In some ways, the new Sex Capital in Mexico City´s Historic Center looks like any other modern shopping mall
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BY JONATHAN CLARK/SPECIAL THE HERALD MEXICO
El Universal
February 07, 2006
It´s got a brightly-lit atrium, a food court serving domestic and international snacks, a cinema and shiny escalators to whisk patrons between its four levels.
Unlike most other shopping malls, however, it also has a table dance club, 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 seforum.xxxe where young men and women dance and strip down to their undies.
But Sex Capital also has entire passageways of unoccupied shop fronts and a customer flow that most vendors describe unenthusiastically as "so-so." Four months after opening, Mexico´s first sex-themed shopping mall, a symbol of the nation´s increasing openness toward sexuality, is struggling to attract business.
Eric Lَpez, a clerk at the Condon.Pon condom shop (the name is a play on the Spanish word for "condom" and the imperative form of "put 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 stalls as a turn-off to customers - only 45 of the mall´s 100 storefronts are currently occupied. Furthermore, one of the plaza´s main intended attractions, a museum with exhibits on the history of sex, sex-related technology, and sexual customs from around the world, has yet to open.
"We are still just in the process of opening," said Alberto Kibrit, the mall´s 24-year-old owner. "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."
Kibrit acknowledged that promotion had been subdued, and said he was holding back on an advertising blitz until the complex was closer to full capacity.
Lَpez, however, touched on another factor that may help to explain the mall´s slow start: in this predominantly Catholic and traditionally conservative society, many people are still just beginning to feel comfortable with the open discussion 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."
CHANGING ATTITUDES
The Mexico of today would certainly not appear to be a sex-shy nation. The legendary "doble sentido" of Mexican Spanish involves a series of metaphorical 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 unlicensed sidewalk vendors set up graphic displays of pirated porn movies. A five-day sex expo - another brainchild of Kibrit and the inspiration for the sex mall project - attracted 80,000 visitors to the capital´s Sports Palace in 2004 and another 100,000 in 2005.
But cinematic sex scenes, openly displayed pornography and sex expos are relatively new phenomena here. And not everyone is comfortable with their arrival.
"What we are seeing is a continuous process of openness for Mexico as a culture and as a society," said Rodolfo Hernلndez, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. "We see how Mexican society is facing secularization, and how people have a stronger sense of self-identity with which to decide the way they pursue satisfaction."
Hernلndez points to 1994, the year of the North American Free Trade Agreement, as a watershed moment. As new products entered the liberalized Mexican market, he said, they brought with them new ways of thinking and new options for fulfilling consumer preferences.
Indeed, almost all of the products for sale at Sex Capital are imported from the United States, said Kibrit.
Kibrit attributes increased openness in Mexico City to the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution, which has run the city government since 1997.
"They are very open-minded people," he said.
Still, the city found itself under mounting pressure as 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 city´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.
A BETTER ALTERNATIVE
Kibrit acknowledges the concerns of the mall´s critics, but insists that his project is ultimately 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, in reference to an avenue around the corner from Sex Capital where the sidewalk sale of hardcore pornography is widespread.
Mercedes, 29, and Fernando, 27 (they declined to give their last names), a newlywed couple on a first-time 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," Fernando said. "So to buy these kinds of products, you had to go to places that were dirty, dark and out of the way."
Sex Capital, with its central location and well-lit and well-maintained facilities, offered a more appealing option to the couple.
"I think this is fantastic," said Mercedes.
PROMOTING INCLUSION
While the majority of the mall´s customers are men, the clientele is still noticeably diverse. Couples are common, as are groups or pairs of women. And while most patrons fall in the 18-to-40 age demographic, visitors in their 50s and 60s can be seen strolling the passageways 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 mall´s shops offer products geared toward both straight and gay patrons, and the bookstore has an educational section for parents who want to talk to their children about sex.
"Everyone is welcome here," said Kibrit.
He hopes that such inclusiveness - along with his planned publicity barrage - will help to boost the mall´s current average of 20,000 weekly visitors to 50- or 60,000.
"To be honest," Kibrit said, "in Mexico, it is not that difficult to get people interested in sex."
But getting people to patronize a sex-themed shopping center may prove to be a more difficult proposition.
Ariely Cabrera, 24, paused on Venustiano Carranza street outside Sex Capital to glance at the mall´s giant red-white-and-yellow banner proclaiming it "the world capital of sex."
"It grabs my attention, but I don´t think I´d go in," she said. "I´d probably feel like everyone was watching me. Or even worse, maybe someone I know would see me."
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/16898.html