Consuming Sex: Socio-legal Shifts in the Space and Place of Sex Shops

Journal of Law and Society

Volumn 37, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 189-209

  Coulmont, Baptiste ^a   Hubbard, Phil ^b  

^a UNIVERSITÉ PARIS 8   (France)

^b LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77953187834     PISSN: 0263323X     EISSN: 14676478     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2010.00501.x     Document Type: Note

References (94)

1. B. Coulmont, Sex-shops: une histoire francaise (2007); T. Kent and R.B. Brown, 'Erotic etailing in Britain 1963-2003' (2006) 12 J. of Management History 199-211.
2. C.E. Greek and W. Thompson, 'Anti-pornography campaigns: saving the family in America and England' (1992) 5 International J. of Politics, Culture and Society 601-9.
3. F. Attwood, 'Fashion and Passion: Marketing Sex to Women' (2005) 8 Sexualities 392-406; C. Smith, 'Designed for pleasure: style, indulgence and accessorized sex' (2007) 10 European J. of Cultural Studies 167-84.
4. M. Stein, The Ethnography of an Adult Bookstore: Private Scenes and Public Places (1997); D. Berkowitz, 'Consuming Eroticism: Gender Performances and Presentations in Pornographic Establishments' (2003) 35 J. of Contemporary Ethnography 583-606.
5. C. Manchester, Sex Shops and the Law (1986); A. Goudie, Local Authority Licensing of Sex Shops and Sex Cinemas (1986).
6. Kent and Brown, op. cit. 1, p. 204.
7. Significantly, French shops were identified through the anglicized term, 'sex-shop', which was a way for owners to signify their modern character but also allowed opponents to characterize them as non-French, and hence a threat to the moral values of the nation-state - see Coulmont, op. cit., n. 1, p. 18.
8. Berkowitz, op. cit., n. 4, p. 584.
9. See, for example, D.A. Karp, 'Hiding in Pornographic Bookstores: A Reconsideration of the Nature of Urban Anonymity' (1973) 1 Urban Life 427-51.
10. Manchester, op. cit., n. 5, p. 74.
11. F. Mort, 'Striptease: the erotic female body and live sexual entertainment in mid-twentieth century London' (2007) 32 Social History 27-53.
12. Manchester, op. cit., n. 5, p. 78.
13. M. Papayanis, 'Sex and the revanchist city: zoning out pornography in New York' (2000) 18 Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 341-54
14. D.M. Tucker, 'Preventing the secondary effects of adult entertainment establishments: Is zoning the solution?' (1997) 12 J. of Land Use and Environmental Law 383-431.
15. Forward planning can theoretically be used to identify areas for sex-related uses, allowing the refusal of planning permission for a sex shop outside such areas.
16. The Act was extended to Northern Ireland by the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 No 1208 (NT 15) with Scotland duplicating the powers of the Local Government Act in Part III of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.
17. Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, Schedule 3, Paragraph 4.
18. R18 videos/DVDs are classified by the British Board of Film Classification as 'not to be supplied to any person under 18 and only to be supplied through a licensed sex-shop' (Video Recordings Act 1984, s. 7.2.c).
19. Lambeth London Borough Council v. Grewal (1985) 84 LGR 538, 82 Cr. App. Rep. 301, 150 JP 138 (1986) Crim. Law Rev. 260; see, also, Watford Borough Council v. Private Alternative Birth Control Information (1985) Crim. Law Rev. 594 which concluded there could be no single definition of what a 'significant degree' is.
20. P. Hubbard, M. Matthews, and J. Scoular, 'Controlling sexually oriented businesses: law, licensing and the geographies of a controversial land use' (2009) 30 Urban Geography 185-205.
21. Under the provisions of the City of Westminster Act 1996.
22. This fee is supposed to represent the costs of operating the licensing system: however, one local authority - York - deliberately sets fees to reflect the perceived profitability of the stores concerned, with fees highest for a shop specializing in R18 DVDs.
23. Compte général de l'administration de la justice criminelle et de la justice civile et commerciale (Statistical Yearbook of Justice).
24. Le Figaro, 26 November 1969. A copy of the article was found in the proceedings of a trial: Archives de Paris, 1886W 11.
25. Bulletin municipal officiel de la ville de Paris, 6 March 1970, 401.
26. Bulletin municipal officiel de la ville de Paris, 16 September 1970, 1505.
27. This was a local municipal law erroneously thought to be enforceable throughout France. In fact, the Minister of Interior declared in 1971 that no new national law was required as the police had sufficient powers. The Minister of Justice concurred: the sex-shop owners, he declared 'are probably aware of their precarious situation' and 'discipline themselves' - see Journal officiel de la République française, Débats parlementaires, Assemblée nationale, 21 August 1971, 3956, Réponse du Ministre de la Justice à la question n19210 du député Brocard.
28. Bulletin municipal officiel de la ville de Paris, 16 September 1973, 1782.
29. id, p. 35.
30. J.S. Mill, On Liberty (1869).
31. See J.R. Walkowitz, City of Dreadful Delight. Narrative of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London (1992) 235-6. For French feminist actions against sex shops, see Folder 396 FEM (1978) in the Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand, Paris.
32. This schism of course still evident in feminist writing: see S. Jeffreys, The Industrial Vagina: The Global Political Economy of the Sex Trade (2008).
33. See D. Cornell, The Imaginary Domain: Abortion, Pornography and Sexual Harassment (1997) for a politicized discussion of the importance of zoning pornography rather than outlawing it outright.
34. Standard conditions for sex-shop licence, as issued by all local authorities who have adopted a sex-shop licensing scheme under the powers of Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, Schedule 3.
35. Cour d'Appel de Besançon, 9 May 1972, Gaz. Pal. 1972.2.558 note Lambert, and Chambre Correctionnelle de Reims, 7 October 1978, Gaz. Pal. 1978.2.somm.122.
36. Kent and Brown, op. cit., n. 1, p. 193.
37. M. Foucault 'Sexuality Morality and the Law' in Michel Foucault. Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings, ed. L.D. Kritzman (1988).
38. On obscenity law and the protection of children, see M. Heims, Not in Front of the Children (2001).
39. Journal officiel de la République française 10 February 1986, 508, question n77934 du député Édouard Frédéric-Dupont.
40. Manchester, op. cit., n. 5, p. 118.
41. Cour administrative d'appel de Versailles (2008) 13 March [N06VE01662].
42. Cour d'appel de Nimes (1998) 28 September [N97/5355].
43. Cour d'appel de Rouen (2003) 29 April [N02/03110]; see, also, Tribunal de Grande Instance de Lyon, Ordonnance de référé (2002) 7 June [N02/01541].
44. The 2003 Sexual Offences Act makes it an offence to intentionally show another person an image of sexual activity where a person is under 13 or where the person is under 16 and there is no reason to believe they are over 16.
45. Standard conditions for sex-shop licences, as issued by all local authorities who have adopted a sex-shop licensing scheme under the powers of Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, Schedule 3.
46. Manchester Evening News, 30 September 2005, 19.
47. Westmorland Gazette, 7 October 2005, 2.
48. J. Brown, cited in R v. London Borough of Newham ex parte Sheptonhurst Ltd Q.B.D. (Crown Office List) (1987) CO/980/85.
49. D. Linz, B. Paul, and M. Yao, 'Peep show establishments, police activity, public place and time' (2006) 43 J. of Sex Research 182-95.
50. 30 October 1997 session of the French Senate, available at: .
51. Compare, for example, an article published in Adam et Ève, May 1970, focused on the young entrepreneurs, with Paris-Demain, March 1979, 9 (describing the patrons as 'fauna').
52. A. Dassonville, 'Un projet de loi prévoit le renforcement de la répression des abus sexuels sur les enfants' Le Monde, 21 November 1996, 13. See, also, the private archives of a Parisian apartment buildings studied in Coulmont, op. cit., n. 1, pp. 122-9.
53. Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, Schedule 3, s. 12, para. 5(a).
54. Quietlynn Limited v. Cheltenham Borough Council C.A. (Civil Division) LJJ [1986] 85 LGR 249.
55. 'Sex-shop is inappropriate in our community say residents' Richmond and Twickenham Times, 10 December 2005, 7.
56. Article 10 (2) Human Rights Act (1998).
57. Miss Behavin' Ltd v. Belfast City Council (2007) UKHL.
58. R v. Birmingham City Council and others, ex parte Quietlynn Ltd (1985) 83 LGR 461.
59. Miss Behavin' Ltd v. Belfast City Council (2007) 3 All E.R. 1007.
60. Quietlynn Limited v. Peterborough City Council; Quietlynn Limited v. Northampton Borough Council; Quietlynn Limited v. City of Worcester; Quietlynn Limited v. City of Birmingham; Quietlynn Limited v. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council; Quietlynn Limited v. Cheltenham Borough Council CA (Civil Division) [1986] 85 LGR 249.
61. R v. Leeds City Council, ex parte Quietlynn Ltd CA (Civil Division) [1986] 85 LGR 249.
62. R v. Peterborough City Council, ex parte Quietlynn Ltd CA (Civil Division) [1986] 85 LGR 249.
63. Manchester, op. cit., n. 5, pp. 224-5.
64. 4 Wins Leisure Ltd v. Blackpool Council (2007) EWHC 2213, para. 8.
65. Article 99, loi n87-588 du 30 juillet 1987 portant diverses mesures d'ordre social, Journal officiel de la République française (1987) 31 July, 8583. This article was modified by Article 6, loi n 2007-293 du 5 mars 2007 réformant la protection de l'enfance, Journal Officiel de la République française (2007) 6 March, 4215.
66. French Senate, 30 October 1997 session, available at: .
67. Journal officiel de la République française (1978) 18 February, 584, question n44323 of M.P. Valleix to the Minister of Interior.
68. Bulletin officiel des impǒts, n25 (1987) 16 February and Journal officiel de la République française, Article 42.I, Loi n86-1317 du 30 décembre 1986 de finance pour 1987 (1986) 31 December, 15826.
69. The income raised was intended to help fund local museums.
70. M. Valverde, 'Authorising the production of urban moral order: appellate courts and their knowledge games' (2005) 39 Law and Society Rev. 450.
71. id, p. 451.
72. Ph. R. [Philippe Rivière], 'Cachez ce sex toy que je ne saurais voir' La Nouvelle République du Centre, 13 February 2008, 2.
73. For example, Bexhill Council's licensing officer stated a sex shop 'would be able to operate without a licence so long as it sells no more than 50 per cent sex stimulators', cited in 'Secret desires in Bexhill' Sussex Courier, 29 October 2005. The basis of this figure is unclear.
74. This is Trafford, 26 September 2005, 7.
75. When Shop Tonight Ltd was refused a sex-shop license in Worthing, they opened an unlicensed shop selling lingerie and sex toys, with a view into the shop. See 'Bid to halt sex-shop receives police backing' Worthing Herald, 12 January 2006.
76. Attwood, op. cit., n. 3.
77. B. McNair, Striptease Culture: Sex, Media and the Democatisation of Desire (2002).
78. Smith, op. cit., n. 3, p. 170.
79. See .
80. Kent and Brown, op. cit., n. 1, p. 204.
81. D. Molina and R. Schmidt, 'It's a business doing pleasure with you: Sh! A women's sex shop case' (1997) 15 Marketing, Intelligence and Planning 356.
82. A number of Adult World shops in Britain are licensed on a similar basis.
83. Company spokesperson, cited in 'Sex-shops are making their way to the high street' Los Angeles Times, 11 October 2004.
84. Sandwell Borough Council, Licensing (Miscellaneous) Committee Minutes, 17 June 2008, 2.
85. Coulmont, op. cit., n. 1, p. 207.
86. André Lardeux, Rapport (n205), au nom de la commission des Affaires sociales, sur le projet de loi, modifié par l'Assemblée nationale, réformant la protection de l'enfance, Sénat, 1 February 2007.
87. Conseil d'Etat, juge des référés, Commune de Houilles c. Société Cassandre (2005) 8 June. [N281084] and Cour administrative d'appel de Versailles, 13 March 2008 [N06VE01662].
88. The libertine tourist guidebooks France Coquine (published since 1998) and Guide du kokin (since 2005) provide evidence of this shift. See D. Menduni (ed.), France Coquine (1998-2009) and S. Beninca, Guide du Kokin (2005-2009).
89. F. Attwood, Mainstreaming Sex (2009) xv.
90. Kent and Brown, op. cit., n. 1, p. 209.
91. M. Dannam, Guide musardine du Paris sexy (2006) 60.
92. P. Hadfield, Bar Wars (2006).
93. C. Manchester, S. Poppleston, and J. Allen, Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing Law (2007) 6.
94. K. Hausbeck and B. Brents, 'McDonaldization of the sex industry?' in McDonaldization: The Reader, ed. G. Ritzer (2002) 91-107.