Think of the children!!!

[LadyJeanne]

Those of you who have been following my saga know that I have been prepping to move cross-country these past few weeks. I am now in my new place, borrowing internet from an unsecured wireless neighbor until mine gets hooked up next week, so thought I would share this story.

I picked up an apple turnover from one of the nearby cafes this morning, and happened to glance at the front page of a neighborhood newspaper. I laughed my ass off while standing in line - the folks in the hood are up in arms over the opening of an adult toy store on a rather large commercial street.

A toy store? Horrors! Think of the children!!! Think of the property values!!! The store is nowhere near children, though there are several churches in the area, and a few schools. In any case, the storefront has some candles and bottles of massage oils, as well as a bit of lingerie in the window. No vibes, no dildoes, and the whips and floggers are also safely out of sight.

But the children!!!

Somehow, the zillion bars in the hood are ok, but a store that says only 10-20% of its business is actually from the videos and sex toys is going to corrupt our children! Somehow, drunken baseball fans walking through the hood after a game are less of a problem on property values than a little lacy teddy in the window.

Legally, the neighbors have no recourse, as it is properly zoned and all that - thank goodness. Plus, it is a business that has been open for the last 35 years in a different location in the city, and they are most definitely not the grungy, peep show kind of places. My only complaint is that it is not on one of the streets a bit closer to my house - I would much rather see them replace one of the 500 nail salons and over-priced clothing boutiques. I guess it is ok to teach our children vanity, but heaven forbid they be anywhere near sex!

So, as one of my first acts, I fired off a letter to the editor and the author of the article. And when my honey next visits the hood, we will be taking a little stroll past the churches and schools and bars and nail salons, and right into the little pleasure palace for some shopping.

 

[Eilan]

Oh, won't someone think of the children?

[/Simpsons]



I live on the fringes of the Bible Belt and there's something similar going on here. There's an adult store--one geared toward couples--that recently opened at the interesction of a US highway and a smaller state route, and some local church members ar throwing a fit. Lately there have been several letters to the editor in our local rag, most of them anti-sex shop. What I love about these letters is that they are either citing 20+ year-old statistics or pulling numbers out of their asses (though with their heads so firmly implanted up there, I fail to see how anything else can fit). And, of course, we must think of the children because apparently people who buy sex toys and watch porn are child molestors.

For people who claim to be so anti-porn, these holier-than-thou types sure are obsessed with it.

 

[midwestyankee]

So...are we all to procreate the way Eve was conceived? Yikes!

 

[bobsgirl]

So...are we all to procreate the way Eve was conceived? Yikes!

Yes. And NO anesthetic.

 

[EJFan]

in the days of equality and political correctness, i'm surprised there isn't a group demanding a sex shop that's kid-friendly.

 

[wicked woman]

So...are we all to procreate the way Eve was conceived? Yikes!

Procreative sex is serious business...no fun or toys allowed! *stern face*

 

[midwestyankee]

Procreative sex is serious business...no fun or toys allowed! *stern face*

Well now...aren't you a barrell of fun?

 

[wicked woman]

Well now...aren't you a barrell of fun?

Not into procreative sex ...so yes I am...having visited a local sex shop not once but twice last month

 

[Cathleen]

Well now...aren't you a barrell of fun?

Yannnnkk, she said NO fun! Welcome back.


A neighboring town was successful in shutting down an adult store here a few plus years back. The location was a small, maybe 10 business building, tenants were hair salon, curtin place, and as I recall a kids clay business (can't remember if they were already there). The store front windows were darkened and it wasn't a place you walked to, there'd be no foot traffic at all, just drive. I never got to go.


LadyJ, best wishes in your new home.

 

[wicked woman]

Yannnnkk, she said NO fun! Welcome back.


A neighboring town was successful in shutting down an adult store here a few plus years back. The location was a small, maybe 10 business building, tenants were hair salon, curtin place, and as I recall a kids clay business (can't remember if they were already there). The store front windows were darkened and it wasn't a place you walked to, there'd be no foot traffic at all, just drive. I never got to go.


LadyJ, best wishes in your new home.

In all honesty I think it depends on the quality of the sex shop. The one LadyJ meantioned sounded quite tasteful...but there are some that are just out right sleazy...tacky. Forget save the children...I don't like them either!

 

[M's girl]

In all honesty I think it depends on the quality of the sex shop. The one LadyJ meantioned sounded quite tasteful...but there are some that are just out right sleazy...tacky. Forget save the children...I don't like them either!

True!

And LadyJ..... happy new home to you!

 

[midwestyankee]

[/threadjack]

Lady J, welcome to the land of Lincoln, Drinkin' and Fraud!

 

[Guest]

 

[M's girl]

Btw, I just don't get the "peep show" thing. I have absolutely no desire to reach for a door handle only to find a wad of spooge dripping off it.

Jekkes Scaly

 

[Straight-8]

This thread reminded me of what happened in this area a few years ago.

This is quite a remote area. There are various 'communities' which require local knowledge to spot. One of them is 'Thrums'. There is no town, just a few rural properties streched along the highway. One store, no gas stations, churches or anything else. The occasional farmer has a stand.

One resident decided that, obviously, what this place needed was a love shop so he opened the 'Love Shop in Thrums'. It only lasted a year or two (I assume that the 100 or so locals all bought their dildos/vibes etc and the market then dried up!) but during that time was immortalized by a local rock band in their (not) famous song 'Love Shop in Thrums'.

I think a lot of the locals thought is was an escort service - go in and 'buy your love' but in the typical tolerant attitude around these parts - no fuss; no cries of 'think of the sheep'!

 

[M's girl]

There's a chain "gift" shop in the local mall, and in other nearby malls, where i've seen handcuffs, fur-lined wrist straps, vibrators, ben-wa balls, etc., right out in the open in the middle of the store, along with a collection of risque joke gifts. I'm not sure if they sell these things under the premise of being joke gifts (I don't really care) but it seems to me the average customer in this store is way younger than me; most appeared to be teens (the strobe light is a little too much for me these days anyway ).

We have those in busy shopping streets as well. And then there are the 'real' sex shops. Some of them in the somewhat sleazier areas, others (better names like Christine Le Duc) in the better areas. I don't know... the ones in the red light district (Amsterdam) are not what I would want my children (if I had them) to encounter. But I also think it's nonsense to keep this totally away from them once they reach a certain age.

 

[jerseyman1963]

Heaven forbid we spent some time dealing with something serious, like housing, hunger, education, health care, the environment... but show something provocative (even mildly so) in a store window, and you've got an instant community scandal.

"Just say no" isn't our national policy. "Hide it and pretend it doesn't exist" is. It's so much easier than having to explain anything to our kids, or even ourselves. I guess your new community doesn't have cable TV, so the children haven't already seen adults wearing (or taking off) such blasphemous attire?

Thanks for sharing LJ. If it weren't so pathetic it would actually be funny!

 

[Straight-8]

I told you not to move from San Francisco

 

[emap]

I think the funniest part of the whole think of the children, they don't need to be walking by a store like that is, the people who say that aren't thinking of their kids, they are offended by the materials sold in the store's. If you ask kids, they are of basically three mindsets. 1) It's a sex shop, no biggy 2) Wish I could find a girlfriend/boyfriend to have a use for those things with and 3) What's sex?

Not kidding, I went through all three of those mindsets myself, all kids do, though certain ones sorta stop at the second. It all depends on how they were brought up basically.

However, the people who try and get porn shops banned from an area are offended by the nature of the store and simply shout about children to get people who normally wouldn't care to say hmmm she's right OK no sex shop which more or less kills the sex shop. I think by far the funniest part of the whole thing, the people who scream the loudest tend to actually have vibrators and handcuffs and whatnot already and make extensive use of them.

 

[carrie-on]

The same thing happened in Ohio where I used to live. An adult shop had been built along the freeway and another smaller state route and all the high and mighties in the area were all up in arms about how this place is corrupting the kids. They even used to announce to the tv stations that they were going to be picketing the place and taking license numbers.
Now mind you,we lived two more exits up the freeway (20 miles) and owned a music store in another town. There was an elder lady came in to look for a piece of music and while she was there she brought up the fact that she was with the group that was going to picket the adult store and that they were hoping to run him out of business. My husband looked at her and said, "you know,don't you? That he probably loves you being there and calling the tv." She looked at him like he was nuts! She then says "But how can that be? We are running his business away!" Whereupon Hubby looks at her and says, "Ma'am, I beg to differ. You folks are paying for his advertising. All the times recently that it has been on the news is great for his business. I'd love to have that kind of publicity!" She left with her jaw hanging open (without the music she came in for) and there was no protest at the store that weekend. Last I knew the toystore was still there because Hubby and I stopped in and bought some new toys!

 

[Eilan]

They even used to announce to the tv stations that they were going to be picketing the place and taking license numbers.

What's the point in doing this, I wonder? The people who are shopping at the adult store aren't breaking any law. Anyone from a law-enforcement agency who runs the plate numbers to give these nut jobs the customers' names and addresses might find himself/herself in hot water.

The folks in my area have been using the "obscenity isn't protected by the First Amendment" argument. Define obscenity, though.

 

[wicked woman]

What's the point in doing this, I wonder? The people who are shopping at the adult store aren't breaking any law. Anyone from a law-enforcement agency who runs the plate numbers to give these nut jobs the customers' names and addresses might find himself/herself in hot water.

The folks in my area have been using the "obscenity isn't protected by the First Amendment" argument. Define obscenity, though.

Depends what state you're in. I believe 5 states in the US have laws where it's illegal to sell/buy sex toys.

 

[emap]

In Arizona it's illegal to have more than I think 4 dildo's. Now how exactly they are going to catch anyone on that is beyond me.

Alot of the sex laws on the books are over 60 years old and were never actualy enforced. I mean how often would two gay guys go out to makeout point and have sex? For that matter, how many teenagers go out to makeout point and actually have sex, well in the larger towns anyway. Small towns its easy, one cop is easy enough to avoid for sexual encounters, otherwise you get a motel or do it in someone's house or go camping.

Though I didn't know any of the buying sex items is illegal are current and enforced laws anywhere.

 

[Eilan]

Depends what state you're in. I believe 5 states in the US have laws where it's illegal to sell/buy sex toys.

Good point. I guess I was assuming that it was legal to buy and use the sex toys. Could be like Ohio, though, where it's legal to sell fireworks but not to use them in the state (other than sparklers and things like that).

I'd think that law enforcement officers would have better things to do with their time than bust people for owning more than the legal limit of dildos. But obviously not.

 

[LadyJeanne]

What's the point in doing this, I wonder? The people who are shopping at the adult store aren't breaking any law. Anyone from a law-enforcement agency who runs the plate numbers to give these nut jobs the customers' names and addresses might find himself/herself in hot water.

The folks in my area have been using the "obscenity isn't protected by the First Amendment" argument. Define obscenity, though.

Well, yaknow, some god-fearing Christians might not want their license plates to be identified so the whole god-fearing community would know they were pervs.


And Straght8, if I could have moved my family and friends to SF instead of my moving here...I would have, dammit. As it is, I will do my utmost to keep the love boutique in business.

Everyone - thank you for the well wishes in the new place! I'm starting to settle in...very slowly...