24 August 2010

"The Internet is for porn" --Avenue Q


So, porn.

(Catchy opening, no?)

Back in the 80s, I went to Munich on business trips several times. At one hotel we stayed at, I flipped the channels on the TV and found soft core porn. Just there; no payment required. But it was soft, soft stuff. It consisted of five minute vignettes of women starting to undress. That was it. You'd see a woman in a silk robe and she'd flirt with the camera and slide the robe over one shoulder and back up. Eventually she'd drop the robe and she'd be in a bustier. Maybe you'd get to see her unhook her stockings or twirl her necklace before it switched to a different vignette. Um, okay. If that's the kind of thing that does it for you, I've got an old Sears catalog you're going to love.

These days, with porn so readily available on the Interwebs, I worry for the mom and pop porn shops.

Okay, maybe not.

Tangential questions: Do porn shops get handed down, generation to generation? What does teacher say when Billy's mummy or daddy comes in for career day and talks about the porn shop they run?

It's amazing that porn shops still exist but they do. Every city has them. The sketchy newsstand shops with the "no one under 18" back room. The movie rental stores with the blacked in windows. The lingerie stores with the back rooms, the front rooms, the display cases, the outfits, the gear. (What? I hear things.) The stripper bars. If anything, this is a growth industry, pulsing with life.*

Which brings us to the question of the day... Since we've been hanging out together for a while, tell me: How comfortable are you walking into a porn-related establishment?



* "heaving with possibility"? "exploding with potential"? Fine. Be that way.

16 comments:

Shannon said...

I would call them turgid with success.

I'm pretty comfortable around porn and such, though I'm personally not, er, all that interested in porn.

Back in college, we used to put ourselves in a somewhat altered frame of mind, and watch pornos to heckle the dialogue. The theme song of "Smears" (the porno Cheers) remains a particular favorite.

the dogs' mother said...

Never been in one. I lead such a sheltered life.

TMZ had an interview with the guy from Vivid. He grew up with his Dad running a 8 mm film porn business. He was on there to talk about the possible Heidi/Spencer tape - my gawd you can make scads of money doing that if you are relatively famous. Does anyone think ahead to Junior, and his/her friends, running across it years down the road?

Liebchen said...

I'm pretty comfortable going into the shops - there's so much interesting stuff there! That said, it also depends on the atmosphere of the shop and who I'm with.

spleeness said...

I haven't been in too many pr0n shops. I always feel like a 4th grader discovering a tampon for the first time - just want to burst out laughing at half the stuff.

Kate said...

I'm too embarassed to go in them. But here's a funny. Gay Boyfriend's best friend works at one somewhere in MN. They call it "The Christian Science Reading Room." I kid you not. His parents really think that's where he works.

KCSherri said...

When I was in college, and ran around with the sorority sisters and fraternity brothers, we would go in the shops for laughs....there was also a "strip club" down the road that we'd go to and heckle the drag queen emcee....

Now, though, having kids of my own and a job and such, I wouldn't go into one - what if I ran into my boss??!! Gulp!!!

Mike said...

That's where we would get our decks of cards for our bowling team. So we HAD to in them every once in awhile.

Unknown said...

I get more comfortable with it as I get older, surprisingly. I'm married. I'm *allowed* to do porn.

Alice said...

i *love* the more general sex stores - the kinds that sell toys, and clothes, and both silly things AND very naughty things - but those video stores creep me out. the clientele in those blacked-out-window dvd places always seem like they're 30 seconds away from rubbing one out on my leg if i turn around, or something.

Barbara said...

The one time I visited The Pleasure Chest in G'town, I remember looking over my shoulder as I went in to make sure no one I knew was looking. I felt like I was sneaking around. I did however find just the thing the doctor ordered.

Lemon Gloria said...

I'm not. I'm too twitchy to act all cool.

Felisa said...

I'd go with friends maybe... but when I was in high school, the metro bus stop was right outside the "Taboo Video" rental/store place. I mean, I never went in but standing out there by myself already made me feel awkward as it was so I doubt I could ever be cool enough to walk into a place like that and act like I don't give a damn who sees me.

GreenCanary said...

How comfortable am.... HOLY HELL! I just saw the labels for this post *laughing* "Quivering, throbbing, tightening?" Hee hee hee!

Tania said...

The one time that I walked in to one of those stores I felt fairly comfortable, although it was one of the 'classier' porn shops.

Pauline said...

I'm pretty comfortable walking into a porn establishment. What is nice though are the stores run by women here, like "Venus Envy":
http://www.venusenvy.ca/Ottawa/

They have lots of interesting stuff and tend to have a more open minded approach (meaning they serve all orientations) to sex and sex education workshops.

Much better than going to some skeezy, underlit place with creepy guys in trench coats walking around. (Although those can be pretty funny)

lacochran's evil twin said...

Shannon: "turgid with success"? Perfect!

froggy: Think ahead? Maybe not even think period.

Liebchen: Ambience is everything.

spleeness: It is pretty funny.

Kate: Ha! That's fantastic!!

Drama Queen: What if he ran into you? Either way, um, no.

Mike: What kind of a bowling team needs cards? Much less cards from a porn shop?

Lori: Enjoy!

Alice: For gods sake, don't turn around! Sounds like a tag line for a horror movie! :)

Barbara: Nope, I'm not asking.

Lemon Gloria: I hear you.

Felisa: Some places really give off a skeevy vibe.

GreenCanary: I'm glad somebody reads my tags!

Mac and Cheese: Thanks for weighing in.

Pauline: Love that name!