Cities throughout Texas are being asked to help fund a study that would be the first to focus strictly on the impact of sexually oriented businesses. The Texas City Attorneys Association commissioned the $100,000 study in an effort to link adult video and novelty stores to crime, decreased property values and other negative secondary effects.
"These studies, once they're done, will have usefulness in more than one state," Bennett Sandlin, general counsel for the Texas City Attorneys Association, told the Dallas Morning News.
Although tracking the stores is difficult, Sandlin added, "I think we're seeing more of those types of businesses. They're growing at a more rapid rate than strip clubs."
According to the report, six cities, including Arlington, Frisco, Garland and Kennedale, are contributing to the study that could possibly influence how the sex shop industry is regulated across the country. A number of others, including Richardson and Dallas, are weighing participation.
Banning sexually-oriented businesses violates constitutional rights; however, cities can impose zoning and licensing requirements to protect the public from so-called "secondary effects."
Previous studies that have linked adult businesses to crime and neighborhood depreciation have been seen as flawed and inaccurate, said Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a trade organization for the adult industry.
Duke told the Dallas Morning News that sexually oriented businesses often have less crime than other places that cater to adults, such as bars, and are being unfairly targeted for regulation.
"Sexually oriented businesses are held to higher standards than other businesses, and they often meet or exceed those standards," said Duke.
