Good ole Larry Flynt

[BrainyBeauty]

He just can't let sleeping dogs lay/lie/whatever.

He and his brother just opened up their Hustler of Hollywood Superstore right up the pike. Yes, he is still (butt)plugging away at getting the goat of all our local gov't officials who convicted him some 20+ years ago.

He made a gallant effort a few years ago by opening up a shop downtown. (After a PR dream of handing out free copies of Hustler magazine in the city center at lunchtime-prompting riot police to appear to control the crowd!!!)

The city council had to go out and pass laws specifically to evict him! He relocated but found little success. Undaunted, he decided to move one county north of here- still kind of stickin' it to the old politicos.

This weekend he opened up the new place- complete with a staggeringly huge neon sign next to Interstate 75 beckoning all to enter his den of iniquity! And guess what? Besides the assemblage of reverends/ministers and other protesters in the adjacent parking lot, he actually drew quite a crowd. On the news, I saw a diverse group- from college age kids to grandmothers! I was kind of surprised. Since when did Hustler's raunchy head honcho become so .........mainstream?

I will probably go check it out (since I have already been to the sleazy one further up the highway) Which brings me to my question- how many of you have shopped in a XXX store? Do you use cash? Are you embarrassed? Since you don't have the anonymity of catalog shopping or internet buying, do you worry about people seeing you go inside one of these stores? (The preacher group is notorious for writing down license plates of customers and tracking them down!!!) Would you be willing to be interviewed on camera coming out of the store?

 

[Chuckus]

Well I will say this about Hustler and mainstream, really? News to me....

Now as for your questions

I have shopped/do shop in XXX stores and am not embarrassed by it one bit. I mean it is after all a commodity that you can buy on the Internet or Catalogs or in person down at the ole Porn Shop. At first I was a little giggly when I went, but really it is no big deal to me. I am open and do not "hide" it but I also do not leave it in plain sight either. If they (preachers,etc....) had the gall to write down my tag number and track me down and tried spewing "How wrong and demoralizing it is" I would laugh in their face.
Who are they to judge me? They are human and not one to judge me. But I would be willing to listen though I doubt it would change a thing.

I do agree that some of it is demoralizing and should not be sold (child pornography, etc...) and would never buy that.

In general I think that the people who participate in it, the models, actors, etc... are making a living whether you agree with it or not. I choose to view it and look at it, if you don't like it, then don't read it. If you don't like it, then do something about it.

I bet if all sides would be reasonable (sure right?!?!?!), there could be some common ground to compromise on such as locations, advertising billboards and signs and even take it a step further and really crack down and tighten things up and make it a safer enviroment for everyone. I do not goto any cheesy places, I goto the places that are well lit and good access. I go where I feel safe and secure.

 

[Thumper]

Me...never..I am pure as the driven snow..

Yep...been to'em. Lion's den. Up 71 in Washington CH..
Interview yeah I would do it..can't accuse me of being shy. LOL

Umm...can I go with ya BB??? Please...I'll be good..or bad...I won't ask for a thing...maybe..

Let'em write my plate number down...I'll just tell them I am tired of the cold and I'm buying my ticket to hell...Beelzebub has a great tanning package I hear...

 

[jcgirl]

Nope, never been in one of those store. But I think I might be slightly embarrassed.


Loved the movie by the way.

 

[BrainyBeauty]

Chuckus- I agree with your point.  Just like anything else in life, if people don't like porn, then they should avoid going into those stores.

I have been to the one Thumper mentioned (Lion's Den) and believeyoume, that is a sleazy, dark, disgusting place. Like you, jcgirl, I was embarrassed to go in (I was with my boyfriend) I felt safe in that respect, but I would never go there alone.  It is the stereotypical place- right next to the highway.  You half expect some old geezer in a trench coat to flash you any minute!  At the same time, it was exciting since it was so different an experience!  It was 'naughty' and bad!   

When I found some items I wanted to purchase, I found I had no cash.  (This wasn't a planned trip- we stopped in on our way out of town)   My boyfriend didn't have any either so I had to put the items on my credit card. I was so scared to do that- what would MasterCard think of me???  LOL  Yeah, yeah I know they 'hide' the identity of their store for your bill.  I was really paranoid though! (Although, I am sure the credit card company and the banks know exactly what the store is!)

My point about this new Hustler store being what I called mainstream is this- it was bright and clean and looked like any other store you would find in any mall (although this is a freestanding structure) For this ultra-conservative community, I was shocked to see the diverse group of people shopping there.

But then just last night on the news, 2 employees of 2 different stores downtown were arrested and arraigned for selling obscene material/pornographic movie! This is the same film Larry was convicted of selling here last year. (He pled guilty and was only fined) These poor schlubs face jail time. So, in the heart of the anti-smut land, why is he suddenly accepted and hailed?

 

[Svedish_Chef]

So where is this dear?

 

[Cheyenne]

Which brings me to my question- how many of you have shopped in a XXX store? Do you use cash? Are you embarrassed? Since you don't have the anonymity of catalog shopping or internet buying, do you worry about people seeing you go inside one of these stores? (The preacher group is notorious for writing down license plates of customers and tracking them down!!!) Would you be willing to be interviewed on camera coming out of the store?

Nope, have never been in one. I'd have to go in with a male member of the race so I could blame being there on him. Once I got in, I wouldn't care about using a credit card or cash- VISA likes me to spend money anywhere. Would I want to be interviewed on camera coming out of the store? Nope. That would violate the WWMMS rule. More importantly, it could hurt my job.

 

[Gaucho]

Guilty as charged, although this was in San Diego in the late 70's/early 80's where anonymity was more or less a sure thing. Back then the "stores" were fairly sordid, with neon signs to attract your attention, bright front rooms with well-thumbed books and magazines (the raunchiest ones were never wrapped in plastic - as though someone was saying, "Hey, kid! This is what you came in to see, wasn't it?"), and in the back, through the beaded curtains, lurked the darkened recesses of the video booths.

These booths, scary and seductive at the same time, were quarter-sucking purveyors of every kind of smut imaginable. Whatever your brand of kink, there was a booth for it. Some of the booths were large enough to fit more than one person; some instead featured a glory hole for more...anonymous interactivity. And there were always men (and a few women) willing to disabuse you of any remaining virtuous notions.

Kind of hard to equate that notion of pornography with mainstream America, isn't it?

Fast forward to the year 2000 in Vermont. The few XXX houses in the state are small, low-key and very quiet establishments. Inside, they are restrained in their presentations and style of decoration and men and women alike seem comfortable shopping in them. Gone are the neon billboards and the sweaty backrooms. Video booths are one-person only and come complete with a roll of paper towels.

Gee. All the comforts of home. Maybe porn is becoming mainstream after all.

Still, I don't think so. As long as there is some spike in our psychological makeup that prevents us from associating the woman who likes to be fucked hard and fast in the ass with being a good wife and mother or the man who likes to wear panties and suck cock on the side with being a good husband and father, porn will remain what it's always been: a guilty pleasure.

I keep thinking of the line from "Analyze This" when Billy Crystal (as the psychologist) asks Robert DeNiro why he can't do with his wife what he does with his mistress. Shocked to his core, DeNiro answers (as many men would, I think), "Hey, that's the mouth she kisses our kids with!".

Does any of this sound familiar?

[Edited by Gaucho on 12-21-2000 at 11:35 AM]

 

[Silverlily]

I've been to the Dream Dresser store in Washington D.C., does that count? It wasn't sleazy and the staff was extremely helpful.

For those that don't know, Dream Dresser carries fetish wear; leather, latex, and such including whips, restraints and other assorted goodies.

 

[Never]

Cheyenne: "That would violate the WWMMS rule."
What would my mom say?
"My daughter? In a porn shop? This is have to see - nineteen year old, never dated and telling me not to swear."

 

[Ticklish Girl]

I buy all my toys at Eve's Garden, Naughty & Nice and Come Again Erotic Emporium here in NYC. They're all great stores, but maybe too upscale to count as "porn shops."

I went to one of the cheesier NYC porn shops with a bunch of girlfriends one night this past summer (and no, I wasn't the one who suggested we do that ). I don't remember the name of the place, but it had the grossest collection of porno tapes I'd ever seen. They actually had a tape devoted to women with big pussies -- the woman on the cover was spread open to demonstrate how big hers was, and I swear that thing looked like the Lincoln Tunnel.

 

[BrainyBeauty]

Need a price check on these here double-headed dildos in aisle 9!

Gaucho- as usual, you crack me up! And hit the nail on the head. I think it is still... umm unacceptable behavior for the most part. I am sure the mail order business is booming, but the in-yer-face shopping experience is still limited to a select brave few.

Kitten and Ticklish Girl, I am so glad I am not the only female here who admits to having shopped in one!
I would have thought that more Literoticans would have participated in this behavior.

Chef- I am referring to the Bible-thumping region of southwestern Ohio. Where, all of a sudden, it seems that the only people who object to this are the lawmakers. The ones who recruit children in these 'stings' to enter these places to buy movies, then charge the owners with breaking obscenity laws. (I may be wrong- since this entire region is so ultra-conservative. That is the whole point of my thread- since when did all these people change their minds and suddenly accept Hustler and even contribute to making him even more filthy rich?)

But, I am still a bit taken aback that so many 'regular' people were filmed browsing and shopping in Flynt's store. Cheyenne, that is where your WWMMS theory should come into play. And it didn't. People were laughing and chatting about the experience. That is what caught my attention.

 

[TN_Vixen]

I've been to porn shops and the first time I went I was embarassed but managed to go back several *ahem* times after that. I actually went there once with a friend who came in from England and he dared me to ask the guy about collars ... and "S'cuse me? But which whips make the worst marks on the body?" hehe. I did it but not without him egging me on... did it with a straight face and even tried on a collar. (grin)

Went to a porn shop in NYC several years ago and was leafing through this magazine while I waited for my friends to get tired of the porn booths... and this huge black guy sitting up on this high bullet-proof cage growls "Ya gonna buy that?" I nearly jumped 3 ft. in the air. He said I couldn't look unless I was going to buy. I told him not to hold it against a dumb blonde from TN. *smile*

What's funny is when you go into the video stores to rent the XXX flicks and when you open the door 15 guys look at you and probably think to themselves.. "WTF?" hehe. I love it when they surreptitiously follow you around too just to see what you pick out.

Ahhhh, enough. It's Christmas.