Pushing the Sex Industry Underground

The sex industry, although condemned by many, and hidden by others, is a very profitable and widespread industry. The adult entertainment industry has grown immensely in the past few decades, and become even more profitable in recent years. Despite this, many cities try to prevent these industries from flourishing, and many others try to put large, demanding restrictions on them. Still, some other cities have a high tolerance for these industries. The reasons for this are complex and varied, and will be discussed throughout this paper. There is also a largely debated question regarding whether or not these industries adversely affect the areas that they occupy. Many cities claim this to be true, but there is a lack of evidence to support this claim.
There is definitely a growing number of adult entertainment businesses. The rate of expansion was greatest “between 1987 and 1992” when the “number of strip clubs in major cities across the United States roughly doubled” (Liepe-Levinson). This is not only because of growing interest and growing numbers of clientele but also because “adult entertainment has been redefined as a range of activities have become legitimate” (Ryder).
During the time period in which these industries were expanding so rapidly, “Gentrification of urban centers across the United States produced a corollary geographical shift in adult entertainment locations,” which caused them to move to more suburban locations (Egan 9). This caused an uproar among the people living in these areas. In order to prevent this shift in location, officials created zoning laws to try to “control or stop the proliferation of exotic dance clubs in certain areas” (Egan 9).
Despite the fact that “Civic leaders and urban governments have tried to control adult entertainment activities with a variety of 'command-and-control' techniques, including vice laws, licensing, zoning and land use planning powers,” they have been largely unable to stop the growth of the adult entertainment industry (Ryder). There are small successes as far as “closing down or down-sizing adult entertainment districts in many cities, but this success is more apparent than real” (Ryder). Although there is some competition to these live industries because “adult activities are suburbanizing, and face growing competition from the Internet and other on-line services” (Ryder). The National Family Legal Foundation was a big player in attempting to legislate zoning codes. “This organization trained 1,000 lawyers to “secure” 1,000 cities by initiating and implementing zoning codes that would eliminate all businesses that did not uphold their standards of family values” (Liepe-Levinson). In 1994, Mayor Giuliani followed the lead of this organization when he implemented zoning codes that banned any “sex trade business larger than 10,000 square feet, and all sex trades from operating less than 500 feet from residences, churches, day-care centers, schools, and one another” (Liepe-Levinson 20). This was largely supported by some and largely denounced by others. The laws banned any store from selling more than forty percent adult merchandise. This did not stop any stores from selling adult merchandise, it only eliminated “explicit signs of sexual desire.” Some accused Giuliani of wanting to “legislate his own morality” (Liepe-Levinson 20). As put by Hanna, “the problem in a multicultural society is that certain groups or individuals articulate their beliefs by means of pulic discourse and crusades, often successfully, imposing their morality on others.” Many cities have opposition to strip clubs on moral charges. This has been frequently decried as a violation of first amendment rights, but it is still an issue. The City of Erie put a ban on nude dancing that was later overturned on the grounds that it “unconstitutionally restricted free expression rights of nude dancing entertainers” (Leahy). There are a variety of views on what exactly should be done about the adult entertainment industry, but it is apparent that for the most part, zoning laws are ineffective, and mostly only create a semblance of usefulness.
There are a variety of laws in different parts of the country and in different parts of the world. There is little explanation for the diversity of regulations, but for the most part, all of the areas are attempting to combat the same problems and create the same levels of safety and decency. In Sweden, several laws were put into place to make sex work illegal. In the Netherlands, laws were put into place that regulated the health and safety of the industry. Both of these reforms were an attempt to decrease problems regarding health and human rights. However, in both cases, these attempts caused much of the sex work to go underground, which causes greater problems (Kilvington). One effective way of tackling these problems surrounding the sex industry is unionization. This has occurred in Germany as well as in the United States (Kilvington). In San Francisco, dancers at the Lusty Lady worked in horrible conditions. They came together and formed a union and re-organized the business into a co-operative. (Barton 159). In other areas, such as South Africa, sex work has been entirely decriminalized, which is defined as “the removal of any legislation, which makes prostitution and the activities commonly associated with sex work, such as pimping/ brothel-keeping and soliciting, illegal” (Wojocicki). It also eliminated any regulations on sex work including “zoning, registration, licensing or health testing for sex workers.” This is a very liberal and unusual position, in fact, “decriminalization, as such, does not exist anywhere in the world” (Wojocicki).
In some cases, courts have “supported state’s rights to create laws that would make it significantly harder to run or own exotic dance clubs” (Egan). The argument supporting these decisions regards the “harmful secondary effects” of sex work, which includes “drug abuse, drunken driving, and prostitution.” These claims are all largely unfounded (Egan). There is little evidence regarding whether “legal sex trades in question moved into an area already in decline, whether they actually furthered the problem, or whether the district’s demise was caused by additional factors.” This being the argument that many anti-sex trade organizations use. The claim that “strip clubs invariably destroyed neighborhoods or encouraged vice and crime” is largely unfounded. (Liepe-Levinson). There is also documented evidence that a strip club being in a particular area “does not increase the number of crime incidents reported in localized areas surrounding the club… as compared to the number of crime incidents reported in comparable localized areas that do not contain such an adult business.” Interestingly enough, there is evidence supporting “the opposite, namely, that the nearby areas surrounding the adult business sites have smaller numbers of reported crime incidents than do corresponding areas surrounding the three control sites studied” (Sanchez).
It is apparent that adult entertainment is a thriving industry that will not fade away anytime soon. Although many cities try to fight the spread of these businesses, they largely fail, and they have no real evidence to back the claims that they use to attempt to create laws. Also, regardless of what laws are implemented, most adult industries thrive just the same. There is also no evidence to support the claims that strip clubs create any problems with crime or cause the disintegration of a particular area.




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Ryder, Andrew. “The Changing Nature of Adult Entertainment Districts: Between a Rock and a Hard Place or Going from Strength to Strength?” Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace, Portsmouth, UK.
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Sanchez, L E. Boundaries of Legitimacy: Sex, Violence, Citizenship, and Community in a Local Sexual Economy. Law & Social Inquiry, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Summer, 1997), pp. 543-580

Wojcicki, Janet. Race, Class and Sex: The Politics of the Decriminalisation of Sex Work.
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Published by: Agenda Feminist Media