adult retail stores: what are they good for? (english paper)

Excerpt from English 3300D paper:
Exiting the freeway, one can't help but notice a bright neon sign hanging above the plate glass windows along the front of the store. The parking lot is practically empty with the exception of a few cars. Traffic is sparse, but this is not unusual since it is half past midnight and the store closes at one o'clock. The atmosphere outside is quiet, allowing one's imagination to entertain thoughts of wonder, fear, and a strange sense of adventure. Looking at the lingerie-propped window displays through tinted glass, one can only imagine what world lies behind the door with "No one under eighteen allowed" and "We check I.D." posted all over it. Upon entering the building, the sweet smell of incense quickly becomes overwhelming as the aroma intoxicates the senses. The sudden glare from the bright fluorescent lights is temporarily blinding. Though it takes mere seconds for the eyes to make the adjustment to the light and focus on the colored blurs of the stores contents, one is still distracted by the store clerk's question: "May I see your I.D. please?" Dressed like a punk rocker with dark hair, facial piercings, and a lot of tattoos, the store clerk seemed to fit in with the rebellious impression one gets from just being in a store dripping with sexual taboos. The customers seem to be more out of place, with the men dressed in casual clothes and women in more trendy fashions not unlike what you would see walking through the mall. It makes you wonder what the customers were doing before they decided to enter into such a place—Perhaps walking their dog, playing with their kids, or maybe just getting off of work—who knows? The only thing that is certain is that they appear to be as normal as anyone else. So how did they find themselves in an adult retail store?
The adult retail industry's world of condoms, clothes, vibrators, videos, pornography, and party favors is home to "tens of millions of Americans"—a sizeable portion of the U.S. population (Herbenick, Reece, Sherwood-Puzzello, 2007). The adult industry's products are sold in adult retail stores frequented by these Americans. A store is considered an adult retail store if it is a "business selling products considered sexual in nature, such as adult bookstores, video stores, sex shops, or other [sex oriented] outlets" (Herbenick et al., 2007). Consumers flock to these businesses despite cultural taboos about sexuality and the tendency for the morally self-righteous conclusions of it leading to sexually deviant behavior. While some people are completely comfortable about their sexuality, others blush at the thought of entering "that" kind of store and having someone see them there—even though they would both be there for the same purpose. The thought of purchasing a sex toy makes some women uneasy because they have been conditioned to believe sex is personal and shouldn't be enhanced by artificial means. Some men may even be jealous of sex toys as if they are somehow replacing them. In today's society, patronizing an adult retail store is no different than buying condoms from the local drugstore in the 1960s. While sex in the new millennium may have advanced technologically, socially it still has a long way to go.