Paris Sex Shop Manager On Trial For Allegedly Selling Pornography Near Children

The definition of "pornography" is at the center of a trial kicking off in Paris today to determine whether 1969, a central Paris sex shop that sells erotic toys and lingerie, is violating pornography laws by operating within 200 yards of a private middle school, Agence France-Presse reports.

Nicolas Busnel, a 41-year-old manager of the store, faces up to two years in prison and a $40,000 fine after two Catholic groups filed complaints that the shop violates a child protection law prohibiting the "installation of an establishment that has as purpose the sale of objects with a pornographic character less than 200 meters from a school," French newspaper Le Figaro reports.

But the child protection law does not clearly define what constitutes a pornographic object, according to Le Figaro.

Busnel's defense maintains that the products sold at 1969 are erotic and not pornographic.

"There are as many definitions of pornography as there are people," Busnel's attorney Richard Malka told the AFP.

Henri de Beauregard, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the case, disagreed.

"You can say that a sex shop is a 'love shop,' that a dildo is a 'sex toy' ... but these are just words," Beauregard told the AFP. "The simple truth is that we have here a sex shop that sells pornography!"

Jean-Eudes Tesson, president of the CLER Love and Family association, one plaintiff in the case, said they organization has no problem with sex toys in general, but objects to the products being sold in view of students walking to school.

"It isn't a scandal about ideology, we don't have anything against sex-toys: we aren't old-fashioned Catholics," Tesson told Le Figaro. "The problem is the presence of this kind of object in a window display that children pass by. That hijacks the work we are trying to do with them, to explain to them that the real sexuality is not in pornography."

But in response to Tesson, the store's head manager Valerie Levy told Le Figaro the shop has never displayed sex toys in its window displays and added that since the store opened in 2008, the majority of its customers have been women.

One traveler who reviewed the store said 1969 was in no way obscene or distasteful.

"This is a gorgeous store with lingerie, sex toys, books, DVDs, lubricants, and the like," Jay Friedman wrote on The Sun Break. "Very tasteful and very much worth a visit."

Levy has said she believes the plaintiffs in the case filed the complaint for money. Both the CLER Love and Family association the National Confederation of Catholic Family Associations (CNAFC) are asking for around $13,000 each in damages.

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Comments

[dbrett480]

02:58 PM on 02/25/2012

You know pornography when you see it. And he was selling pornographic materials. Simple as that.

[Chuck Bluestein]

12:54 PM on 02/10/2012

The shop could have avoided all this by opening over 200 meters away (like 205 meters away) from a school. Do the DVDs that they sell show people having sex or nude people?

[deucejuice]

12:42 PM on 02/10/2012

Screw kids. I'm tired of everything being censored for kids. I'm an adult

[The Mikester]

11:15 AM on 02/10/2012

I am sick to death of C@tholics!

[gerorem]

11:08 PM on 02/09/2012

When I was a kid, there was pornography within 200 feet of..........
Wait a minute. It was in some of the schoolbags.

[nixthetrix]

09:46 PM on 02/09/2012

If it is too close to the prudes (according to the law) , they should be issued a notice of eviction and move elsewhere . Whats up with the legal wrangling ? 2008 seems to stretch the definition of 'statute of limitations' .

[moonlightesq]

07:34 PM on 02/09/2012

Are all the beautiful statues in Paris that showed nude men and women pornographic now?

[Una Bubba]

04:56 PM on 02/09/2012

Sad that it's spreading to Paris. Congress has taught me to absolutely loathe children, every time one shows up, another congressman wants to use them as a weapon.

And to think, Paris used to be reputed for its open mindedness about sex.

[savvy7]

02:44 PM on 02/09/2012

When did the "Puritans" land in Paris? The Catholic family groups, CLER and CNAFC, need to worry more about the Church's "own" using their children as 'sex toys' and leave discreet adult pleasures to adults.

[stacknef]

02:43 PM on 02/09/2012

Each time these men have to take a leak they must be disgusted with themselves, having to hold their own pornographic penis in their hand.

[Max Load]

01:26 PM on 02/09/2012

Shouldn't it all *really* boil down to who was there first, the shop or the school?

[savvy7]

02:45 PM on 02/09/2012

"Shouldn't it all *really* boil down to who was there first, the shop or the school? "

If they're not selling "toys" to children and their shop is as discreet as described, I don't see that it matters.

[Janetgv]

12:21 PM on 02/09/2012

Oh, the Catholic Church, always on the vanguard of idiocy.

[parisbadboy]

11:53 AM on 02/09/2012

Huffpost User jaysterrebel aka paris bad boy: picking on a sex shop in paris, would be like closing the vinyards in burgandy. are the french gone mad? viva la sex!!

[threnodymarch]

10:54 AM on 02/09/2012

So if the shop is 220m away from the school, it is acceptable? This is such a ridiculous situation. If the shop doesn't display anything "erotic" in its windows and doesn't allow children in, there is no problem. The name of the shop, "1969" is a reference children won't ostensibly understand. I don't see any problem here. The things people get so angry about, to me, are just projections. Using children as a buffer for your own stances on morality is outrageous. If we didn't make such a big deal about these things in the first place, maybe children would grow up without all of the neuroses and issues about sex that people try so hard to suppress.

[jake192168]

01:04 PM on 02/09/2012

oh boy you left that open so i gotta ask. what sex are you supressing?

[MA]

10:32 AM on 02/09/2012

A private French middle school? Those kids probably have more stuff than the shop does!