Miami Herald, 2/19/06 - In some ways, the new Sex Capital shopping center in Mexico City's Historic Center looks like any other modern mall with its brightly lit atrium, a food court, a two-theater cinema and shiny escalators.

But it also has a gay discotheque, peep shows and an 18-and-over age limit. Its shops sell exclusively sex-themed products -- marital aids, lingerie, condoms, adult videos and books -- and the dining area features a stage where young men and women dance and strip down to their undies.

But four months after opening, Mexico's first sex-themed mall has big areas of empty shop fronts and a customer flow that most vendors describe as "so-so" -- symbols both of the nation's increasing openness toward sexuality and its predominantly Catholic and conservative society.

LACK OF ADVERTISING

Eric López, a clerk at the Condon.Pon condom and sex toy shop -- the name is a play on the Spanish words for condom and "put it on" -- blamed sluggish sales on a lack of advertising.
"We need more publicity," he said. "If people knew about the place, more would come."
Others pointed to the empty storefronts as a turn-off to customers: Only 45 of the mall's 100 locations are currently occupied. Furthermore, one of the plaza's main intended attractions, a museum offering exhibits on the history of sex, sex-related technology and sexual customs from around the world, has yet to open.

"We'll have a grand opening for the museum in May, and I figure that in four months, we'll be at 100 percent capacity," said Alberto Kibrit, the mall's 24-year-old owner.

Kibrit acknowledged that promotion had been subdued and said he was holding back on an advertising blitz until the complex is closer to full capacity.

López, however, also acknowledged that Mexicans may not be totally comfortable with open talk of sex.

"We get a lot of people who come in, look around nervously and leave," he said. "In this country, sex is still taboo to many people."

The Mexico of today would certainly not appear to be a sex-shy nation. Mexican slang includes many expressions that carry an almost exclusively sexual meaning. Mexican films often feature steamy sex scenes that would likely earn an NC-17 rating in the United States. In Mexico City, magazine stands prominently display adult magazines, and sidewalk vendors set up displays of pirated porn movies. A five-day sex expo -- another Kibrit brainchild -- attracted 80,000 visitors in 2004 and 100,000 in 2005.

"To be honest, in Mexico, it is not that difficult to get people interested in sex," he said.

Rodolfo Hernández, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, said a watershed moment for Mexicans' views on sex came in 1994, the year of the North American Free Trade Agreement. As new products entered the Mexican market, he said, they sparked new ways of thinking and new consumer preferences.

Indeed, almost all of the products for sale at the Sex Capital are imported from the United States, Kibrit acknowledged.

He attributes the increased openness in Mexico City to the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution, which has run the city government since 1997.

FEARS RAISED

Still, the city found itself under increasing pressure as the four-story Sex Capital prepared to open. Neighboring business owners protested that the plaza would scare away their customers and attract crime and prostitution, while others argued that the project was inappropriate for the capital's monument and museum-filled Historic Center.

In the end, the city granted Kibrit his operating permit, but only after he agreed to implement tight security measures and scuttle his plan to offer live sex shows.

Kibrit insists his project is good for the community.

"It's better that this is happening here, in an enclosed, controlled space, than out on the Eje Central where little kids can see it," he said, referring to an avenue around the corner from the Sex Capital where the sidewalk sale of hard-core pornography is widespread.

NEWLYWEDS VISIT

Mercedes, 29, and Fernando, 27 -- they declined to give their last names -- a newlywed couple on their first visit to the mall, said they appreciated having an alternative to the Eje Central or the city's seedier sex shops.

"In Mexico, the idea for a long time was that sex should be hidden," said Fernando. "So to buy this kind of product, you had to go to places that were dirty, dark and out of the way."

While the majority of the mall's customers are men, the clientele is still noticeably diverse. Couples like Mercedes and Fernando are common, as are groups or pairs of women. And while most patrons seem be age 18 to 40, visitors in their 50s and 60s can be seen there as well.

As part of its effort to attract a diverse customer base, Sex Capital recently opened the Woman's Club, which features male strippers, and the gay-friendly Arubis dance club.

Many of the shops offer products geared toward both straight and gay patrons, and the bookstore even has an educational section for parents who want to talk to their children about sex.

"Everyone is welcome here," said Kibrit

More ...

Mexico City Clamps Down on Sidewalk Porn

AP, 12/23/05 - Mexico City launched an uphill battle this week against street vendors who have turned many of the city's sidewalks and subway entrances into in-your-face displays of graphic, triple-X movies and magazines.

Some 600 city police confiscated thousands of pirated pornographic videos from a five-block stretch Tuesday in an effort to force some of the city's unlicensed street vendors to be more discreet with their X-rated wares in this socially conservative society.

The city government also signed an agreement with an association of newspaper vendors this week to keep hard-core pornography magazines off front shelves near schools and parks.

The association began handing members fliers about the agreement, along with a placard reading: "Dear customer, out of respect for the family, we do not display adult publications. But if you want them, please ask."

The porn problem is the outgrowth of weak law enforcement and a long-standing tolerance for tens of thousands of street vendors who hawk everything from pirated DVDs to stuffed animals.

The phenomenon started taking off in the 1990s, when cheap video players — and later DVD machines — became available to the general public.

"It's everywhere. It bothers us a lot because we have to pull the kids away so they won't see it," said Ramon Villegas, who heads the Mexico City chapter of a national parents' association. "This can really damage kids psychologically."

Selling pornography is not a crime in Mexico City. Police instead confiscated the X-rated videos because they are — like most DVDs sold in the city — pirated copies, often of U.S. films.

"We do offer original videos, but people won't buy them because of the price," said "Chore," a street porn vendor who would give only his nickname for fear of arrest.

By Thursday, many of the downtown sidewalk porn vendors were back, albeit a little more nervous. Some stood a few steps away from their stalls, apparently so that they could deny having anything to do with the merchandise if confronted by police.

Mexico City's street entrepreneurs often find creative ways of selling goods on the sly.

When police started raiding computer software stands a few years ago, vendors took to displaying their wares in loose-leaf binders that could quickly be flipped open for potential customers.

Other vendors known as "torreros," or "bullfighters" display their wares in small, jumbled piles on blankets that can be swiftly gathered up and spirited off when police appear.

For most officials, that would be preferable to the current situation, in which sidewalks are crowded with 6-foot-tall wire display racks, often crammed with hundreds of porno videos.

For Villegas, of the national parents' association, the trend has come at a heavy cost.

"There is no modesty anymore," he said. "Our values are being lost."

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