Sex cinema

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Sexkino (also Porno- or erotic movie ) is colloquially a cinema refers which predominantly or exclusively films pornographic shows contents. Access to these cinemas is only permitted for adults within the meaning of the Youth Protection Act . With the advent of video stores in the 1980s and DVDs in the 1990s, as well as the availability of pornography on the Internet , this market segment was "dying out" in the cinema.

Sign of an erotic cinema in Vienna

While the classic movie theaters faced this competition with improved technology, the operators of the erotic cinemas relied on a changed offer. The classic large porn cinema of the 1960s and 1970s can only be found sporadically today. Today's sex cinemas can often be found in sex shops outside of the red light district . The conception ranges from video booths to simple small cinemas to offers in brothels and swinger clubs .

history

Sexuality and eroticism played a role in the history of the film from the very beginning. At the beginning of the last century, cinematographers were already moving from one fair to the next with so-called “ living images ” . Most of them secretly showed the so-called Stag Films , which had been produced since 1896 , about five to ten minute long strips that often showed striptease and less often sex. In 1899, the actor Otto Pritzkow († 1941) opened the first cinema in Berlin , which was called " Abnormitäten- und Biograph-Theater ". At that time, especially the mass of workers and citizens were drawn to the new movie theaters because they were not allowed to go to the theater.

In the United States, these movie theaters were priced at one nickel (5 cents), earning them the nickname " Nickelodeons ." In the 1920s, the filmic representation of sex was banned there by the so-called " Hays Code ". This led to the displacement of pornography underground. Until the 1950s, only legal so-called “nudies” were shown in cinemas. Under the guise of Enlightenment, films of the naked could increasingly be shown in the form of pseudo-documentations, mostly without criminal prosecution. In the course of the Sexual Revolution , pornography was liberalized and legalized. In 1968, for the first time , porn cinemas reopened in Denmark . In the USA, the publication of pornographic content was legalized in 1972. There the porn cinemas had their heyday , especially with films like Deep Throat , The Devil In Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door .

In Germany, after the entry into force of the new sex criminal law on January 28, 1975 and the partial legalization of pornography, sex cinemas were also set up under the sign pam pam . The Dortmund-based Bauer-Verleih had a large share in this with its PAM cinemas , but the Munich sex film producer Alois Brummer also participated in the newly established porn industry under the tam tam label. American, Danish and finally German productions were shown. The previously extremely successful German soft sex films gradually disappeared from cinemas due to a lack of demand. In this way, sex cinema played a major role in the end of the so-called “ sex wave ”.

taxation

Cinemas are generally viewed as cultural institutions and therefore receive a VAT reduction in Germany and other European countries , as cinema operators only have to pay a reduced tax rate. In Germany, for example, this is currently 7 percent, while the full VAT rate is 19 percent. The operators of porn cinemas benefit in part from this regulation. Many municipalities , however, in Germany collect some long-standing, a separate tax on "pleasures of a special kind" and tax "Sexdarbietungen" as porn cinemas and striptease , peep shows , sex fairs and table dance , partly brothels . Such “sex taxes” were levied in thirteen Hessian municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants in 2008 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ So long, porn cinema! , taz of January 29, 2008
  2. ↑ beck-aktuell-Redaktion: ECJ: Operator of a sex cinema with single video booths has to pay full VAT. In: beck-current. Verlag CH Beck, March 19, 2010, accessed on March 26, 2010 .
  3. ^ Gesa Coordes: Sex tax is highest in Frankfurt. Frankfurter Rundschau , September 3, 2008, archived from the original on September 12, 2008 ; Retrieved March 26, 2010 .