Honey Birdette under investigation by Adelaide council

Sex shop has seven days to remove sex toys

Over the past year, we’ve received numerous complaints about Honey Birdette, a store found in major shopping centres around the country. Honey Birdette is a sex shop masquerading as a high end lingerie store.  Capitalising on the popularity of BDSM themed trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey, Honey Birdette sells gags, whips, restraints and sex toys and claims to be “all about sex”. Their website has a section entitled 'Saucy Snaps', images depicting threesomes, spanking, faux lesbianism and hot wax.

Honey Birdette’s porn-themed advertising should therefore come as no surprise. Despite the Advertising Standards Bureau upholding complaints (more here) about their massive window front advertising, including an image of a woman in lingerie with tape over her nipples, the sex shop refused to remove the ad.

The acceptance of sex shops like Honey Birdette in family shopping centres raise a whole range of questions. Are minors allowed to enter the store? Are there age restrictions on purchasing sex toys and pornography? How much of their floor space is dedicated to sex toys? Can they sell hardcore pornography? Can the stores be located next to children’s retailers or play centres?

As Fiona Patten, chief executive of Eros, Australia’s peak sex industry body said, “If you look at the definition of an adult store they are definitely an adult store. If it is a suitable location for Honey Birdette, then it is suitable for Club X.”

The Adelaide City Council is currently investigating Honey Birdette for breaching development laws that ban sex shops from busy retail areas and family-friendly precincts. The store reportedly failed to disclose the nature of their shops in making an application and have since been given seven days to remove the sex toys and submit another development application.

CALL TO ACTION

Contact Adelaide City Council  [email protected]

Here are some points you could make:

Honey Birdette is a sex shop, and as such they should be required to abide by laws and regulations for sex shops.

Children are exposed to Honey Birdette’s porn themed advertising if the store is allowed to operate in family shopping centres. The public space should be safe for everyone.

The Advertising Standards Bureau has ruled that Honey Birdette’s highly sexualized shop front advertising is in breach of industry codes and standards, yet Honey Birdette have refused to comply with the ruling and did not remove the porn-inspired advertising.

That in allowing a sex shop to trade in a family shopping centre will open the doors for any sex shops to trade in major shopping centres.

Further reading

Sex shops to move into major shopping centres- Collective Shout

Brisbane adult shop 200m from childcare centre shut down for operating without a licence