As we noted in an earlier post, Hollywood moved to beef up its adult-use zoning in 1990 to respond to crime and economic blight. This Wall Street Journal article from 1997 underscores how hard it can be for neighborhoods to recover when adult businesses have concentrated there. Sex shops weren’t the only factor in Hollywood’s […]
Continue reading Why Hollywood Reached for Zoning: Crime, Business Failure, Tourists Fleeing
If you wonder where people get callous attitudes towards other groups and those who disagree with them, a good place to start is with cartoons like those found in Hustler. We are indebted to Nikki Craft and the Hustling the Left website for bringing these to our attention. These images are explicit and should only be […]
The Union-News takes a broad look at adult-use zoning in “Zone laws can restrict sex shops”, 12/1/95: X-rated entertainment may be protected by the First Amendment, but communities are finding other legal ways to restrict its growth. Chagrined Hadley officials awoke in October to find an X-rated book and video store at the town’s busiest […]
A 1995 Union-News article quotes State Senator Rosenberg (D-Amherst) as supporting adult-use zoning:“I recognize the courts have upheld the Constitutional Rights of people to buy and sell these materials. The courts have also said governments have the right to regulate where such materials are sold.”In the matter of Hadley trying to relocate a sex shop, […]
Continue reading State Senator Stanley Rosenberg Supports Adult-Use Zoning
After Capital Video established itself in Springfield in 1990, Springfield’s City Council made its adult-use regulations more stringent (“Board backs reining in adult stores: Council vote paves way for Springfield restriction”, Union-News, 6/29/93): New businesses purveying adult entertainment such as pornographic books, videos or peep shows would need special permits under a law granted initial […]
Continue reading Springfield Tightened Adult-Use Regulations in 1993 in Response to Citizen Concerns
From “Incident triggers debate on pornography”, Sunday Republican, 2/12/89… Stacey Roth, coordinator of an educational outreach program at Everywoman Center, a women’s advocacy group at the University of Massachusetts, said that, based on accounts of area women speaking about their experiences with domestic abuse, she agrees with recent arguments that pornography damages women.“Typically, a woman […]
Continue reading Everywoman Center Coordinator: Porn Damages Women; Porn Addiction
The Union-News studied porn and the porn industry in 1994. One article discussed the impact of porn on women: Tina’s boyfriend would watch the same x-rated movie repeatedly and then force her to reenact the kinky things he saw. Or he’d go to strip bars.“He used to come back from these shows and I was terrified,” […]
Continue reading Northampton Shelter Coordinators: Porn a Factor in Many Cases of Domestic Abuse
It’s not a given that a porn merchant will be deaf to community concerns. The Union-News reports… In Indian Orchard, there was enough interest for Adults Only to draw 1,000 members in a couple of months, but also enough angry residents to make operating a painful chore.“We’re avoiding neighborhood stores at this point,” [porn shop […]
Continue reading Not All Pornographers Deaf to Community Concerns
Capital Video is proposing to build a 6,222-square-foot porn shop at 135 King Street. Their current plans call for 25 parking spaces, possibly less in the winter due to snow storage.In 1994, the Union-News made this observation about Bookends, a porn shop in Enfield: “The 44 Enfield St. Bookends, with a refurbished interior and 6,000-square-foot […]
Continue reading Parking May Not Be a Trivial Issue for Proposed King Street Porn Shop
Our research turned up this episode in Smith history that many of today’s students may not be aware of… Angry Smith College students demand to be accepted for their brainpower rather than their beauty. More than 200 women gathered on the campus last night to protest Playboy magazine’s invitation to students to pose for a special issue […]
Continue reading 1990: Smith Students Mobilize Against Playboy