UK Sex Sells News

Gender extremists say they will protest at a three-day conference for adult website operators which began in London today, with talks including State of the Industry: The War on Porn .

The US adult trade group and conference organiser, XBIZ, said the debate would look at the Government's plans.

The extremists from London Feminist Network and Object will wear overalls and masks alluding to their view that the adult industry is toxic . Julia Long from the London Feminist Network said:

At the very moment we are having a national debate on the harms of pornography, and not least the enormous amount of porn in teenagers' and children's lives, XBIZ is holding sessions specifically aimed at combating any attempts to curb access to internet pornography. Pornographers don't care about the damage their industry does. Their only concern is profit.

Industry lawyer Myles Jackman told the conference website:

Successive governments have mounted a sustained campaign against the UK porn industry and now's the time to fight back.

Scottish Nationalist MSP Sandra White has proposed the creation of a repressive new adult entertainment licence which could lead to councils banning table dancing.

But in a submission to a Scottish Government consultation, the Association of Adult Entertainment Venues (AAEV), which represents 17 venues, has rejected claims table dancing clubs are a front for prostitution and human trafficking.  The group points out that no arrests, charges or prosecutions have been made in relation to such offences and says ministers misunderstand the industry.

Steve McDonald, a strip club owner and author of the AAEV submission said:

The association and all its members refute in the strongest manner any links to organised crime such as prostitution and human trafficking.

The many layers of control currently provided by the clubs would easily detect such forms of criminality if it was ever apparent on a club's premises.

The association queries why this consultation is taking place as there does not appear to be an issue which requires to be addressed.

About 350 lap dancers are estimated to work in clubs across Scotland, and the AAEV has called for existing venues to be protected from closure to save jobs. A petition setup by dancers says the government should cease the attacks on out industry.

Cheltenham Council killjoys have agreed miserable new rules for clubs and bars that offer table dancing on a temporary basis.

Nightclubs can host table dancing evenings, particularly popular during race week, without the need for a licence, as long as they don't last longer than 24 hours. However, the borough council is in the process of formally adopting a code of practice which clubs will be advised to follow, or else!

The 15 rules include that customers at a table dancing night must at all times remain fully clothed and that proceedings are recorded on CCTV.

Meanwhile, the council has added the sensible rule that licensed table dancing venues must now prominently display a legible tariff of all prices to avoid any arguments with customers over what they owe. A council spokeswoman said the charge sheet will be brought in because in the past there have been issues of disorder to do with disagreement over payment and charges .

Louis Krog, licensing and business burdening team leader at the borough council, said:

The law does not require premises that offer infrequent sexual entertainment to have a licence. The council nonetheless recognise the need to ensure that unlicensed sexual entertainment is conducted properly. The council will expect any premises that does offer exempt sexual entertainment to adhere to the code of practice.

The council does not have any powers to enforce the code of practice but clubs with temporary table dancing would still need to have an entertainment licence. Any club not adhering to the rules could have their entertainment and alcohol licences reviewed as a result of any trouble from not applying the code.

Moralist councillor Barbara Driver had pushed for the new rules and crowed:

We have to take a little bit more control of what goes on in Cheltenham at night. We are not trying to stop people's fun ...BUT... we need to keep an eye on it.

Hopefully it will make a difference. If they want to carry on trading they will have to play by the rules. That is what society does.

The UKs Internet Video censor, ATVOD wants to convince banks to withhold card payment services to hardcore websites that don't follow the overcautious restrictions on access to hardcore material by under 18s. ATVOD demand that only credit card holders, (not debit card holders) should be allowed to access hardcore material.

ATVOD claims to have powers to fine British companies for making unrestricted hardcore material available but this unilateral approach is suffocating British business. The ATVOD approach to the card companies is an attempt to penalise foreign companies outside of British control.

Financial organisations and the video censor will meet next month to discuss ATVOD's requests.

The Daily Telegraph reports that it is hoped a voluntary deal will be agreed with credit card firms, perhaps heeding the warning that: Government sources have made it clear that ministers would be prepared to consider legislation, if necessary.

Atvod is expected to announce details of action it has taken against British businesses next week.

A summit will be held with the UK Cards Association, the British Bankers Association, the Payments Council and the leading credit card companies early next month, the paper reported.

Johnson said that the financial services firms had given a very positive response to the proposal. But surely the card companies will be a bit aware that if they agree to ATVOD's requests, they will get an endless stream of moralists calling for the same treatment of their pet prohibitions.

Plans to double the size of a Leeds table dancing club have been rejected.

Illuminati Ventures, the company behind the Black Diamond club on New Briggate in the city centre, had applied for permission to expand the venue from two floors to four. But Leeds City Council's licensing sub-committee turned down the plan.

Gender extremists had previously railroaded through a council policy that only 4 venues should be allowed in Leeds, when in fact there are 7 currently operating.

The licensing committee cited this morality cap as one reason for rejecting the company's expansion plan. Members also spouted the unimaginative bollox that the venue was in a sensitive location and could create the wrong impression of Leeds because it sits at a gateway to the city.

Representatives of Illuminati Ventures told the Yorkshire Evening Post that they were undecided about whether to take the matter further. They added that they had not decided if they would reopen the club under the terms of the existing licence covering two floors.

Chester's only table dancing club is facing an uncertain future after failing to get its licence renewed.

The decision concerning the Platinum Lounge on Bridge Street Row was made at a Cheshire West and Chester Council licensing committee hearing. A spokesman explained a very spurious sounding reason:

We have rejected the application for a renewal of the licence on the grounds the area has become far more residential than it was when the licence was first issued.

Regulations consider such premises to be acceptable only within largely commercial areas.

But the area in question has seen a lot of commercial properties being turned into homes and consequently it is now more residential.

The council didn't bother mention exactly how many commercial properties have been turned into residences. Probably just a handful.

The Platinum Lounge has yet to comment on the decision. If the club decides to appeal, this will be via a judicial review.

One of the main voices of opposition to the renewal was Labour Cllr Samantha Dixon. . She moralised:

Furthermore, I believe it is inappropriate for a sex entertainment venue to be located on the city's historic Rows which are an important heritage asset for Chester.

As part of their application for renewal, the Platinum Lounge owners pointed out it has been operating since November 2005 and gives regular employment to about 40 people.

Recalling European Law

Perhaps a good time to recall a piece on European law designed to prevent councils from destroying businesses on a whim. From an article at woodswhur.co.uk:

First of all the article noted that an existing licence is considered in law as a protected possession in human rights law:

It has been accepted that a licence is classed as a possession capable of protection under Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights.

This clearly states that a person has a right to peaceful enjoyment of his possessions and the case of Tre Traktorer Aktiebolag v Sweden (1989) 13 EHRR classifies a licence as something capable of protection.

Not something that can councils can take away on a moralist or feminist whim.

Secondly there are European requirements imported into UK law that impose standard conditions on councils when considering licence applications:

The Provision of Services Regulations [S.I. 2009/2999]. Regulation 24(1) imposes three important tests highlighting that any refusal must be:

• Non discriminatory
• Necessary
• Proportionate

Surely this would allow failed applicants to ask a court 'exactly how necessary was it for a council to refuse a license for a venue because a few commercial properties have been converted into homes?

Update: Travelling Show

20th September 2013. See  article from  chesterchronicle.co.uk

Chester's only  table dancing club has hit back at a decision to remove its licence for adult entertainment by taking the girls on tour.

Director of operations Nigel Woodhouse pointed out the law allows every licensed premises to hold lap dancing events 11 times a year, without conditions, meaning his erotic dancers can still perform at the existing club and other city venues.

The first event will take place on September 28 at The Platinum Lounge which will convert to a late bar from November.

Woodhouse said: We are planning on taking the Platinum Lounge on tour around as many venues as we can in the city. If any bar, club or function room operators want to hold an event please let us know.

Taking Back the Night? Gender and the Contestation of Sexual Entertainment in England and Wales

By Colosi and Hubbard (forthcoming in Urban Studies, 2014)

Abstract

Despite important moves towards gender equality, the experience of the night-time city remains profoundly different for women and men. The visibility of self-styled 'gentleman's clubs' where female dancers perform for a predominantly male clientele has been taken as prime evidence of this persistent inequity. Opposition to such clubs has hence been vocal, with the result that many local authorities in England and Wales have moved to ban clubs within their jurisdiction utilising the powers of the Policing and Crime Act, 2009. This paper explores the arguments that have per- suaded policy-makers to refuse licences for such venues, particularly the idea that sexual entertainment causes specific harms to women. The paper does not question the veracity of such arguments, but instead explores why sexual entertainment venues have become a target of feminist campaigning, situating this opposition in the context of long-standing debates about the vulnerability of women in the night- time city.

See full paper: Taking Back the Night? by Hubbard and Colosi [pdf]

TV production company Firecracker Films is making a documentary series about Edinburgh's table dancers.

Channel 4 has confirmed that Firecracker will film a character-led observational documentary series about performers in the city's best-known lap dancing bars. A spokeswoman said:

Firecracker are in the early stages of looking at making a character-led observational documentary series for Channel 4 about the variety of communities and businesses that exist side-by-side in the historic city of Edinburgh.

The Evening News understands venues in the so-called pubic triangle next to the Grassmarket, along with Lothian Road's Club Rouge, have been visited on a number of occasions by Firecracker since mid-July.

Table dancing managers said they hoped a series about strip bars would overhaul outdated attitudes towards the adult entertainment industry. Alex Smith, manager at Club Rouge on Lothian Road, where around 15 members of staff including DJs and doormen have had talks with Firecracker, said:

We've said that we don't have a problem with them filming and talking to our girls. The series is going to be featuring the girls themselves -- they want to follow what happens to them outside of work as well as inside the clubs. It's going to be them going to college, being single mums, their hobbies.

Table dancing and strip clubs in the East End could be under threat if new proposals to ban them are given the go ahead.

A nil policy for new sex establishments was voted through by members of Tower Hamlets Council's cabinet last Thursday. But councillors say the 11 existing premises currently licensed as sexual entertainment venues will be able to carry on providing strip tease and lap dances.

Deputy mayor Cllr Ohid Ahmed claimed that the zero tolerance policy is a response to complaints by residents about sex clubs in the borough. However a recent public consultation did showed a lot of support for the adult businesses and certainly did not support a total ban on new businesses.

He insisted existing clubs would be allowed to continue providing lap dances and strip teases if they do not break conditions .

Gareth Hughes, of Jeffrey Green Russell solicitors, said:

When you get to the application for the licence they could very well find some spurious reason to refuse it, so I have concerns that the assurances given may not be enough.

Any lap dance venue would always be near a school, or a mosque or something like that. There's certainly a moral and religious objection to them, but no crime and disorder; otherwise police would have been involved in it, and they are not.

The policy must be ratified by the full council before being implemented.

Male and female readers of the Sun strongly support Page 3 topless models, according to the chief executive of the paper's publisher News UK.

Mike Darcey said that ultimately any decision on the future of the Page 3 models is up to the Sun's editor, David Dinsmore, but that he believed customers are very happy with the Sun's editorial offering.

Darcey said that focus groups with those readers showed that both male and female Sun readers are happy to continue to see Page 3 in the UK's best selling daily.

There are around 12 million people a week who read the Sun and they are very happy with the package that is the Sun. And so they continue to buy it. We ask them, we have focus groups with them, ask what they think and they very strongly continue to support that. That's true across male readers, female readers. And in the end this is a product people can choose to buy or not to buy.

Meanwhile miserable campaigners push for their own selfish ends and continue to lobby for the banning of Page 3. Mediasnoops reports:  No More Page 3 Wants Co-Op To Ban The Sun Too .

Lib Dem MP Stephen Gilbert had set up a House of Commons debate to whinge about venues arranging occasional lap dancing events in Newquay.

He introduced his debate by admitting to being a begrudging 'liberal':

I want to say first what the debate is not. This is not a debate that is led by prudish intolerance in relation to sexual entertainment. I have never been to a lap-dancing club, and my view is that real men do not buy women for entertainment, but, as a Liberal, I accept that if adults want to make such choices, that is up to them. The debate is about ensuring consistency in the application of the regulation of sexual entertainment on our high streets. It is about ensuring that performers in and patrons of sexual entertainment venues---lap-dancing clubs---are properly protected and that local communities are involved in the decision-making process about where and when such venues should operate.

His basic contention was that occasional events allowed under licensing law were not governed by repressive council rules designed to ensure that table dancing is totally devoid of sexual entertainment such as dancers having to stay 3 feet aprt from customers.

Jeremy Browne, the Not So Liberal Democrat Home Office minister, seemed to agree about the need for prudery and warned that venues are abusing an exemption intended to allow one-off events such as hiring a strip-a-gram for a birthday party.

He claimed one venue used the exemption after being refused a sexual entertainment licence following protests by a few residents. He said:

The venue in question has now begun operating sexual entertainment events within the exemptions of the Act.

This is not the occasional use of a strip-a-gram but a full 24 hour window once a month to operate as a full sexual entertainment venue.

This exemption has led, in Newquay, to lap-dancing nights being offered on this so-called occasional basis in direct competition to a licensed venue, but without any of the obligations that the licensed venue needs to meet.

Gilbert called for the Government to amend the law and suggested that venues hosting lap dancing events be subject to the same stringent requirements as licensed clubs. He said:

This would require minimal effort in terms of legislation, as the existing law does allow the relevant national authority to order, amend or repeal the exemption clause without the need for primary legislation.

Speaking on behalf of the Government, Jeremy Browne said he would look the matter to see whether the legislation is being used as it is supposed to. He said:

There may be some scope for us to make changes so that that flexibility is exercised in a way that is in line with the spirit of what Parliament intended when this legislation was announced in 2009.

It is possible for ingenious owners of bars to use the exemptions in a way which gives them more scope to provide regular entertainment of a sexual entertainment than was envisaged by ministers and Parliament when this legislation was introduced in 2009.

[If] an individual owned four or five venues in a single town, it would be possible for an individual to put on a sexual entertainment evening every Saturday night at one of those venues. In a way that goes beyond the spirit of the exemptions.

The Radisson Hotel is set to host the XBIZ porn conference in London on September 22-25th.

US nutters from Morality in Media, as well as casting libellous aspersions about attendees, are calling in supporters to write to the Radisson asking managers to end the conference. Morality in Media claim on the Porn Harms website:

We are outraged that they will provide space to an industry that is based on making a profit from brutalizing women.

Email Radisson and let them know your opposition. The hotel is not only supporting the sexual exploitation of women but also putting female employees at risk because men who sexually abuse women for profit will be staying there and in close proximity to female employees.

Pornography puts all women at risk by teaching men that women only have value as sexual objects, are always available as willing participants, and are thus legitimate targets of sexual harassment, abuse and rape.

The group offer a template letter for supporters to send to the hotel:

Dear Radisson Board Members,

I am writing to protest your hotel hosting the XBIZ porn conference in London on 22-25th September. I am outraged that you would provide space to an industry that is based on making a profit from brutalizing women.

Moreover, pornography puts all women at risk by teaching men that women only have value as sexual objects, are always available as willing participants, and are thus legitimate targets of sexual harassment, abuse and rape.

You are [especially] putting at risk all the female employees who work at your hotel during the XBIZ conference because men who sexually abuse women for profit will be staying in your hotel, eating in your hotel, and will be in close proximity to women employees who work at your hotel so they can feed themselves and their families.

Please take this letter as a warning notice regarding these risks. Should a female employee be the victim of sexual harassment or assault, then your knowledge of these risks will increase your negligence and liability. Should you ignore this letter, our campaign could cause serious damage to your reputation and revenue.

Please consider this before you provide a venue to an industry that does serious damage to the health and well-being of women and children.

Bradford Council plans to cut the amount it will charge for the licensing of sex shops and zoos, following a Court of Appeal ruling.

The cost of a licence for a sex shop, sex cinema or strip club is likely to be reduced from £5,658 to £1,928.

The Court of Appeal ruled in a case involving Westminster City Council that licence fees for sex shops must be reasonable and proportionate, and could not include the costs of enforcing or monitoring unlicensed businesses.

The plans will now be considered by the Regulatory and Appeals Committee.

Dancers could be forced by morality police to cover-up and wear G-strings if they are women and posing pouches if they are men at a proposed table dancing club in Worcester.

Police do not object in principle to granting a licence to the Black Cherry in The Butts, Worcester, at what used to be Images and then Funk nightclub, but want to attach morality conditions.

Worcester City Council didn't adopt 2009 legislation so the application must be considered under standard licensing rules under 2003 legislation.

A letter from Inspector Jane Francis, of West Mercia Police, to licensing officer Carl Phillips reveals that Police are taking it on themselves to make up the rules about nudity. Francis says full nudity should be permitted only within designated areas. She said:

In all other areas within the premises the performers and employees must at all times wear at least a G-string (female) and/or pouch (male) covering the genitalia.

During private dances there must be no deliberate contact by the performer with the patron except where they lead them by the hand to a private room, a handshake greeting at the beginning or ending of the performance, a customary peck on the cheek and the placing of cash or dance vouchers into the hand or garter of the performer.

The application is set to be discussed by the council on September 26.

The Nordic Choice hotel chain is in the process of converting to Bring Your Own Porn (BYOP). It is in the process of replacing in room porn channels with contemporary art.

The chain's owner, Petter Stordalen has made ludicrous and defamatory claims that the porn industry contributes to trafficking. He said:

The porn industry contributes to trafficking, so I see it as a natural part of having a social responsibility to send out a clear signal that Nordic Hotels doesn't support or condone this.

Starting with his flagship hotel in Norway's capital, Stordalen has now replaced porn with interactive TVs in each room offering "art on demand" with a choice of nine works of contemporary video art, including Sam Taylor-Wood's Still Life from 2001" -- a film showing a bowl of fruit slowly decomposing.

Stordalen plans to roll out video art to other hotels, with Copenhagen next on the list.

Managers at Club Rouge in Edinburgh has said that efforts are under way to create an independent dance censor which would cooperate with licensing officers and police to ensure elf 'n' safety in strip clubs and adult entertainment venues across the Capital and Scotland.

They said the body would issue certificates of good practice to businesses only after they introduced measures to clamp down on abusive customers, unhygienic working environments and unfair charges imposed on dancers when clubs are busy or when they phone in sick.

Day-to-day monitoring and enforcement would still be carried out by police and licensing officers though.

Alex Smith, manager of Club Rouge, said:

This is an opportunity for the clubs to say that from now on, they're going to work together for a better environment.

He said meetings would soon take place with senior councillors to move the process forward, with the new dance censor on a voluntary basis and financed through a mixture of public money and contributions from the industry.

Licensing staff said they were receptive to the idea. A spokeswoman said:

The council would welcome any initiative to encourage industry good practice, however we would need more information on this specific proposal to be able to comment further.

Lap dancers at a Bristol club have been giving customers more fun than the miserable council allowed.

One performer has been suspended and two have been reprimanded by bosses for kissing and other physical contact.

Magistrates fined the venue around £16,500 for five licensing breaches. Temptations' manager Valerie Hoare was also ordered to pay £1,550 for two breaches.

Bristol Magistrates Court heard how CCTV from Temptations examined after an unannounced visit from licensing staff in January showed three dancers getting closer than the council allowed in the private booths .

Bristol's Sexual Entertainment Venue licence states that customers and performers are not allowed to touch each other during a performance. But the prosecution said: The footage from all three cameras showed extensive and repeated contact between customers and performers. The court heard this included one stripper holding a customer's face and giving him a kiss while he had his hands on her buttocks. Other footage showed a dancer sitting on a customer's lap, while in another booth a performer touched a man's leg with hers.

Recommended by Nutters

A handful of Bristol miserablists have raised a petition calling for the closure of Bristol's two table dancing clubs and its only lap dancing club at Temptations.

The petitioners are recommending:

• Central Chambers 9 St Stephen's St, Bristol BS1 1EE
• Urban Tiger 4 Broad Quay, Bristol BS1 4DA
• Temptations T3 46 West St, Bristol BS2 0BH

Offsite: Counter petition

7th September 2013. See  article from  southwestbusiness.co.uk

Update: Counter petition outstrips nutter petition

11th September 2013. See  article from  southwestbusiness.co.uk

As of yesterday afternoon, the nutter petition had 166 signatures, but in only four days the pro lap dancing one had already garnered support from 271 people.

Carrie Hale's online petition went live on Friday in response to one started last month. It reads:

This petition calls that Bristol City Council allow lap dancing clubs, gentlemen's clubs, strip clubs and pole dancing clubs, otherwise known as SEVs, to operate in Bristol.

The licensing policy has already been implemented and decided that the suitable number of SEVs in Bristol was three, with two other venues being forced to close to reduce numbers.

There is huge demand for these venues, otherwise they would not exist and they do not only cater for men.

The women and men that work in these venues are not exploited, neither are they forced to work in such venues.

The people of Bristol should have a choice to visit such establishments and by having a nil cap this choice will be taken away.

The petition runs until January 22 and can be signed at epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/epetition_core/community/petition/2386 .

Update: Licence Granted

18th September 2013. See  article from  sevlicensing.wordpress.com

9 objections from the public were received about the renewal of a licence of Central Chambers. It has been reported that this was renewed yesterday (16th Sept) with some fairly colourful language apparently used by a campaigner to describe the head of the three-strong licensing committee.

Feminist campaigner Bristol_Jane was live tweeting yesterday's hearing at City Hall, during which she called Conservative group leader Peter Abraham a sexist, misogynistic fuckface . The offending tweet has now been removed.

Miserable Westminster Council is trying to hide Soho's colourful heritage after ordering a restaurant to remove neon signs harking back to its former glory as London's red light district.

The signs, which read peep show and adult video , were installed outside the fashionable restaurant, La Bodega Negra, early last year as a homage to the area's history.

But after a nine-month fight with Westminster City Council, the restaurant, in Old Compton Street, has been issued with a discontinuance notice to remove the signs, claiming they cause substantial injury to the area. The council noted that Soho is a conservation area.

Westminster council claims:

The continued display of the neon advertisement is considered to constitute a substantial injury to the amenity of the area.

The restaurant argues that the signs, designed by Serge Becker, the creative director of La Esquina in New York and The Box in London, are a work of art and have become a landmark in their own right. Restaurant owner Will Ricker vowed to fight council bosses by keeping the signs in place. He said:

They have completely failed to mention that it was the centre of the capital's sex industry, which made Soho famous globally and a tourist attraction.

And now as it slowly changes away from that, we wanted to make a statement that paid homage to the cultural importance of that epoch. Particularly as its remnants are being eradicated by landlords, the council and technology, the neons are a remnant of a vanishing, golden era that should be celebrated, not forgotten.