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Adult movie theater

January 01, 1970

An adult movie theater is a euphemistic term for a movie theater dedicated to the exhibition of pornographic films.

Adult movie theaters 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 simply tolerated 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 stripshow or sex show between films, or other sex industry services.

Before the VCR and later, the Internet, a movie theatre or cinema house was often the only location where people could see hardcore erotic films. The spread of home videos and later of Internet pornography has led to a drastic reduction in the number of adult theatres.[3]

By region edit

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

United States and Canada edit

The earliest erotic theatres in the U.S. were in California, and showed 35-millimeter low-production-quality independently produced films.[4] In 1960 there existed about twenty theatres in the U.S. that showed erotic movies exclusively.[citation needed] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, they spread to the rest of the country.[citation needed] 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.[5]

Small "storefront" theatres with only a dozen seats sprang up, and by 1970, 750 pornographic theatres existed in the U.S.[6] In the 1970s, theatres shifted from showing 35-millimetre sexploitation films to more explicit 16-millimetre "beaver" films.[7] In the 1980s, some theatre owners began forming chains to cut their costs,[8] and, by 1989, the number of U.S erotic theatres had fallen below 250.[9]

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.[10] Renton, Washington was involved in a 1986 Supreme Court case regarding this issue. In its decision on 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.[11]

Before Rudolph Giuliani became mayor, Times Square was New York City's largest district of its "adult" businesses.[12]

 
Bijou Theater, Chicago, Illinois

The Bijou Theater in Chicago was the longest-running gay adult theater and sex club in the United States.[13] It closed September 30, 2015.

The Pussycat Theater chain operated thirty pornographic theatres at its height.[citation needed]

Today, the largest operator of adult theaters in the United States is Deja Vu Services, Inc., which has about 65 adult theaters nationally. It is controlled by Harry Mohney, whose chain at one time included over 300 adult theaters.

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

Japan edit

 
An adult movie theater in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture

Adult theatres are mainly located in urban areas such as business districts and entertainment districts of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Although most of them are managed independently, some are directly managed by pink film production and distribution companies. In the old days, sensational posters were posted outside the building, but due to various regulations, they are now limited to a minimum of posters. At present, many theaters are closed due to the aging of managers, buildings, or the redevelopment of the area. Some movie theaters continue to be managed by rebuilding or moving to existing closed theaters. There are a few new openings.

Netherlands edit

There are approximately sixty adult movie theaters in the Netherlands.[14]

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.

Arcades edit

Not to be confused with Adult video game.
 
Nob Hill theater advertising video arcade

An adult video arcade is a pornographic movie viewing area where masturbation is tolerated and expected (and sometimes openly encouraged). It is almost always attached to a sex shop or an adult book store, where magazines, movies, and sexual aids are sold. An arcade, which is a type of peep show, consists of typically a dozen or more private (or sometimes semi-private) viewing booths, containing a video monitor, a panel of controls, and a seat. Sometimes the booths have paper towels and a wastebasket. Sometimes these booths are arranged in a maze-like fashion. Often the lighting will be dim, perhaps only red or green lights near each booth, indicating their availability. In their origin they were exclusively male.[15]

In their origin, they operated under the pretext that videos were being previewed before buying. It was one film per booth, no choice after entering. While a few existed in the age of the 8mm movie, the relative simplicity of the VCR caused them to multiply. The source was now racks of self-rewinding VCR tape players, instead of the cumbersome projectors. Still, a system required a certain amount of maintenance – breakdowns needed to be repaired, and there were a lot of things to break – which implied good management.

Transactions edit

Movie time is purchased either by coin or cash activation within the booth, or by purchasing tokens or a block of time in advance.[16] Generally a selection of 15 to 50 movies running in Blu-ray/DVD players is available for viewing, sometimes diverse (e.g., straight, gay, fetish), other times monotonously similar. On some systems four videos may be viewed simultaneously in quadrants of the screen. New video systems operate with computers and provide a selection of several thousand movies.

Fixtures edit

It is possible for arcades in Europe to have two-person booths, where the seating accommodates a pair sitting together. But this is unusual, and outside Europe unknown.

In the U.S., in some adult book stores, the arcades will have "buddy booths." These booths are adjacent, and allow for interplay between occupants. They may have windows so "buddies" may watch each other masturbate. Between other booths there may be glory holes for oral sex, tolerated by the management (which otherwise would seal the holes).[16][17][18]

If a glory hole is to be found between two booths in a video booth at an adult bookstore, the person who wishes to perform oral sex will normally be seated in her or his booth.[19] Although not a hard and fast rule, that seated (and sometimes kneeling) position commonly signals to others that they are there in order to perform oral sex – which allows those who wish to receive oral sex to take the adjoining booth. That second person, who wishes to have oral sex performed on them, will take the adjoining booth and normally remain standing.[20] Most adult book stores require and enforce that movies be operating at all times while arcade booths are occupied.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ David Steinberg (September 8, 2004). . SF Weekly. Archived from the original on August 16, 2013.
  3. ^ Slade, p. 1067
  4. ^ Schaefer, Eric (2002). "Gauging a Revolution: 16mm Film and the Rise of the Pornographic Feature". Cinema Journal. 41 (3): 3–26. doi:10.1353/cj.2002.0010. JSTOR 1225696.
  5. ^ "Legendary porn palace the O'Farrell Theatre closes after 51 years". hoodline.com. 3 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Pussycat_Theaters". xyclopedia.net. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  7. ^ Linda Williams (2004). Porn studies. Duke University Press. pp. 370–400. ISBN 0-8223-3312-0.
  8. ^ Slade, p. 1097
  9. ^ Slade, p. 1098
  10. ^ Slade, p. 752
  11. ^ Thomas C. Mackey (2002). Pornography on trial: a handbook with cases, laws, and documents. ABC-CLIO. pp. 95. ISBN 1-57607-275-4.
  12. ^ Samuel R. Delany (1999). Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. New York University Press.
  13. ^ U.S. v. Toushin, 714 F.Supp. 1452 at 1454 (M.D.Tenn. April 21, 1989).
  14. ^ See Seksbioscoop in Tabel 1 in [1]. This number includes adult movie theatres with a TV-sized screen, see e.g. [2] 2012-04-26 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ^ Zeeland, Steven (1999). Military Trade. Haworth Press. p. 21. ISBN 0-7890-0402-X.
  16. ^ a b Simpson, Mark (2002). Sex terror: erotic misadventures in pop culture. Haworth Press. pp. 58, 103, 142. ISBN 1-56023-376-1.
  17. ^ Adams, Nicholas (2004). My Black Book. iUniverse. pp. 124–130. ISBN 0-595-30781-7. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  18. ^ O'Hara, Scott (1999). Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Selected Essays of Scott O'Hara. Haworth Press. pp. 45–49. ISBN 0-7890-0573-5. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  19. ^ The Gloryhole FAQ by Lilfuzzyg (1999)
  20. ^ Adams, Nicholas (2004). My Black Book. iUniverse. pp. 116–117. ISBN 0-595-30781-7. Retrieved 2007-12-31.

Bibliography edit

  • Slade, Joseph W. (2001). Pornography and sexual representation: a reference guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-31521-3.

External links edit

  • Legal definitions for adult theaters from The General Laws of the State of Massachusetts, United States
  • A view inside of an adult theater catering to men which is also a membership "private" sex club

January 01, 1970
adult, movie, theater, adult, movie, theater, euphemistic, term, movie, theater, dedicated, exhibition, pornographic, films, show, pornographic, films, primarily, either, respectively, heterosexual, homosexual, audience, patrons, rules, generally, less, strict. An adult movie theater is a euphemistic term for a movie theater dedicated to the exhibition of pornographic films Adult movie theaters 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 simply tolerated 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 stripshow or sex show between films or other sex industry services Before the VCR and later the Internet a movie theatre or cinema house was often the only location where people could see hardcore erotic films The spread of home videos and later of Internet pornography has led to a drastic reduction in the number of adult theatres 3 Contents 1 By region 1 1 United States and Canada 1 2 Japan 1 3 Netherlands 2 Arcades 2 1 Transactions 2 2 Fixtures 3 See also 4 References 5 Bibliography 6 External linksBy region edit nbsp Adult movie theatres and peep shows on Montreal s St Laurent Street United States and Canada edit The earliest erotic theatres in the U S were in California and showed 35 millimeter low production quality independently produced films 4 In 1960 there existed about twenty theatres in the U S that showed erotic movies exclusively citation needed In the late 1960s and early 1970s they spread to the rest of the country citation needed 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 5 Small storefront theatres with only a dozen seats sprang up and by 1970 750 pornographic theatres existed in the U S 6 In the 1970s theatres shifted from showing 35 millimetre sexploitation films to more explicit 16 millimetre beaver films 7 In the 1980s some theatre owners began forming chains to cut their costs 8 and by 1989 the number of U S erotic theatres had fallen below 250 9 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 10 Renton Washington was involved in a 1986 Supreme Court case regarding this issue In its decision on 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 11 Before Rudolph Giuliani became mayor Times Square was New York City s largest district of its adult businesses 12 nbsp Bijou Theater Chicago Illinois The Bijou Theater in Chicago was the longest running gay adult theater and sex club in the United States 13 It closed September 30 2015 The Pussycat Theater chain operated thirty pornographic theatres at its height citation needed Today the largest operator of adult theaters in the United States is Deja Vu Services Inc which has about 65 adult theaters nationally It is controlled by Harry Mohney whose chain at one time included over 300 adult theaters Something Weird Video sells DVDs of many of the movies that were previously played at pornographic theatres in the 1970s in the U S Japan edit nbsp An adult movie theater in Kyoto City Kyoto Prefecture Adult theatres are mainly located in urban areas such as business districts and entertainment districts of Tokyo Osaka and Nagoya Although most of them are managed independently some are directly managed by pink film production and distribution companies In the old days sensational posters were posted outside the building but due to various regulations they are now limited to a minimum of posters At present many theaters are closed due to the aging of managers buildings or the redevelopment of the area Some movie theaters continue to be managed by rebuilding or moving to existing closed theaters There are a few new openings Netherlands edit There are approximately sixty adult movie theaters in the Netherlands 14 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 Arcades editNot to be confused with Adult video game nbsp Nob Hill theater advertising video arcade An adult video arcade is a pornographic movie viewing area where masturbation is tolerated and expected and sometimes openly encouraged It is almost always attached to a sex shop or an adult book store where magazines movies and sexual aids are sold An arcade which is a type of peep show consists of typically a dozen or more private or sometimes semi private viewing booths containing a video monitor a panel of controls and a seat Sometimes the booths have paper towels and a wastebasket Sometimes these booths are arranged in a maze like fashion Often the lighting will be dim perhaps only red or green lights near each booth indicating their availability In their origin they were exclusively male 15 In their origin they operated under the pretext that videos were being previewed before buying It was one film per booth no choice after entering While a few existed in the age of the 8mm movie the relative simplicity of the VCR caused them to multiply The source was now racks of self rewinding VCR tape players instead of the cumbersome projectors Still a system required a certain amount of maintenance breakdowns needed to be repaired and there were a lot of things to break which implied good management Transactions edit Movie time is purchased either by coin or cash activation within the booth or by purchasing tokens or a block of time in advance 16 Generally a selection of 15 to 50 movies running in Blu ray DVD players is available for viewing sometimes diverse e g straight gay fetish other times monotonously similar On some systems four videos may be viewed simultaneously in quadrants of the screen New video systems operate with computers and provide a selection of several thousand movies Fixtures edit It is possible for arcades in Europe to have two person booths where the seating accommodates a pair sitting together But this is unusual and outside Europe unknown In the U S in some adult book stores the arcades will have buddy booths These booths are adjacent and allow for interplay between occupants They may have windows so buddies may watch each other masturbate Between other booths there may be glory holes for oral sex tolerated by the management which otherwise would seal the holes 16 17 18 If a glory hole is to be found between two booths in a video booth at an adult bookstore the person who wishes to perform oral sex will normally be seated in her or his booth 19 Although not a hard and fast rule that seated and sometimes kneeling position commonly signals to others that they are there in order to perform oral sex which allows those who wish to receive oral sex to take the adjoining booth That second person who wishes to have oral sex performed on them will take the adjoining booth and normally remain standing 20 Most adult book stores require and enforce that movies be operating at all times while arcade booths are occupied See also edit nbsp Human sexuality portal nbsp Erotica and pornography portal nbsp Film portal Casual sex Dogging sexual slang Gay bathhouse Glory hole sexual slang Times Square Red Times Square Blue Troll gay slang References edit a b Phillip Brian Harper 1999 Private affairs critical ventures in the culture of social relations NYU Press pp 77 82 ISBN 0 8147 3594 0 David Steinberg September 8 2004 Lap Victory SF Weekly Archived from the original on August 16 2013 Slade p 1067 Schaefer Eric 2002 Gauging a Revolution 16mm Film and the Rise of the Pornographic Feature Cinema Journal 41 3 3 26 doi 10 1353 cj 2002 0010 JSTOR 1225696 Legendary porn palace the O Farrell Theatre closes after 51 years hoodline com 3 November 2020 Pussycat Theaters xyclopedia net Retrieved 19 April 2015 Linda Williams 2004 Porn studies Duke University Press pp 370 400 ISBN 0 8223 3312 0 Slade p 1097 Slade p 1098 Slade p 752 Thomas C Mackey 2002 Pornography on trial a handbook with cases laws and documents ABC CLIO pp 95 ISBN 1 57607 275 4 Samuel R Delany 1999 Times Square Red Times Square Blue New York University Press U S v Toushin 714 F Supp 1452 at 1454 M D Tenn April 21 1989 See Seksbioscoop in Tabel 1 in 1 This number includes adult movie theatres with a TV sized screen see e g 2 Archived 2012 04 26 at the Wayback Machine Zeeland Steven 1999 Military Trade Haworth Press p 21 ISBN 0 7890 0402 X a b Simpson Mark 2002 Sex terror erotic misadventures in pop culture Haworth Press pp 58 103 142 ISBN 1 56023 376 1 Adams Nicholas 2004 My Black Book iUniverse pp 124 130 ISBN 0 595 30781 7 Retrieved 2007 12 31 O Hara Scott 1999 Rarely Pure and Never Simple Selected Essays of Scott O Hara Haworth Press pp 45 49 ISBN 0 7890 0573 5 Retrieved 2007 12 31 The Gloryhole FAQ by Lilfuzzyg 1999 Adams Nicholas 2004 My Black Book iUniverse pp 116 117 ISBN 0 595 30781 7 Retrieved 2007 12 31 Bibliography editSlade Joseph W 2001 Pornography and sexual representation a reference guide Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 0 313 31521 3 External links editLegal definitions for adult theaters from The General Laws of the State of Massachusetts United States Missouri Porn Theater Bust Targets Gays A view inside of an adult theater catering to men which is also a membership private sex club Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Adult movie theater amp oldid 1200814097, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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