Addendum: Another quote against the Monkey See Monkey Do theory of human behavior
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France 2010
Day 2 - 4th October - Paris: Moulin Rouge, Pigalle (Part 2)
From the Holy of Holies, I then went to the Street of Sin: the Pigalle area.
There were a lot of Halal shops near this area, and they were the first Halal shops I'd seen in Paris. Perhaps it says something about repression and deprivation (the same reason why women get groped more in conservative Muslim countries).
Adult Cinema ticket booth: notice the various liquids on sale; 'Jungle Juice' was on sale for 13€. "Il est interdit de se travestir dans les salles" ("It is forbidden to crossdress in the halls")
All the DVDs featured at the Adult Cinema were American. How disappointing.
Street with sauna, spa, sex shop, hotel and "Théâtre de Dix Heures. Juste pour rire" ("10 hour Theatre. Just for laughs")
"Découvrez un univers unique dans la capitale... Un décor indien où se mélangent détente, sensualité, et libertinage... Passez les portes du Moon City et laissez le plaisir vous envoûter"
("Discover a unique world in the capital... Indian decor where relaxation, sensuality and debauchery mix... Enter the gates of Moon City and let pleasure enchant you")
Moon City is one of the few places open 7 days a week. You can see where priorities are.
Sex Shop with animated mannikins
"Timhotel" - Great location for a hotel
Neon Signs: on the right is a bar called "Karaoke". I know it's a gay bar because of the actions of the guy represented by the neon sign - it's a secret code. And his hair is -so- gay.
Dodgy-sounding establishments
"Spécialiste de la poupée gonflable. 25 modèles."
("Inflatable Doll Specialist. 25 types")
This sign intrigued me, so I went in to have a look. Though I didn't really see inflatable dolls, the East Asian guy inside kept trying to sell me stuff (in English). He showed me a price tag on an artificial vagina of 149€, and claimed that for me he'd sell it for 100€, and said I could get all of them. He was very proud of them being American ("Pussy. All American"). To fend him off, I tried telling him that "J'ai encore une fleshlight. C'est américain aussi" (sic - "I already have a Fleshlight. It's also American"), but he said his vagina moulds were better, and he was very proud of the pubic hair on them. He also tried to sell me a penis pump. When I finally left he wasn't very happy.
The stuff inside the shop wasn't really impressive (after Japan, and especially after Love Merci) but they had a big collection of scato-uro and zoophilie material. And 19€ magazines (! - perhaps because they were vintage) and a 32€ (!) Tenga Cup (even Singapore is cheaper).
"Bistro Chat Noir" ("Black Pussy Bistro")
Notice the woman in the window looking at me
Musée de l'érotisme with "Elata: Goddess of Flexibility". I didn't have time to go in.
I finally got to Moulin Rouge, which was at the end of my route.
People were very fascinated by this outlet vent which was blowing air. No one did a Marilyn Monroe - though there was one girl in an a line/pencil skirt. I got blown a little.
Cold, grumpy grandma
Crime scene
Moulin Rouge, the famous cabaret
For some reason a van marked as carrying horses pulled up.
More hair blowing: this camera is terrible in low light.
I wanted to have my hair blown too, but there were logistical obstacles.
Moulin Rouge cabaret, with the rotating windmill
"Quick: Quality Burger Restaurant". Kualiti of the Malaysian sort. Though they've just released a 5 euro foie gras burger
"Transsexual specialist"
This sign was amusing enough, but what intrigued me more was the shop beside it:
"Gay
Revue
Poppers
Big Dong
Bi-Sex
Coquine
Annonces
Sex Pump
Gadgets
Vibro Rotation
Boules de Geïsha
Aphrodisiaque"
Besides what had intrigued me, there were also some other amusing things in the shop:
One game: "3 Jeux sexy pour joueurs de 50+. La vie amoureuse active commence vraiment à 50 ans !" ("3 sexy games for players 50 years and older. An active love life really starts at 50!")
The biggest dildos I've ever seen. I feel quite sorry for whoever these are used on. The other shop also had some like these, but the guy kept bothering me so I couldn't take a picture.
DVD: "A 42 ans, Vicky ne s'est JAMAIS ÉPILÉ LA CHATTE !" ("At 42, Vicky has NEVER SHAVED HER PUSSY!")
There was a 'Ciné Couple €16', and I heard moaning sounds.
Then there was what I'd gone inside to investigate: the Boules de Geïsha. I asked the proprietor what they were and he gave a rambling explanation in French, which satisfied me that they were Burmese Bells:
What are now known by the Japanese name of rin-no-tama, meaning "tinkling balls," are a variation of what the Chinese once called "Burmese bells,", although they may have been no more Burmese than French letters are French. They were originally as common in southeast Asia as in China. The English traveler, Ralph Fitch, described them in the Shan States of Burma at the end of the sixteenth century. The men, he said, wore "bunches of little round balls in their privy members... They cut the skin and so put them in." The aristocracy had silver ones, "gilded and made with great cunning," which rang "like a little bell"; the lead ones used by poorer people rang "but little." The king "sometimes taketh his out and giveth them to his noblemen as a great gift." Less than a dozen years later, the Florentine merchant Francesco Carletti also reported on them, this time in Thailand. "The rattles," he said, were "as large as hazel nuts" and were made in round or oval shape. When two or three were inserted under the skin of the penis, they had the result of "enlarging the member, as anyone can imagine." He added that according to Niccolò dei Conti, a Venetian nobleman who visited Burma early in the fifteenth century, there had then been "certain old women who had no other calling then that of selling these rattles." Carletti thought the original idea of the bells had been to enlarge the penis to such an extent as to "rule out and render impossible the practicing of venery in illicit parts of the body even with men" - by which he presumably meant anal intercourse - while Fitch, rather more obscurely, claimed that they had been "invented because they should not abuse the male sex, for in times past all those countries were [so] given to that villainy that they were very scarce of people." Both authors added, however, that whatever the origins of the practice it was perpetuated by the fact that women considered the effect highly stimulating.
Women themselves made use of the "Burmese Bell," at first inserting one in the vagina before intercourse, but later using them for solitary pleasure. In this case a pair of the little silver globes was necessary, one containing a drop of mercury and the other a tiny vibrating metal tongue; they gave a uniquely erotic sensation even at the slightest movement of hips or legs. Rin-no-tama bells for women became popular in the West in the eighteenth century and again in the late twentieth, though the modern set consists of three, not two, and the third is hollow.
- Sex in History, Reay Tannahill p. 173-174
Yes, there are new things after Love Merci!
My very own Boules de Geïsha. 10€, down from 13€. This was the cheapest model, of course. The more expensive ones were metal, not polymer.
One of the free public toilets in the area had almond soap, which I experienced for the first time. It's quite nice, though I doubt it had almond oil in it.
I love how they cater to both tastes with no fuss
Tranny show
One tout in the Pigalle tried to get me to go ito his seedy establishment, claiming that it was free. Knowing about such tricks (note that the reviews on TripAdvisor range from bad to very bad), I told him "J'ai pas d'intérêt" ("I'm not interested"). He seemed surprised, and replied "Vous parlez français... Je suis désolé" ("You speak French... I'm sorry"). Apparently scamming tourists of hundreds of Euros is something you only do to non-Francophones, and it's blasphemy to do it if they speak your language.
"INTERDICTION DE FUMER... Pour arreter de fumer, faitês-vous aider en appelant..."
("Smoking forbidden... To stop smoking, get help by calling...")
This would be even better if the hotline were toll-free. They should add this to all no-smoking signs.
Rue de Dunkerque. There were no history lessons on the street signs in this area. Which was probably a good thing for this street.
On this street, as I passed a woman she cried out and she made a sudden movement. So I did the same (as I was truly alarmed). I was too shocked to tell her "Vous m'avez choqué" ("You frightened me").
There was a place offering a "French Breakfast": 6,6€ for a croissant, hot drink and orange juice. What happened to un café et une cigarette?
You can get laid anywhere and at any time: buy condoms in the métro
When I didn't understand people, I sometimes blurted out: "Quoi?" ("What?"). I was told that this is quite rude.