World Sex Sells News

A court in Switzerland has ruled that value added tax (VAT) must be paid for all things sold, including prostitution, dismissing a claim by a brothel owner.

The owner, who was told by the tax authorities to pay 95,000 Swiss francs ($84,640) in VAT on the services she proffered, claimed the government could not tax immoral acts.

The court ruled in favour of the principle of neutrality of the tax code, meaning all business deals, including the selling of drugs or sex services, should be subject to the value added tax.

The fear of AIDS is making Indians turn to other ways of sexual gratification. There has been a 50% rise in use of sex toys and a 30% drop in brothel visits

Confirming this, sexologist Prakash Kothari said, GenNext is concerned about sexual safety and performance and so, there has been a substantial rise in patients asking for life-sized inflatable sex dolls and vibrators.

Added Tushar Deshmukh, director Family Planning Association of India, Targeted intervention in HIV/AIDS control has been happening by promoting self satisfaction as a tool to reduce the chances of the spread of the epidemic.

The sale of sex toys is a punishable offence under Section 293 (Sale of obscene objects) of the penal code and punishment varies from one year to seven years with a fine of up to Rs 5,000 (£68), explained Senior Inspector Rajendra Joshi of the Social Service Branch.

According to Kothari, irrespective of restrictions in the sale, such toys are easily available provided you know the right person. Rates vary between Rs 500 -3,000 (£7-41) for a dildo to between Rs 4,000-15,000 (£54-£203) for inflatable dolls in Mumbai.

Banning brothels in residential areas would be a welcome first step to curbing prostitution, though laws need to go further by making it illegal to pay for sex, Perth's Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey says.

He supports the so-called Swedish model, which makes buying sex and brothel ownership illegal, rather than prostitution itself.

Attorney-General Christian Porter is working towards delivering the Government's election promise to ban prostitution outside designated zones but has rejected calls from some Not So Liberal backbenchers to adopt the Swedish model on the basis that he did not support a system which punished only the men who bought sex. He was prepared to consider introducing tougher penalties for men caught buying sexual services outside designated areas.

Archbishop Hickey said men had to be held responsible for what was effectively a form of abuse against women: (Under the Swedish system), at least men will get a different message than the one they are getting at the moment, which is almost encouragement.

These are hard times even for the oldest trade in the world. A Berlin brothel has responded to the economic crisis by launching a flat-rate service to woo customers.

The city's "Pussy Club" has made headlines in the local press by giving clients unlimited access to all its ladies for €70, which includes an all-you-can-eat-and-drink offer, in a bid to weather Germany's worst economic slump since World War II.

To clinch the deal, it is even offering men the opportunity to bring their wives along.

Seventy euros, that includes everything -- ladies, drinks and food, a member of staff contacted by phone told SPIEGEL ONLINE. The offer runs during off-peak times. On weekdays it applies between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. On weekends, it's extended by an hour until five p.m.

A pornographic movie theatre in Vancouver's eastside neighbourhood may become history following complaints that it attracts sex workers.

The Fox Cinema on Main Street near Kingsway has been screening hard-core pornography for the last 35 years.

Vancouver city hall will consider suspending or revoking its business licence during a public hearing scheduled for next Tuesday. The city's licence department said Thursday that the hearing is quasi-judicial.

Some neighbouring businesses said the theatre's clientele behaves like the actors in the films it shows.

Suddenly we noticed, like, prostitutes, all kinds of craziness, people getting naked in our doorway. Things happening that don't seem OK anymore, said Veronika Baspaly, who owns a boutique next door. I started calling the police every time I saw something illegal going on, she said: You don't have to be a genius to know that illegal activity goes on in porn theatres.

But Fox's owner, Lisa Huang, said her neighbours' complaints are misguided.

Vancouver police issued a warning to the theatre last year after complaints about the presence of sex workers, so if we see a prostitute come in, we refuse to let them in, Huang said.

Huang has received 35 signatures of support from surrounding businesses and hopes that will help sway the city.

John Robertson, who has run a shop a few doors down for almost 30 years, said new business owners who moved into the area recently seem to have problems with the Fox: But they knew that coming in. The Fox theatre hasn't changed. If anything, it looks a little nicer than it did a few years ago.

Business is slower than before, partly because of the bad economy but also, according to government officials, due to the Anti-Sex Trafficking Law, which was enacted five years ago amid great fanfare.

However, except for cosmetic changes, the lucrative sex trade is still very much around, experts say. The only difference is that since the law was enforced, the sex trade has evolved.

More visible outlets such as the one in Yeongdeungpo have taken the brunt of the law as have the once notorious neighborhoods of northern Seoul's Cheongnyangni and Mia-ri Texas, which are both scheduled for urban redevelopment.

A tell-tale sign that business was, if not booming, reasonably healthy came earlier this month when the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced it would transfer hundreds of police officers in southern Seoul. The move has been widely interpreted as an effort to sever ties between the police and entertainment establishments offering sex services.

Nowadays, adding to the sex-for-cash businesses, hyugae-tel (resting rooms), where customers can call up sex workers and then later join them at another venue, are expanding rapidly, while commercial sex offered online, which is harder to track, is also growing.

Still, government officials say the implementation of the law from five years ago has helped significantly reduce the scale of the sex industry.

If you look at the numbers, coming down from a 24 trillion won industry to a 14 trillion won one is a step forward, said Cho Sin-suk, an official at the Ministry of Gender Equality. According to ministry estimates, there were 269,000 active sex workers in Korea in 2007, a decline from 320,000 five years earlier.

To try to curb prostitution, Korea introduced a special law in 2007 that gave the authorities the power to deny the issuance or renewal of passports to men who had a track record of purchasing sex.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice is running an education and awareness program for men who have been prosecuted for buying sex. Last year, 17,956 men took part in the program.

One of the problems facing the police is that it is very difficult to prosecute an individual for buying sex services because of the lack of evidence, a point highlighted by an Asia Foundation study in 2006: It has become a new trend in the sex industry to use other body parts [hands] to perform sexual service without having intercourse. Up to now, the Korean courts have made different decisions on whether to regard this as sex trade or not, the study said.

A police officer who declined to be named admitted that the current focus of all crackdowns is geared toward the better known red-light districts as a successful campaign is more visible to the public.

We have limited resources and there is only so much you can do, said the officer: We know that when we close the red-light districts these women will just use another venue. There is no perfect solution.

The numbers seem to reflect the reality. In 2003, the number of men arrested for buying sex services stood at 12,737 but that number is expected to reach 40,000 this year.

Eradicating one of the oldest trades is perhaps a Sisyphean challenge for the government and law enforcement agencies, a task made doubly difficult by the ingrained attitude among many men that commercial sex is not wrong.

Three years ago, in a survey of 448 males by the Korean Institute of Criminology 58.5% said they had experienced buying sex at least once. In recent surveys conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality that number still hovers around the 50% mark.

You can't put a plug on sexual desire. People who look like they never would buy sex suddenly go wild once they get some alcohol in their system, said a salon-owner: This is almost a recession-proof business.

The decision to shut down the designated street prostitution zone in Eindhoven in 2011 is coming up against criticism and incomprehension among prostitutes. These ladies must be helped out of their dead-end situation, says the alderman. Then I'll go back to illegal soliciting, says one prostitute.
By Esther Wittenberg

Prostitution has been legal in the Netherlands since 2000 and six years ago Eindhoven opened a designated street prostitution area. The aim was to put an end to the nuisance caused by street prostitution in the working class area of Woensel West. Used condoms were being thrown into front gardens, cars were cruising around the area at night, and neighbourhood girls were being asked how much they charged. Thirty prostitutes with addiction problems were given a pass that allowed them to work in the special designated zone. The aim was also to provide addicted street prostitutes with better healthcare.

A sitting room facility was provided were prostitutes could shower, wash their clothes and get ready for work. Condoms, clean needles and coffee were provided. People from the Salvation Army spoke with the women, a doctor examined the women, and police kept an eye on the situation. The nuisance was reduced and the women's health improved

Although the street prostitution zone has succeeded at virtually all its aims, according to an evaluation, the municipality wants to shut it down in 2011. In the next three years, aided by assistance workers, all the addicted prostitutes must become independent of the drug dealers and pimps. Alderman Mariët Mittendorff: We do not want to facilitate these women in remaining in their dead-end situation. We would rather offer them a dignified existence.

Opinions on street prostitution zones vary throughout the country. Amsterdam shut its zone down in 2003. Rotterdam and The Hague followed suit in 2006. The argument for closing the zones was that they attracted drug dealers and human trafficking. The street prostitution zones are still open in Utrecht, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Heerlen and Groningen.

A Wellington City Council acted unlawfully when it allowed the Lovely Lilly brothel in Mt Victoria to increase its number of prostitutes from three to five.

That was the finding of a High Court judgment made public yesterday which found in favour of the Mt Victoria Residents Association.

Last year the association opposed an increase in the number of workers in the Pirie St bordello. It took High Court action after the council granted the consent.

The association said the expansion had led to an increase in the number of illegally parked cars in the area, intimidating men on the streets, and a client sleeping in his car.

The judgment found the council had not taken into account aspects of the Prostitution Reform Act when it decided not to publicly notify the resource consent application.

Section 15 of the PRA says that regard must be given if the brothel is likely to cause a nuisance or serious offence to the public, or is incompatible with the character of the area.

The resource consent was quashed by the High Court. It means The Lovely Lilly can be run with only up to three workers who must live fulltime at the premises.

The decision could also lead to the council closing the brothel because it contravened the District Plan.

Miranda police raided a Caringbah sex shop on Tuesday and confiscated more than 3900 DVDs, 3200 DVD cases and a large number of VHS cassettes.

The shop had advertised free adult movies on a community trading website.

Police said no-one had been charged and that the material would be reviewed by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

The number of registered victims of human trafficking in the Netherlands rose last year to 809 from 716 in 2007.

The provisional figures are from the Human Trafficking Coordination Centre (Comensha).

Nearly all victims are women: 763 of the 809. Among the women, 60% of the cases, 458, certainly involve work in prostitution or in 'massage salons'. 5% were put to work outside the sex industry. Of the remaining 35%, no definite conclusion can be reached, but these likely also include prostitutes.

The figures include Dutch girls forced into prostitution by pimps. This accounts for nearly 40% of the total of trafficked victims, ie about 323.

So the number of foreign trafficked victims known to be working in the sex trade is about 135 (ie 458 known working girls less the 323 pimped Dutch girls).

The sex industry has hit out at the Western Australia State Government's bid to overhaul prostitution laws, with the owner of WA's biggest brothel chain claiming successive governments had failed to involve sex workers in plans to regulate the industry.

Beverly Clarke, who owns the Langtrees brothels in Perth and Kalgoorlie, said she was outraged that Attorney-General Christian Porter had set up a working group without including industry representatives.

Langtrees is the largest establishment in WA and normally we do lead the way in a lot of respects so you would expect if the Government is considering changes that maybe they would talk to the industry, she said.

The issue is expected to divide politicians, with some not so Liberal backbenchers leading a push for the so-called Swedish model, which makes buying sex and brothel ownership illegal rather than prostitution.

Porter said the working group would include representatives from WA Police, the departments of the Attorney-General, Health, and Racing and Gaming, the WA Planning Commission and the WA Local Government Association.

Copenhagen's Museum Erotica may soon have to put its entire collection up for sale if it cannot find investors by the end of the week. A last-minute back-out by potential investors has left the Museum Erotica in Copenhagen facing bankruptcy.

The City Council's cultural committee has turned down a request to support the museum and the museum's chief executive, Hanne Stensgaard, said the museum is facing the sale of its extensive collection.

Stensgaard told The Copenhagen Post that they are currently in the process of rebuilding the museum but are approximately two to three million kroner short due to a lack of investors.

The museum plays host to dedicated exhibitions chronicling the life and times of Playboy magazine and Marilyn Monroe among others. A dress worn by the American actress is also displayed.

The increasing censorial Prime Minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has said that he had instructed the Information and Communication Technology Ministry to crack down on websites, which allow students to post messages soliciting sex clients.

Abhisit said the ministry was taking actions against the sites. He said the prostitution by students was influenced by wrong values so there should be campaigns to have students change their values. He said the government is launching the campaigns through education as well.

Previously the issue had been identified by colleges and universities who sought action against students found to have engaged in direct-sale prostitution via social-network websites like Hi5.

Assoc Prof Sukhum Chaloeysap of Suan Dusit Rajabhat University said all institutes of higher learning should admit the problem existed and join forces to combat it.

Some students are said to have touted sexual services on Hi5, which has links to more than 1,000 other websites that openly post students' pictures, many in uniform, and suggestive messages. He urged the principals of colleges and universities to investigate.

Many students' part-time jobs are affected by the economic slowdown, driving some to prostitution to earn extra money, he said.

He blamed the online student sex trade on youth's faulty values and overspending on luxurious and unnecessary items that drove young people to such lengths to get quick cash. He called for strong families and proactive educational and religious institutions to counter the trend.

New laws to penalise kerb crawling and prostitution were introduced in Northern Ireland on 2nd February 2009.

More laws in the name of youth protection and exploitation also come into effective.

The Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order, which passed through parliament last year, brings legislation in the region into line with the rest of the UK.

The courts will now be able to impose harsher penalties for a range of sexual offences and new offences of kerb crawling and soliciting for prostitution have been placed on the statue book.

Criminal Injustice Minister Paul Goggins claimed the new framework was victim centred: The new legislation clearly sets out the parameters of acceptable sexual activity in a modern society and clearly states what the law will not tolerate. The law puts victims first. They are designed to protect everyone - adults, as well as children and vulnerable people - from abuse and exploitation.

The new offences include :

• Sexual activity involving a child under 13 can mean a maximum life sentence
• Sexual activity with anyone under 16 means a maximum sentence of 14 years
• Rape and other serious sexual assault means a maximum of life
• Offences of familial sexual abuse, or where an adult is in a position of trust, will apply to young people up to 18
• Offences involving abuse of young people in prostitution or pornography will likewise apply to those up to 18
• Offences relating to making, taking and possessing indecent images of children will be extended to apply to children up to 18 instead of 16 as at present.

Goggins said: The Order also sets the age of consent at 16 - in line with the rest of the UK. This defines the age in law at which a criminal offence takes place even when consent is given.

The Philippines Supreme Court (SC) has declared as unconstitutional Manila City Ordinance No. 7774 which prohibits hotels, motels, inns, lodges and pension houses from offering short-time deals to the public.

This is the second time that the SC has struck down a Manila city ordinance involving the tourist district in Ermita that has challenged the right of the government to impose its morality on its constituents restricting personal liberty which is guarded by the Constitution.

In an en banc decision penned by Associate Justice Dante O. Tinga, the High Court said the apparent goal of the ordinance is to minimize if not eliminate the use of these establishments for illicit sex, prostitution, drug use and alike. These goals, by themselves, are unimpeachable and certainly fall within the ambit of the police power of the State. Yet the desirability of these ends does not sanctify any and all means for their achievement.

However well-intentioned the ordinance may be, it is in effect an arbitrary and whimsical intrusion into the rights of the establishments as well as their patrons, the SC added.

The Malate Tourist and Development Corporation (MTDC), which operates Victoria Court, challenged the legality of the ordinance before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) which ruled in MTDC's favor and nullified the ordinance.

Appealing the lower court's ruling before the Court of Appeals (CA), the City Council justified the ordinance as a valid exercise of police power. The CA reversed the ruling of the RTC. But on review by the SC, it reversed the ruling of the CA and reinstated the decision of the lower court nullifying the measure for being unconstitutional.

Under the guise of protecting the public interest, personal rights and those pertaining to private property will not be permitted to be arbitrarily invaded, the High Court ruled.

In passing the ordinance the City said the establishments have gained notoriety as venue for prostitution, adultery and fornications since they provide the necessary atmosphere for clandestine meetings and become ideal haven for prostitutes and thrill-seekers.

But the Court said whether this perception is accurate, it cannot be denied that legitimate sexual behavior among consenting married and consenting single adults which is constitutionally protected will be curtailed as well.

The Court explained that there are other legitimate activities that the ordinance seeks to impair like family gatherings, transit passengers who wish to wash-up and rest between trips and groups in need of comfortable private spaces for a few hours.

Lap dancing Kilkenny's Parliament Street is to cease from this weekend, following a decision by planning body, An Bord Pleanala.

It was decided on Monday that lap dancing does not come under the remit of a pub licence and therefore constitutes a change of use.

This means that the owners of Secrets Lap Dancing Club will have to apply for planning permission before it can trade as a lap-dancing club. This process will take a minimum of eight weeks and could take several months depending on whether or not there are third party objections.

If lap dancing continues, the local planning authority, Kilkenny Borough Council, will take enforcement procedures which could include seeking a court injunction to have the entire premises shut down.

Fine Gael councillor, Paul Cuddihy told the Kilkenny People that he was delighted with the decision. "I raised this matter at a local authority meeting over 12 months ago and Council officials went to court the following day to see whether the lap-dancing club vindicated a change of use: While I do not want to prejudice any future planning application ...[BUT]... it is my belief that a lap dancing club is not an appropriate type of development .

Meanwhile, Labour councillor Sean O'hAargain echoed the nonsense: There is no place for a lap-dancing club in Kilkenny and it is my belief that this sort of activity constitutes the exploitation of women .

Update: Closed

25th January 2009. Based on article from kilkennypeople.ie

The club has not opened since the news of the planning body's decision filtered through.

Discounts are not only for products these days but women are also being offered at reduced prices.

With discounts being offered by prostitution businesses in Kuala Lumpur, the crazy promotion for massage and services has inadvertently sparked a price war.

The tabloid claimed to receive crazy promotion pamphlets from businesses operating from spas offering up to 40% discounts.

The prices are between RM158-188 (ฃ30-36, 1500-1800 Baht) for a 45-minute session compared to RM200-250 (ฃ38-ฃ48, 1900-2400 Baht) previously. Many of the girls are from China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Alex, a spa worker, said the discounts were necessary because the number of clients had dropped due to the current economic slowdown. He claimed that there used to be a few spas offering such services, but now even hotels are promoting these women.

Berlin’s Tempelhof-Sch๖neberg district mayor wants less sex in the city and is supporting a ban on prostitution in front of public buildings like schools and religious facilities, daily Berliner Zeitung reported.

The situation has become worse over the last two years. There are even prostitutes in front of the Elisabeth hospital, mayor of Tempelhof-Sch๖neberg Ekkehard Band told the paper, referring to Berlin’s famous shopping mile Kurfrstendamm. The sex trade is booming on and around the Ku’damm, branching out into nearby roads and alleys.

Band wants the working girls to turn off their red lights – at least in front of schools, playgrounds, churches and hospitals. After all, it is about the protection of minors. At any rate in the immediate areas around youth and social facilities.

Meanwhile investors want to build a new brothel on top of a big sex department store on one of the area’s main street corners. District officials rejected the application, but investors await a ruling on the matter after taking the senate for urban development to court.

A complete ban on street-walking is not an option, though. Band said this would push the sex workers underground, making them more vulnerable to crime.

But residents who fear negative effects of prostitution in their neighbourhood have organized citizens’ action groups to patrol the streets at night with flashlights to keep hookers from doing business in parked cars along city streets.

Police raids on organised dens of prostitution have spawned a new trend away from brothel-based sex work to more relationship-based prostitution, which is having a damaging effect on the rate of HIV/Aids infection in the Kingdom, officials say.

Amid sporadic but often violent crackdowns on brothels throughout the country, men have been turning instead to karaoke bars and beer gardens, where they meet with regular partners, they said.

The number of men who go to brothels has significantly decreased. Now, about 50% of men who would normally go to a brothel house go to beer gardens or karaoke bars instead, Teng Kunthy, secretary general of the National Authority on HIV/Aids said: Before, when they go to a brothel, they know what they are doing clearly, so they use condoms to protect them from HIV/Aids.

But when they go to karaoke bars and become close with a girl as a partner, or have a relationship as a sweetheart, 50% of them don't use condoms, so it is much more dangerous.

Dan Borapich, director of communication and marketing at the reproductive health NGO PSI, said the trend was a direct response to recent brothel closures: When the authorities closed brothel houses, all sex workers moved to work in karaoke bars, beer gardens and massage shops . Now, less than 50 percent of [casual] sexual partners have sex using a condom because they want to believe in their partner, she added.

She said that by developing a relationship with a particular girl, or "sweetheart", many men felt it was no longer necessary to use condoms: Before, when men went to brothel houses they used condoms because they were afraid that some girls are infected with HIV/Aids because they didn't know them . When they have a beloved sweetheart, they don't use condoms because they know them, and they are afraid their partner will lose confidence in them and accuse them of having another girl .

The attitudes, beliefs and experiences of people who buy sex are the focus of a new study being done by a researcher through Burnaby, British Caledonia's Simon Fraser University.

Chris Atchison hopes the work will address the concerns of people who purchase sex and those raised by various community groups, health agencies and legislators: Our goal is to provide people who buy sex with a safe and secure venue for sharing their attitudes, opinions and experiences without fear of judgment, persecution or prosecution .

However, Vancouver prostitution rights activist Jamie Lee Hamilton doubts the work will be representative of reality. As long as the act of sexuality is criminalized, people won't be forthcoming. We need to move more into the area of actively making it safe. Hamilton suggests a better study might be on how the criminalization of sex has been detrimental to the well-being of society.

The study covers buying services from sex trade workers who are male, female and transgendered. It asks for information on the preferred age of sex workers, where buyers find them, alcohol or drug consumption. And it asks the buyers if they worry about sex workers' drug use.

The study also examines how open buyers are with others in their lives — spouses, partners, doctors, clergy etc - about buying sex. And how long buyers with regular sex partners/spouses have been with their partners. Health wise, it approaches HIV/STD knowledge and condom usage.

On a geographic basis, the study examines if sex was bought in Canada or overseas. In a section on victimization, the questionnaire asks about theft, being ripped off and physical violence on either side of the transaction. The study also asks about the buyers' knowledge of soliciting and prostitution laws.

Capel Street is Dublin's latest area to become an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA), designed to bring to an end its signage and visible sex-shop frontage.

Councillor Emer Costello says the move will bring improvements to the area. However, she expressed her concern at the fact that no owners were notified by letter about the ACA by the Dublin City Council.

Under the conservation order, owners will need planning permission if they are to change their advertising signs.

The practice of advertising that turns shop fronts into bill boards is not desirable, it is stated within the ACA report. The report says banner-type signs and advertising sheeting covering any part of the front facade of a building in the street are not acceptable. It adds: Careful consideration should be given to the colours used on any advertising structures or signs. Substantial areas of inappropriate garish colours shall not be allowed as the background of any sign.

Many locals have welcomed the move as it will enforce tighter planning controls on shop owners along the street, which is lined with charity shops, adult stores and ethnic supermarkets.

A sex shop in Cairns in Far North Queensland has been broken into three times in recent weeks, however the perpetrator was not looking for money or goods to be sold on the black market but rather sex..... with blow up rubber dolls.

Apparently the burglar has a particular like for a doll called Jungle Jane that has gone missing in two of the break-ins involving Laneways Adult Shop .

Evidence suggests that the thief would blow up the dolls after he left the building and then use them in the alleyway behind the Sex Shop. It has been noted that DNA evidence of the crime had been left behind in at least two occasions.

A clinical psychologist who deals with sex offenders commented that it appears that in this instance the dolls were not a substitute for the real thing but an actual preference, this is not as rare as one might think and the perpetrator might be acting out fantasies involving capturing and then seducing his ‘victim’. He may even see himself as liberating the blow up dolls from captivity.

Update: Sex Dolls Can Rest Easier

21st January 2009. See article from news.com.au

Police have charged a man with breaking into adult shops and having sex with blow-up dolls in a series of crimes that made headlines round the world.

Update: Normal Sex Life

14th March 2009. See article from chattahbox.com

Adam Rosberg, the 24-year-old responsible for the Jungle Jane robberies, has said that he is actually a normal guy with a normal sex life.

He has been ordered to pay $520 in restitution to the sex shop, where he stole three blow up dolls, a number of magazines, and lube, as well as $100 to fix the wall that he crashed through to get to them.

But his actions have had a higher price tag then $630. Rosberg says he is harassed in the street, can’t find a room to rent, and has been unable to find a job since he was caught. It looks as though blow up dolls aren’t as good at keeping secrets as he had hoped.

After banning prostitutes from its streets, Verona is planning Italy's first crack-down on sex workers who operate in private apartments, Mayor Flavio Tosi said.

The right-wing Northern League mayor said residents will be asked to report people causing disturbances in their apartment blocks, who will then be slapped with a heavy fine.

Under current Italian law only the exploitation of prostitution - pimping - is illegal in Italy, but city mayors combat the phenomenon through the use of fines, often via traffic or public decency laws.

Verona and Padua were the first Italian cities to introduce an experimental scheme in 2007 cracking down on clients and introducing fines of 50 euros, which resulted in prostitutes demonstrating against the measure in the streets and offering anyone slapped with a fine a free service . Last summer the two cities also led the way in introducing fines of 500 euros for clients caught with streetwalkers, using repressive powers given to city mayors as part of the centre-right government's emergency security decree.

Rita Sanlorenzo, secretary of a magistrates' organisation, meanwhile expressed concerns about Tosi's plans to fine prostitutes working in private houses: Tosi wants to put a stop to an activity that is not banned by law. Mayors have a general power to supervise public welfare, but if Tosi's ordinance is aimed (specifically) at prostitutes, it strikes me as illegal and unequal treatment .

New adult stores in Queensland will be banned within 200m of supposedly sensitive uses such as schools and churches under proposed new planning regulations.

Acting Premier and Minister for Infrastructure Restrictions and Planning, Paul Lucas, said new state provisions would be drafted by March.

These are legitimate businesses but we want to make sure they’re sensibly located - away from schools and childcare centres, Lucas said: Earlier this year, communities in Proserpine and the Gold Coast expressed concerns about new adult stores opening near a school and a youth park. Although isolated, these concerns are nonetheless valid and so I requested a review of the locations of adult stores in Queensland.

Our adult stores are already the most tightly regulated in the country, in terms of what they can and can’t sell. Under the provisions, development of new adult stores would not be allowed within 200m -measured by the shortest pedestrian or vehicular route - of a sensitive use. The list of ‘sensitive uses’ - facilities or places regularly frequented by children - will be finalised during consultation with key stakeholders. The public will be given the chance to comment on the draft provisions before they are finalised.

When they take effect, the new state planning regulatory provisions will be standard provisions for local governments in relation to adult store locations. Effectively that means in the absence of any council changes to their planning schemes these measures will be law. Councils will be able to modify them within their planning schemes, in line with local community attitudes and surrounding land uses. For example, councils may specify a greater or lesser separation distance, or add to or reduce the list of ‘sensitive uses’, or remove the provisions altogether.

Existing adult stores will not be affected by the proposed state provisions.

According to the Adult Retailers Association of Queensland, the state has more adult stores than any other jurisdiction in Australia, with the number of stores doubling in Queensland in the five years to 2007, to 137.

But Nutters Want More

Based on article from brisbanetimes.com.au

Nutters of Queensland's Parents and Citizens Association (QCPCA) says it wants stricter controls on the window displays of sex shops which the State Government plans to keep 200 metres from schools and churches.

QCPCA president Mary Black claimed some sex shop window displays clearly breached guidelines laid down under Queensland's Criminal Code: We really want tougher controls on window displays .

Under the Queensland Criminal Code (section 210) it is an offence for anyone to expose anyone under 16 to any indecent object or any indecent film, videotape, audiotape, picture, photograph or printed or written matter. QCPCA also wants clarification on whether under 18s can be prevented from entering sex shops. Sex shops face $2000 fines if they they allow people under 18 to buy an R-rated softcore film.

Several sex worker advocacy groups have staged a protest in front of the Taiwan Ministry of the Interior, demanding that the government decriminalize prostitution and enact a new law to protect the right to sex among consenting adults.

Wearing face masks and red headbands with slogans that read Legalize the sex industry, protesters from the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS), the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association of Taiwan and Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association called on the government to heed the needs of the minorities by abolishing Article 80 of the Social Order Maintenance Act, which stipulates that any one intending to profit through performance of a sexual act is subject to a three-day detention or fine of up to NT$30,000.

COSWAS secretary Chian Chia-ying said the government should follow the trend of many developed countries by legalizing prostitution and not penalizing sex workers and their patrons. Instead of continuing to ignore their plight, the government should protect their right to work in a clean and safe environment, the protesters said.

The ministry held a public hearing on the issue of problems faced by sex workers. No resolution was reached, but a ministry official promised that the issue would be further discussed after the legislative recess.

COSWAS said the 1997 ban on brothels had devastated the lives of many sex workers, who had no other way to make a living. Forced to continue working illegally, the workers lost all legal options for recourse if they were hurt or cheated by customers, it said. Before the clampdown, prostitutes could charge customers between NT$800 and NT$1,000 for 15 minutes and could demand their customers wear condoms or else refuse to have sex with them. After the crackdown, working conditions have deteriorated drastically, COSWAS said, with most prostitution rings controlled by organized crime.

In a letter to Minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin, the National Association of Dutch Sex Companies says banks no longer want to do business with them. The letter says the banks intend to close existing accounts and refuse to open new ones. The banks involved are ABN AMRO, Fortis, ING, SNS and the Rabobank. Only the Postbank has refused to join the boycott.

The association says the banks are taking the action because they no longer want to be associated with firms that may be involved in money laundering and human trafficking. However, the association points out that the boycott also applies to companies that fully abide by the law.

The association says it does not object to companies or individuals that break the law being refused by the banks, but wants the government to ensure that bona fide firms are not subject to the boycott.

The association is a national organisation for brothels, swingers' clubs, massage parlours, erotic cafes, escort companies and SM studios.