have covering on them so you can not see in. The sign is two colors, if I recall brown and either black or white letterings. Quiet, low key and often not that busy. Yes there is matteral in there that can be offesive to some. But that matteral is inside, you will have to go inside! You would only has to assume people are having sex in their bedrooms. Unless you went inside the bedroom. If Pastor Fox kept his view inside of Immanuel I would not find him offensive to the faith and to non-believers.
As a Christian it is upon you to not go inside. That may very well be your Christian duty. This on the other hand is not. Find offense where it really is and not where it is not plain and you must hunt for it. If you have to hunt for something offensive, perhaps it was not offensive to you to begin with.
Rape is not a sexual crime, it’s a crime about control. The sex shops aren’t what turn people into rapists, it’s society issues.
When I was single I liked the freedom to walk into a sex shop and purchase a device for my private use to take the edge off my sex drive without needing another human.After marriage my husband and I purchases items to spice up our sex lives together.Sex is a natural part of our lives. When we cover it with shame we cause problems.
Everything isn’t always negative. SEx is a beautiful thing between a couple. Why do we persist that all sex is negative?
If southwind believes everything in Priscillas is obscene, then why dont’ we black out all the windows on the sexy lingerie shops in the mall where are children can see them?
Damoon..
Your generalizations are way off base. “boys, it is time to grow up”?? My wife and I enjoy going into adult stores occasionally. There are more things there than films promoting women as objects.
Open your mind a bit..and realize that some happy married couples with a healthy relationship sometimes can enjoy adult products.
It is not for you, Southwind, or anyone else to tell me how to be happy in my marriage. If my wife and I like to buy a certain product that is none of your business nor is it any place for you to judge.
You guys STILL don’t get it. I’m not against sex toys or erotica (in the right place), it’s porn I’m opposed to, because it’s degrading to another human. If sex is equal and satisfying to both, then it’s a beautiful thing.Sum1, Yes rape is about control, but that’s how the perpetrator GETS his sexual release, just ask Dennis Rader.Porn does a diservice to our culture and society by objectifying and exploiting a person (mostly women and children) for another’s sexual gratification. It’s also addictive, if you don’t believe me, just ask someone who has a sexual addiction.Most sexual perpetrators will admitt that they have an addiction to pornography, and with the advent of computer porn, addiction is becoming a big problem in our country. The reports of sexual exploitation of children incidents increased from 4,000 to over 80,000 in the last 5 yrs.I’m not saying you’re wrong for wanting to purchase sex toys for your own enjoyment, I just don’t think adult stores should sell pornography. It’s not good for the boys.
Damoon, I usually agree with you but not on this issue. I am not a big fan of Andrea Dworkin. :) Which is the chicken here and which is the egg?
“Most sexual perpetrators will admitt that they have an addiction to pornography, and with the advent of computer porn, addiction is becoming a big problem in our country.”
And is there something underlying that pushes both, the perpetration and the addiction to porn? I am not sure this statement proved cause and effect. Sounds like correlation not causation.
And if I remember right, rader could get off on a catalog picture of underwear models. Should we restrict access to those too?
Oh no, not the topic of porn being addicting again. Damoon get over it. Everything can be addicting depending on the personality of the person doing the activity.
If they are going to levy a tax on sex shops and dirty magazines, then I feel that churches need to start paying taxes as well. Why should my entertainment be taxed unfairly while churches get off tax free.
So…because porn can be a problem for a certain percentage of the population, it should be banned?
I seem to remember the country trying something like that a while back…with alcohol, I believe. Didn’t work, and neither will this.
First, porn is exploding online, with over 4.2 million sexually explicit websites. Obviously, the demand is there.
Second, according to John Bancroft, former director of the Kinsey Institute for research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, as quoted in the LA Times on 12/29/05, “sex addiction is not recognized as a legitimate psychiatric disorder.”
XXX,”Todd, a porn shop adds nothing to a neighborhood…”Gee, I don’t know about that; my neighborhood has recently been invaded by dentist’s, insurance agents’s and investment councillor’s offices. A sex shop or two would go a long way toward replacing all the color these businesses have sucked out of the area!
LOL Jed, as I recall, you have a penchant for living in some unusual neighborhoods (gang central?) Thing that irritates me is, people who move into an area where there’s a porn shop and then complain about it.
As has been said before, if you don’t like porn shops, don’t patronize them.
Damoon, porn isn’t a cause, it’s a symptom in the case of a sicko. The problem goes much deeper than the porn. Porn doesn’t cause or create anything. And as for being “degrading to another human”, I have a friend that’s a stripper. She doesn’t feel degraded at all, and she makes more money than I do.
http://www.thisisawar.com/AddictionPornChild.htm
http://www.contentwatch.com/learn_center/article.php/101
http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/chunter/porn_effects.html
These sites speak for themselves on the adverse affects on society and the individual.
I give up!!!!! A stripper isn’t considered “porn”.You guys don’t even seem to know the difference between porn, erotica, and sexually explicit.Raptor, yes, sexual addiction is addressed in the DSM IV, it’s classified under several different sexual disorders, and IT IS a reality, just ask anyone who’s worked in the field of psychiatry.Porn is hurtful to society, no matter how much you guys want to deny it, and we’re all paying the price for it. Like I said before, reports of child sexual exploitation have exploded, from 4,000 a year to over 80,000 a year since the availability of internet porn.But that’s OK, you all just put your blinders on and pretend that nothing’s wrong. I’m done here.
I feel like the focus on the sex shops takes away from the real issues about women. Sex is a hot button issue that people respond to.There are hundreds of subtle ways society shows women they are 2nd class citizens. The way women sports are underfunded for high school sends that message at an early age to our youth. The unequal wages in the workplace for the same work based on sex. The way women only recently were able to have insurance cover birth control for their bodies. That wouldn’t have come around at all, if men hadn’t wanted their viagra covered. Professors at colleges stating publicly that women can’t do science as well as a man.
Last year 25million people received food assistance. Most were women and single parent families. Those are the problems that should be focused on.Help families with the cost of child care if you’re insistent they can live on minimum wage. Don’t trap a mother into a dangerous situation for her children by condeming her to less than poverty as the only option.
Stopping the sex shops is a red herring
I suppose southwind thinks a single person should go to bars to have sex with strangers instead of being able to purchase something for the privacy of their home.
The way society views women IS the basis for all the problems you listed above, Sum1. Until women are viewed and treated with respect, then nothing will change. Pornography does NOTHING but condone the idea that women are second class citizens to be used and abused.Fighting the objectification of women and children is big part of the fight for human rights.Buying sex toys for yourself has nothing to do with what I’m talking about. I couldn’t care less about what people do in the privacy of their bedroom. It’s the industry that profits from the sexual exploitation of women and children offends me so much.
OK, I really am finished with this thread, for now anyway!
Strippers aren’t porn? You haven’t seen my friend in action, lol!
Unless she’s got you tied up and?or she’s doing humiliating things to you or forcing you to do things you don’t want to do in order to get her jollies, then it’s not porn! If she’s nude and dancing sexy, then that’s artistic expression.
Da,
Nude and dancing sexy is artistic expression… hmmm…I still don’t get what you’re talking about, can you come by around my place and show me exactly what you mean? ;)
Damoon, I understand what you’re saying, I just don’t agree with you or southwind on this subject. By telling people this ‘fix’ will solve all their problems they take away the focus on the real issues.
A man who molests the children in his environment doesnt’ do it because of porn, he does it because it’s what his adult figures taught him it was ok.
In the last several years society has taken steps to bring focus on the subject and that has to be done to end the problem. Secrecy is what allows the problem to keep on.
I disagree with the idea that a perpetrator “learns” his behavior form his adult role models. You were molested, do you have the urge to molest children? I doubt it! The myth that most perpetrators are victims of sexual abuse was debunked long ago. It has to do more with personality disorders, which can be genitically predisposed, but not always. Many sexual offenders will admit they are addicted to pornopgraphy. It’s the desensitization to predatory sexual behavior that allows them to act out. Porn breaks down the boundries and allows the desesitization to occur. It’s also addictive because masterbation is strongly reinforcing to the human pscyhe. It’s not that porn “causes” people to act out, but it sets the stage for it to happen more easily.Women need to regain a place of respect in our society, many of the gains due to the women’s movement have somehow started to peter out in the last generation. When we allow ourselves to be degraded in pornograhic films, music, books, clubs, and airport bathrooms (look up the urinals in the New York Virgin Airway bathrooms), then we’ll always be considered 2nd class citizens. John Lennon said it best, “women are the niggers of the world”. Look around at the women’s (and children’s) plight in other countries. As American’s we need to set the example of how women should be respected and treated. By allowing ourselves to be used as sexual objects under the facade of free speech, then we are an example to no one.
X, I could come by and show you but, at 53, it wouldn’t be pretty!!!LOLToo bad youth is wasted on the young. I’d love to go back and appreciate the body I had when I was 21, seems like we always take what we have for granted until it’s gone!
Damoon, at our age I prefer to think of us as “experienced” rather than “old”, LOL!
You got that right!!!
Da,Erotica is simply what gets you off, and porn is what gets off the people you don’t like.
Maybe, I’ll have to think about that for awhile, Jed!
Damoon…
You said you were done, so stop talking already!
To suggest that all pornography degrades women is insulting in itself. You are implying that women aren’t smart enough to choose for themselves what they want to do with their lives. You suggest that women are forced into performing sex acts so some sleezy fifty-year old can get his kicks. These poor women being degraded by the porn, being used for other’s gratification, need a man like yourself to rescue them by banning pornography?
Somehow, I don’t think the stars like Jenna Jameson would agree with you. She’s made more money by being “exploited” than most people make in their entire lives.
Pornography is exploitation, and stripping is an art form? Great, lets take out all the porn and replace them with tittybars. That’s a great way to reduce exploitation and assault against women. After we’re done there, we should prohibit JCPenny’s catalogs and board up the windows to Victoria’s Secret. I’m sure their Angels feel exploited by their supermodel status.
If you really don’t care about what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms, then stop trying to violate the First Amendment and focus on something useful- homelessness, poverty, orphans, etc.
need a man like yourself to rescue them by banning pornography?
Damoon is a chick.
These poor women being degraded by the porn, being used for other’s gratification,
lets take out all the porn and replace them with tittybars.
Porn videos and tittybars are meant to arouse and titillate. They both share a common purpose, hence porn videos/ magazines and “tittybars” are basically the same thing just that gentlemen’s clubs are more uh.. hand’s on. :)What is the purpose of tittybars and porn? To make money off perverts and guys who can’t get any, or lost interest in their sex partners of course! After all nobody gets into the porn /tittybar industry for free!
TITTYBAR! I like that word.
I wish women would start respecting themselves again. How can we expect to be respected if we don’t respect ourselves.When I said stripping was a form of artistic expression, I was kidding.Most women who allow themselves to be used that way have been abused and neglected as children and have little or no self esteem. Making money off selling your selfworth is nothing to feel good about, Suzy.I’ll stop talking when I’m damn good and ready!
Da,Exploitation is the cornerstone of capitalism. How is stripping any more degrading than working in a coal mine or an egg crate?
Funny, my husband’s grandfather was a coal miner and I never thought of it as a “degrading” profession. Any honest work should never be considered “degrading” to anyone. I have a hard time with women who help encourage the notion that women are only worthwhile when being used for someone’s gratification. In my career, I have known many women who have sold their bodies on the streets, all of them were drug addicts with absolutely no self worth and were willing to do anything to support their habit. Most of them had been abused (sexual, physical, and/or emotional)as children. Most erotic dancers have the same problem. Their lifestyle and “work” is just the symptom of a much deeper problem. I’m against anything that is degrading to women and encourages them to be exploited as objects. It’s that simple. I guess I’m a die hard feminist that believes if women don’t respect themselves, no one else will either.
Da,
You go guurrrl!;)