Adult movie theater

An adult movie theatre is a euphemistic term for a movie theatre designed only for the exhibition of pornographic films.

Films and patrons

Adult movie theatres show pornographic films primarily for either a respectively heterosexual or homosexual audience. For the patrons, rules are generally less strict regarding partial- or full-nudity and public masturbation or sex, and such behavior may be condoned explicitly or otherwise by the management.[1] Such behavior may or may not be legal, and if not, may or may not be overlooked by local law enforcement.[1][2] Certain theaters may also include a strip- or sex-show between films, or other sex industry services.

Before the V.C.R. and, later, the internet, a movie theatre or cinema house was often the only location where people could see hard-core erotic films. The spread of home videos has led to a drastic reduction in the number of adult theatres.[3]

By region

Adult movie theatres and peep shows on Montreal's St. Laurent Street.

United States

The earliest erotic theatres in the U.S. were in California, and showed 35-millimetre low-production-quality independently produced films . In 1960 there existed about twenty theatres in the U.S. that showed erotic movies exclusively . In the late 1960s and early 1970s they spread to the rest of the country . Small "storefront" theatres with only a few dozen seats sprang up, and by 1970, 750 pornographic theatres existed in the U.S.[4] In the 1970s, theatres shifted from showing 35-millimetre sexploitation films to more explicit 16-millimetre "beaver" films.[5] In the 1980s, some theatre owners began forming chains to cut their costs,[6] and, by 1989, the number of U.S erotic theatres had fallen below 250.[7]

Restrictions on adult theatres vary by region, and may be restricted by local and state regulations. Local governments commonly prohibit adult theatres from operating within a certain distance of residential areas, parks, churches and/or schools. Often, erotic theatres have been forced to move to the outskirts of cities in order to protect real estate prices in city centers.[8] Renton, Washington was involved in a 1986 Supreme Court case regarding this issue. In its decision on City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc., the Court upheld Renton's statute that no adult theatre be located within 1,000 feet of a school, park, church, or residential zone; the Court rejected the theatre owners' argument that the statute violated the First Amendment, because the statute did not seek to ban the existence of adult theaters outright.[9]

Hollywood's Sunset Strip was home to many of Los Angeles' over four hundred "adult" establishments and the largest such district in its state.

The O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco, one of America's oldest and best known adult-entertainment establishments, opened as an adult movie theatre in 1969.

Before Rudolph Giuliani became mayor, Times Square was New York City's largest district of its "adult" businesses.[10]

The Bijou Theater in Chicago is the longest running gay adult theater and sex club in the United States.[11]

The Pussycat Theater chain operated forty-seven pornographic theatres at its height.

Something Weird videos sells D.V.D.s of many of the movies that were previously played at pornographic theatres in the 1970s in the U.S.

Netherlands

There are approximately sixty adult movie theaters in the Netherlands.[12]

In 2010, a law on sex companies was under consideration. In addition to municipal rules a national rule was introduced, requiring adult movie theatres to have a pornography display license. An advertisement of the company should contain its license number. The theater must have a sign outside showing the company is licensed, whilst inside, a copy of the license must be displayed.

Non-commercial sexual activities by and amongst clients would not require an additional license, but, prostitution on-premises, would require an additional prostitution company license.

See also

adult sex

Notes

  1. 1 2 Phillip Brian Harper (1999). Private affairs: critical ventures in the culture of social relations. NYU Press. pp. 77–82. ISBN 0-8147-3594-0.
  2. ↑ Steinberg, David (September 8, 2004). "Lap Victory". SF weekly. Archived from the original on August 16, 2013.
  3. ↑ Slade, p.1067
  4. ↑ "Pussycat_Theaters". xyclopedia.net. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  5. ↑ Linda Williams (2004). Porn studies. Duke University Press. pp. 370–400. ISBN 0-8223-3312-0.
  6. ↑ Slade, p.1097
  7. ↑ Slade, p.1098
  8. ↑ Slade, p.752
  9. ↑ Thomas C. Mackey (2002). Pornography on trial: a handbook with cases, laws, and documents. ABC-CLIO. p. 95. ISBN 1-57607-275-4.
  10. ↑ Samuel R. Delaney (1999). Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. New York University Press.
  11. ↑ U.S. v. Toushin, 714 F.Supp. 1452 at 1454 (M.D.Tenn. April 21, 1989).
  12. ↑ See Seksbioscoop in Tabel 1 in . This number includes adult movie theatres with a TV-sized screen, see e.g. .

References

External links

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