Gone are the friendly mom-and-pop porn stores of yesterday. Stiff competition has reduced the terrain to three big names
Matthew Burbidge and Matthew Krouse South Africans don’t tend to dump their illicit sex lives in tacky red-light districts. Rather, they take their lusts to upmarket suburbs where, these days, one finds hookers who rival Whitney Houston in looks and sex boutiques that rival Woolworths in the fancy packaging of their takeaway goods.
So it was unsurprising that when Adultworld threw open the doors to its 500m2 megastore in Blackheath, Johannesburg, in November, the porn chain punted the event as an occasion to celebrate.
To launch the shop, as well as the chain’s Internet mail order site, Adultworld flew in a major American porn kitten to a celebration breakfast and signing session. The media, always after a free meal, were treated to a sumptuous buffet that included oysters and champagne, lavishly spread on tables beneath shelves of rubber vaginas.
Apart from the standard fare of plastic-wrapped magazines and toys of every size and shape, Adultworld introduced a new dimension: an in-store leather boutique that, with the use of fashion mannequins and state-of-the-art shop fittings, seemed to take the sinister edge off spanking paddles, whips, slings, hoods, gloves and other instruments of consensual battery.
Three chain stores Adultworld, Hustler and Sextopia are cornering South Africa’s porn market. There are 21 Adultworld outlets, 56 Hustler shops and nine Sextopias countrywide. On their way out are the mom-and-pop porn stores that South Africans have become accustomed to since the unwinding of regulations against the sex industry.
The owners would have us believe that more and more women are venturing into their dimly lit interiors. According to Arthur Calamaras, a partner in the Adultworld chain, four years ago ”people were constantly looking over their shoulders. Now we have a lot more couples and a larger range of people walking through the door.”
Likewise, Joe Theron, South Africa’s Larry Flynt, who publishes Hustler magazine and opened his first adult shop in 1995, quips: ”I’d be lying if I said it was upmarket … like Harrod’s. But you’re not going to find anything there that’s going to offend you.”
In the country’s porn shops today one finds a wide array of subjects of videos that cater for bisexuals, transexuals and lesbians. More extreme subjects range from sex with very obese or very old people to sex that includes urination. More intriguing items include a range of dildos, marketed to executive businessmen in a range of sizes and wood finishes that include ”teak” and ”light oak” and a rubber vagina inserted into the end of a flashlight ”for emergencies”.
With all this on offer, one will not find videos of coprophilia, bestiality or sex with minors all the material has had to be passed by the Film and Publications Board. With the porn industry now making millions of rands, some fixed regulation has had to come into play. This is how Calamaras and co have engineered a situation where they purchase the rights to master tapes from international porn syndicates for seven years and then run off thousands of copies which they package for the home market.
Adultworld customers can also bring their magazines and videos back when they have finished with them which means that your average porn nut will not have to accumulate a library; ”a bit like your local video shop”, says Calamaras.
According to Etienne Ernst of Sextopia, 40% of its clientele is female.
When the Mail & Guardian visited Adultworld’s Craighall Park branch recently there were no women in the store other than the young saleswoman, Claudette. This could be attributed to the fact that although this branch sells porn of every description, it’s known to be a major cruising ground for gay men.
Beneath the store, in a ”lounge” called Ramrods, the walls are adorned with skilfully painted erotic murals while gay porn shows on about five monitors. The venue also has a changing room pretty much like the one you’d find at your local gym. Upstairs there is a tacky heterosexual lounge, with a basin, one monitor and a single, forlorn occupant: a 40-something gentleman, quietly masturbating in the dark.
Claudette says 90% of the branch’s customers are gay: ”They’re more interesting, and anyway, a gay guy is a woman’s best friend. They’re just looking to go to a place where they won’t be looked at funny,” she says.
In contrast, the Sextopia stores in Gauteng instantly recognisable by their trademark green store windows take a different view on in-store cruising.
Ernst, a co-owner of a Sextopia store in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, says they are trying to create an upmarket, Arabic feel, and so his shop has a large fish tank positioned at the entrance.
”We’re aiming for a high-profile look. We sell a lot of DVDs and want to get away from the cruising areas. Viewing areas are part of the sleazy side of the industry and the viewing rooms are for people who can’t watch pornography with their wives. They just basically sit there on a couch and masturbate … they have low morals.”
Ernst said the chain was launched six years ago and now has a range of loyal customers who feel ”safe” in the shops. He mentioned, with a hint of glee, that they had taken two shops over the road from Microsoft and Ericsson, and business is booming.
”People’s attitudes are changing we’ve had a lot of media attention lately, but still you get your odd weirdo like someone who asks for bestiality.”
Asked what makes Sextopia different from other adult stores, Ernst said their prices are cheaper and the lighting in their shops is lower, more seductive.
With the festive season upon us, porn racketeers are anticipating a consumer rush, and they have laid on truckloads of novelty items; blow-up sheep, edible underwear and bars of penis-shaped soap.
Adultworld, in this time of joy, has brought in its festive season special a miniature Santa Claus that, when its head is tapped, gets a massive erection.