World Sex Sells News

    Spin Catches Hookers in the Googlies

Based on an article from the Trinidad Express

Many stops in the Caribbean island chain have become attractive and accessible options for young women whose mainstream qualifications fetch little more than minimum wage in their own countries who are finding a lucrative market for their flesh in neighbouring nations.

Our leaders know they must confront the issue. And in the run-up to Cricket World Cup 2007, there has been debate about the handling of commercial sex workers' off-field fielding.

At a two-day meeting in August, Antiguan Health Minister Winston Williams pitched the idea of legalising prostitution during the 51-day tournament. He pointed to the likely influx of sex workers in the eight Caribbean countries that will host games. By registering and regulating the women, he said, the spread of HIV can be curtailed.

Barbados and St Kitts and Nevis have said "no". While admitting it was time for Caribbean people to discuss the decriminalisation of prostitution, Kittitian PM Dr Denzil Douglas last week confirmed that sex workers won't be welcome to his shores. Days before, Barbadian Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Rev Joseph Atherley declared that his government would not allow prostitution.

Neither gentleman addressed the reality that there is already a booming trade within his shores. Nor did they speak to their strategies for preventing would-be ladies of the World Cup from getting past immigration. While warning that anyone found soliciting would be arrested, Atherley added that police and security forces "have far more sinister issues" to handle.

Maybe not. At a Caribbean Conference on HIV/AIDS hosted by the Barbados government in 2000, experts noted that mobility is linked to an increased risk of HIV infection.

A key feature of heavily touristed areas and highly mobile populations is the increased presence of a commercial sex industry, n otes Dr Peggy McEnvoy in Caribbean Crossroads. McEnvoy adds that given the illegal nature of both their work and residence, sex workers are invisible to social, health and protective services.

There is hardly another organisation working with sex workers out there, noted counselling and outreach programme director Estwick Padmore. The only time you hear anything is when police raid a brothel and the next day you see four pictures on the front page and they say there were two from Columbia and three Guyanese. The majority of sex workers are frighteningly vulnerable: A large percentage of them only have very basic ideas about HIV and condom use. They don't even know how to use a condom correctly. Some men are willing to pay you not to use one... $150 or $250 more. People will go that far, so it's up to the girl to say no.

The occasional suggestion that a girl should exit the trade is usually answered with an unlikely condition: Only If I get an eight-to-four job paying adequate money.

    Super Brothel

Based on an article from The Independent

George Vos, a one-time transvestite prostitute turned entrepreneur is now the manager of Villa Tinto, the designer-finished, state of the art, super-brothel in the centre of Antwerp's red-light district intended to revolutionise the image of prostitution in Belgium.

The business, set up by a well-known Belgian businessman, Franky De Coninck, is ground-breaking in its design and in the ideas behind it. Not only was the building designed by the architect Arne Quinze - who has advised Brad Pitt on his interior décor - but it also has a host of features aimed at making life safer for prostitutes and clients.

Each room in the brothel has panic buttons in case clients turn violent. A doctor is just around the corner and, because of a biometric keypad, there is no sub-letting of any of the 51 rooms to unauthorised prostitutes.

No one here is a victim of people-traffickers and only women with EU passports can work from Villa Tinto.

It's safer, it's more open, said. Vos. There is no exploitation because the girls are free to come and work when they want. Everything is controlled.

Yet the creation of such brothels has polarised the debate in Europe over how to deal with prostitution: should it be gentrified or should those who seek to buy sex be criminalised? In Paris, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe discussed the continent's different approaches to the sex trade. Women's groups have stepped up their opposition to new experiments in tolerance.

But in Antwerp itself, Villa Tinto is deemed such a success that it features in the political campaign for forthcoming municipal elections. For several centuries, prostitution has been centred in the port district of Antwerp but, over the past few years, it has been concentrated into just three streets.

Antwerp is increasingly a model for Belgian cities and, potentially, for others in Europe. Delegations have visited from Brussels, Charleroi and Liege. Villa Tinto is trying to open another brothel in Barcelona.

With its designer credentials and reputation as a super-brothel, Villa Tinto attracts a mix of tourists and punters from across the social spectrum. Vos said: It has all types of clients, ranging from 'the normal guy working in the street' to lawyers and doctors.

  Brothels Stay in Business

Based on an article from Korea Herald

Two years have passed since the Special Law on the Punishment of Sex Trade was put into force, strengthening crackdown on sex businesses. Implementation of the special law that replaced the old Anti-Prostitution Law proved that a statute cannot effectively suppress trading sex as a commodity as long as there are demands for it, but it has reduce the number of women who were forced into the job as a last choice for a living.

The new law took the basic position of regarding the women as victims of social absurdities. The law exempts them from punishment when coercion by their employers is involved while operators of brothels face harsher punishment of up to 10 years in jail with forfeiture of profits from their sex trade business.

Male clients who could expect the generous "release after admonition" if caught in occasional police crackdowns in the past should now risk punishment of up to one year in prison and 3 million won in fines. The strange reality is that a considerable number of brothels still remain "in business," according to police report, although they are suffering from sharply reduced number of visitors.

What is evident is the "balloon effect" which transfers the sex trade from the traditional brothels to such legitimate establishments as massage parlors, barber shops and body care houses where lewd services are offered behind the curtain. Internet is widely used between independent prostitutes and male surfers.

In police enforcement campaigns this year, 85% of those booked were male customers, 7% were pimps and only 8% were the service women, a clear reversal from cases before the legislation.
 

  Update: Passport to Repression

From Asian Sex Gazette

South Korean "sex tourists" could lose their passports under new proposals to crack down on prostitution at home and abroad.

The proposals and others directed at the Korean market were announced by the ministry of gender equality and family to mark the second anniversary of an anti-prostitution law.

Since then, the number of brothels has fallen and more sex workers are training for new jobs, vice-minister Kim Chang-Soon was quoted by the Korea Times as saying: However, there are also new kinds of problems to deal with, such as the sex trade going underground at hotels, massage parlours and bars, and the growing number of people going overseas to buy sex.

Kim said the government would form a special team to monitor Koreans buying sex overseas and investigate Internet dating services which were sometimes a front for the trade.

Under a new law being drafted, authorities will be empowered to shut down hotels, massage parlours, karaoke bars and other establishments found to be offering sex. Building owners could be punished for knowingly renting space to sex operations.

While the number of brothels has fallen since the 2004 law took effect, other establishments are filling the gap by providing what were described as "male resting rooms".

    Cover Up Defeated by Voters

From AVN

Last week, US voters soundly defeated Propositon 401 which would have barred nudity in strip clubs and would have set up a series of tough new standards that would have barred lap dancing

Reacting to a defeated measure restricting strip club, members of the Scottsdale City Council say they'll seek more public input before they draft another similar measure.

The owners of the city's two strip clubs had argued that the measure was drafted behind closed doors and that they were never given the opportunity to provide input before it was drafted.

But Mayor Mary Manross denied there was insufficient public input on the ordinance before it was put to the voters, saying those arguments were some of the "untruths" its opponents made during the campaign.

Most council members during last week's council meeting said they would want to reach a consensus with the two strip clubs, Skin and Babe's, before drafting another such ordinance. Babe's is partially owned by Jenna Jameson.

But the issue isn't over yet, said Mayor Manross who noted that the council will meet with attorneys to determine what to do next.

  Update: Carry On Lap Dancing

10th July 2007

From azcentral.com see full article

A few inches of fabric and one or two words are all that separate the options that will face Scottsdale City Council members when they vote on adopting a new sexually oriented businesses ordinance.

The debate will focus on relatively minor points in the new code - should lap-dancers wear pasties or a rectangular breast covering? Should sexual activity be defined as "touching" or "groping"?

But the major issues that gripped Scottsdale last year have been resolved.

When voters went to the polls in September and gave an unequivocal "No" to a strict new ordinance, their voices carried straight to the city attorney's office.

Scottsdale's two strip clubs have prevailed.

The three different versions of the ordinance would force a 3-foot distance requirement between patrons and dancers only if the dancer is nude.

  Limp Attitude in Vietnam

From ABC News

Authorities in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City seized one ton of sex toys, aphrodisiacs and other sexual stimulants.

Police and market inspectors Thursday confiscated the shipment from China, which included more than 10,000 tablets of Viagra, sex toys and sexual stimulants in the form of tablets, powder and liquid hidden in a truckload of onions.

  Decrminalisation in Western Australia

From News.com.au

WA Attorney-General and Health Minister Jim McGinty said a working group would study the detail of current prostitution laws in other Australian states and New Zealand as part of a move towards decriminalisation.

Prostitution in WA is not currently an offence, but activities related to prostitution are illegal, including keeping or managing a brothel and living off the earnings of prostitution.

McGinty said the laws were ambiguous and did not provide a clear framework for police: Brothels in WA have been operating without any proper checks and balances for too long now, so it is time we looked at laws to properly deal with the sex industry. We want to look at the possibility of decriminalising brothels while ensuring the practice of streetwalking remains illegal.

Perth madam Mary-Anne Kenworthy said she was "rather amused" by McGinty's announcement. She said the state's sex trade laws had been reviewed several times, and no changes had ever resulted.

Police welcomed the announcement, saying the current prostitution laws were unclear and inadequate.

The working group will consult with representatives from the sex industry, local government and public health groups and report back to the Attorney-General by the end of the year.

McGinty said the Government wanted to develop laws which would be acceptable to all sides of parliament after a 2003 prostitution Bill failed to get majority support in the Upper House.

  Police Dildos

Based on an article from X Biz

Due to repressive laws that outlaw the sale of sex toys, Ouachita Parish sheriffs have shuttered three adult bookstores that sell sex toys and adult videos and arrested the owners.
According to Louisiana state obscenity law 106.1, it is illegal to sell sex toys, but not to possess them.

Ouachita Sheriff's Department deputies arrested the trio of Alvena K. Johnson, Bobby Joe Tremaine and Lori Scott Tremaine. Johnson, who owns the Fun Depot adult store in Monroe, La., was charged with two counts of promotion or wholesale promotion of obscene devices.

The Tremaines own adult bookstores in the neighboring towns of West Monroe, Chenerie and Swartz. Both husband and wife were charged with four counts of promotion or wholesale promotion of obscene devices.

The Ouachita Sheriff's office started an undercover investigation when the Tremaine's Red Door adult store opened in West Monroe. Deputies went undercover into the three now-closed sex shops to purchase devices they considered to be obscene under the law.

Johnson and the Tremaines face sentences of six months to three years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.

  Nutters Reveal their Bollox

Based on an article from News.com.au

A small group of Australian nutters rallied outside Hobart's new strip club next to a cathedral to voice concerns about Tasmania's sex industry.

Christian Democratic Party Tasmanian chairman Kenneth Higgs led the first public demonstration in a month-long campaign against the Players Sports Bar in Macquarie St. Higgs said strip clubs could lead to prostitution. The party has called on the State Government to close down Players, revoke its liquor licence and investigate whether the establishment could have any links to other unsavoury matters.

We are worried because strip clubs can be associated with drug trafficking and prostitution, Higgs said. Whereas religion is for sure associated with killing and war, reminded the melon farmers

Higgs continued: Sex shows are offensive, promoting immorality, adultery and sexual harassment, leading to increased risk in the community of rape and violence, and undermining the sanctity of marriage and family life.

The group said in a situation where there was private nude dancing there was a danger there would be breaches of the Sex Industry Offences Act. Higgs wants police to ensure nothing illegal occurs while the club is operating.

The Anglican Church claims the sports bar is in breach of its lease and it is believed a notice to evict is being prepared.

  Legal Sex

From Sofia News Agency

Romanian Parliament plans to legalise prostitution, in an attempt to fight human trafficking and sexual slavery. The country's legislation currently imposes a fine or three years in jail for prostitution. Still, when caught, most of the Romanian prostitutes are just forced to pay a fine.

Human rights organizations see in the legalisation a way to fight the spread of sexually transmitted illnesses and women trafficking but the Church predictably opposes the idea.

  Chinese Like Porn Too

From X Biz

A provincial Chinese court heard opening arguments in a case against the nine creators of one of the nation's largest adult websites.

The site, known as Qingseliuyuetian, which means "pornographic summer," first came to the attention of Chinese authorities in November, when a member of the public complained to police that the homepage for a local hospital had changed to an adult website.

Police immediately arrested the site's administrator, Wang Jianfei, eight other men were implicated, including the website creator, Chen Hui.

According to police, the site, which operated using US-based servers that Hui had leased on behalf of the company, had more than 600,000 registered users.

To avoid detection, Hui allegedly changed the site's domain name, servers and IP addresses, police said.

Over the course of the site's run, which began in May 2004, users were charged registration fees ranging from $25 to $33 to join. VIP members are believed to have paid $500 for full access to the site. According to police, commercial ad space on the site sold for $125 to $375 per month.
At its height, the site had more than 9 million pornographic images, police said.

When the site was taken down in November, police found $25,000 in the company's Chinese bank accounts. Police are still looking for the lion's share of the company's profits from the illegal site, but said that most of the money is likely overseas and therefore beyond their reach.

  They just don't make films like this anymore

From X Biz

VCX has struck a deal with U.K.-based distributor Your Choice to bring its library of adult classics to the European market.

Your Choice and VCX will begin their distribution partnership Sept. 1 with an initial offering of 276 products, including four and 12 piece box sets.

Founded in the early 1960s by Norm Arno, VCX dubs itself "The home of the classics," with a catalog that includes titles such as The Devil in Miss Jones, Sex World and Debbie Does Dallas . The company recently made its first foray into golden age comps with the first five volumes of its VCX Porn Stars Collection , featuring Kay Parker, Seka, Annette Haven, Dorothy LeMay and Serena.

VCX President David Sutton said the deal with Your Choice will help the company move product in a time when European distribution isn't easy to come by. Sutton said that under the deal, Your Choice will be able to ship VCX titles the same day orders are placed for next-day delivery, if necessary, anywhere on the continent.

Your Choice Operations Manager Jay Pannell and company spokesperson Jacco Kwakkel both expressed an appreciation for the style of VCX's "Golden Age" adult features.

They just don't make films like this anymore added Kwakkel.

  Jon Dough

From AVN

AVN Hall of Fame porn performer, Jon Dough, passed away on Sunday. Dough, whose real name was Chet Anuszek, was 43. He took his own life.

Dough also had his own company, Jon Dough Productions, for his gonzo product, in addition to his Doughboy Video line that were his oral titles. Dough was known as one of the most reliable studs in adult, and had the type of longevity that only a small amount of male performers have enjoyed in the past two decades.

Fellow AVN Hall of Famer Ron Jeremy remarked, I met Jon Dough way back. We went to Europe a couple times together, and when you travel internationally with someone, you really get to know them. Jon was a great guy. He always had a good attitude, he was funny, and he was a fantastic performer. He would always defend his friends.

Dough, who began performing in 1985 and has appeared in several classic adult films, has well over 1,000 titles to his credit as an actor. He has directed over 70 titles, most recently for VCA Excessive, Hustler, NJ Films and Anabolic.

  Barcelona Fun

From AVN

Spain will play host to its 14th installment of the International Erotic Film Festival, Oct. 4 through Oct. 8. The show will feature 15 independent stages, 180 artists and more than 750 live shows in the form of strip-teases and erotic performances.

The festival will also feature an homage to Spanish director Jose Luis Berlanga and a retrospective of AVN Hall of Famer Nina Hartley.

The International Erotic Film Festival will add two more awards for best upcoming national actor and actress to its list of presented accolades. More than 120 titles will opt for the awards in the three categories - Ninfa, HeatGay and Tacón de Aguja.

Organizers said that the number or visitors and stars increases every year, and for this edition, more than 180 artists -Spanish and international- are expected to attend; among them: adult actors, actresses and directors. All industry attendees will be available to take photos, do shows, sign autographs and/or make presentations.

A few of the adult personalities that plan to attend the festival are Gina Lynn, Travis Knight, Nacho Vidal, Rocco Siffredi, Silvia Saint, Tiffany Hopkins, Katsumi, Claudia Ferrari, Max Cortés, Bibian Norai, Sandra Uve, Ramon Nomar, Salma de Nora, Sonia Baby, Claudia Claire, Robby Blake, Dunia Montenegro, Roberto Chivas, Melissa Black, Liliane Tigre, Diana Gold, Sharka Blue, Sarah Twain, Suzie Diamond and Holly One.

  The Death of a Traditional Stripping

From the BBC

Five people have been detained in China for running striptease send-offs at funerals. The once-common events are held to boost the number of mourners, as large crowds are seen as a mark of honour.

But the arrests, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, could signal the end of the rural tradition. Local officials have since ordered a halt to "obscene performances" and say funeral plans have to be submitted in advance.

The arrests, in Donghai county, followed striptease acts at a farmer's funera. Two hundred people were said to have attended the event, which was held on 16 August.

As well as ordering an end to the practice, officials have also said residents can report "funeral misdeeds" on a hotline, earning a reward for information.

  Nutters Target Corporate Customers

Based on an article from the Evening Echo

A nutter charity highlighted the supposed links between lap-dancing and the global sex trade – including prostitution, trafficking and abuse.

Ruhama claims Irish lap-dancing clubs which attract corporate business mostly use foreign women. It found 95% of dancers and 90% of indoor prostitutes are non-nationals, coming mainly from eastern Europe.

Ruhama believes clients have little knowledge of how these women get here, how they are controlled, how they are paid and the risks they confront.

Lap-dancing is not innocent fun as portrayed by its controlling owners, said Geraldine Rowley of Ruhama. We've spoken to more than 100 women who have fallen for the promise of easy cash and a job in a new country. A number of those ended up in prostitution. Lap-dancing is part of the sex industry, businesses need to see it as part of prostitution and the growing phenomenon of trafficking.

The voluntary organisation today launched details of a Charter, which was sent to several hundred top companies in June, requesting them not to support lap-dancing clubs with corporate funds. More than 50 businesses have already backed their calls, with some even funding Ruhama's work.

We became aware of increasing efforts by lap-dancing clubs to attract corporate support and decided to tell the corporate sector what the lap-dancing industry really entails. It is well-established as part and parcel of the global sex industry.

  City of Sex

Based on an article from Macon.com

City of Sex is a proposed erotic center that would be built in the famed beach neighborhood of Copacabana. Rio de Janeiro. The center would house art shows, informational exhibits, shops, a museum and clinics dedicated to sexual health. And sex pods and swingers clubs too.

Sex pods are egg-shaped huts with beds designed to help podsters perform various positions outlined in the Kama Sutra. The pods would be interspersed throughout the three-story center, which would be about 1,500 feet long, 140 feet wide and constructed using white recycled plastic. The futuristic design, in the "liquid architecture" style, manages to be both uterine and phallic at the same time.

Some designers, artists and even the city's mayor praise City of Sex for its bold form and provocative function.

Of course there are some who don't like the idea. Some have warned against mixing sexual health treatment with the kind of activity that can lead to needing treatment.  Even some of Rio's plentiful prostitutes don't like the idea. They see the City of Sex turning into a kind of sex ghetto, ultimately keeping sex, and those who work providing it, locked up in a box.

Whatever kind of attention the project brings, its creator welcomes all of it. We are a country closely connected with sex. Everyone knows that, said Igor de Vetyemy, who designed City of Sex last year for his final architecture school project at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. But we don't know how to live with sex. There is still a lot of Puritanism here. We talk only about the bad things of sex - sex tourism and the child exploitation. We never talk about the good faces of sex.

Vetyemy said he realizes his City of Sex may never be built. Even beyond the objections of the Roman Catholic Church, or those of a society beyond the borders of Rio that has a deep streak of moral conservatism, there are the more prosaic challenges of zoning and funding.

  Video Vigilante Arrested

Based on an article from CBS5.com

'Video Vigilante' Brian Bates says he was so fed up with prostitutes and their customers cruising his working-class neighborhood in the mid-1990s that he picked up a video camera and started documenting their sex acts on tape.

Dubbed the "video vigilante," Bates soon made a splash on local TV and drew praise from police and prosecutors with his lurid, caught-in-the-act footage, which he posted on his Web site to embarrass the johns. The national media eventually took notice, and Bates was appearing regularly on programs such as The Maury Povich Show.

But now Bates could be looking at prison himself. Prosecutors say some of his footage was not a result of intrepid camera work. Instead, they say, he paid prostitutes to take their customers to locations where he could easily tape them. He has been charged with pandering and aiding and abetting prostitution.

District Attorney Wes Lane said he believed Bates had good intentions when he started the videotaping but crossed the line after getting a little taste of fame.

In 2005, Oklahoma City police set up a sting operation aimed at Bates that included several surveillance vehicles and a police helicopter. It also involved a prostitute and an ex-convict who agreed to wear a wire during a meeting with Bates. Although the audio recordings failed, the detective in the helicopter reported he saw Bates go with the pair to a cash machine and provide them with $50.

Bates says he routinely paid prostitutes for interviews that he later posted on his Web site. Bates and his attorney said Lane's office offered to let him off without prison time if he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, but Bates said he refused to "roll over and take this."

The case was later thrown out on a technically. But the D.A. took the case to a grand jury and in June brought more charges, punishable by up to 140 years in prison. Bates was charged with setting up at least four sex acts.

No trial date has been set.

  Risque Denial of Free Speech

From AVN

A U.S. Appeals Court here has struck down a Pennsylvania law that bars "lewd" behavior at businesses that serve liquor.

The U.S. District Court of Appeals three-judge panel ruled that a state law which prohibits "any lewd, immoral or improper entertainment" at establishments that serve liquor "punishes a significant amount of protected speech".

The ruling comes after two exotic dancers were cited for performing wearing only high heels, G-strings and Latex pasties at Club Risque.

By law, statute violators would be charged with a misdemeanor and face a $5,000 fine and up to a year in prison as well as loss of the establishment's liquor license, if convicted.

Lawyer J. Michael Murray, who represented the dancers, said his clients feared that their right to express themselves artistically had been compromised by the law, which dates back to the 1950s, according to city records.

John O.J. Shellenberger, the chief deputy Pennsylvania attorney general involved in the case, said that he was unsure how the ruling would impact enforcement of the law. Clubs are often cited for lewd entertainment, according to documents with the Liquor Control Board.

  Parading out the Usual Nutters

Based on an article from Scoop

In response to a call by Family First, nutters nationwide have inundated Auckland City councillors with their opposition to the Erotica Parade scheduled for a Queen St during a lunch hour next week.

Some families feel strongly about the planned display of nudity and the promotion of the pornography industry in a public place.

Family First asked the Auckland City Council to act on behalf of nutters and veto the permission given to the Erotica Parade.
 

  Update: Mayor Rides the Moral High Horse

Based on an article from Radio New Zealand

The mayor of Auckland City is rejecting claims his opposition to a planned parade of topless porn stars on motorcycles on Queen St is morally driven.

Next week's event, which is linked to an Erotica Lifestyles Expo, has been approved by the council's events and promotion staff.

Mayor Dick Hubbard says he is not making a moral judgement about the promotion of pornography. Instead, he says the parade is a blatant promotion of the expo and Queen Street should not be used to endorse such a commercial event.

Hubbard says he has asked the council's chief executive to look at the precedent the parade might set, and whether there is a bylaw that could prevent it going ahead.

However, the organiser of the expo, Steve Crow, says Hubbard's opposition is morally based. He says he only asked the council and the police if they wished to be involved as a matter of courtesy, and the parade will go ahead regardless.
 

  Update: Can Be Topless but Not Topless

Based on an article from The Age

Police and the Auckland council today said they would not stop a proposed motorcycle parade of topless porn stars down the main street of New Zealand's largest city to advertise an erotica expo.

Police will, however, watch the parade to make sure road rules are observed, including the law requiring that all motorcycle riders wear helmets.

In the opinion of the police, given the standards of decency observed in this day and age, a female being topless in a parade on a weekday in Queen Street will not in itself constitute an indecent act, police inspector Rob Abbott said in a letter quoted by the New Zealand Herald.

  More Relaxation is Australian Brothels

From News.com.au

Changes have been passed by the Australian Queensland Parliament last night put in place recommendations made by the Crime and Misconduct Commission after a review of the Prostitution Act.

These amendments ... will help ensure the viability of the legal industry as well as reduce incentives for illegal operators, Police Minister Judy Spence said today.

Under the previous laws, a sex worker was not permitted to engage in sexual intercourse or oral sex without using a condom. But the amendments will now make it an offence to also "offer" oral sex or intercourse without a condom.

Licensed brothels will now be allowed to have up to eight sex workers to provide services at any one time in a five-room brothel.

This is in line with the CMC's recommendation to increase the number of sex workers from five to eight to lessen some of the workplace health and safety issues faced by the brothel workers, such as allowing them to have a break between clients, Spence said.

  Utah: The Burkha State

From AVN

The Utah Supreme Court has upheld an ordinance prohibiting nude dancing at strip clubs and other adult entertainment businesses.

American Bush, a strip club in South Salt Lake, sued in November 2003 to overturn the city's ordinance against nude dancing which was passed in March 2001. It required dancers to wear at least a G-string when dancing.

A previous law allowed nude dancing if a club did not allow alcohol.

Lawyers for American Blush argued that the state constitution protected nude dancing, but the state high court ruled 3-2 against the club.

Justice Jill Parish wrote in the decision that free speech protection does not extend to nude dancing, adding that it is contrary to the intent of the state constitution: Were we (to overturn the ordinance), we would not be interpreting the constitution, but substituting our own value judgment for that of the people of Utah when they drafted and ratified the constitution. It is not our place to do so, she wrote.

But Chief Justice Christine Durham disagreed, saying in her written opinion that the framers of the constitution did not outline the right to nude dancing in the document, but that they did seek to protect communication: I believe the relevant initial questions are whether nude dancing is communicative and whether nude dancing is an abuse to freely communicate, he wrote.

The club's attorney, W. Andrew Bush said he was disappointed in the court's decision, but not surprised given the mostly Mormon community's conservative politics.

McCullough said he is optimistic that he'll win in a federal court where the club is also challenging South Salt Lake's ordinance based on so-called "secondary effects" caused by nude dancing. He added that he hopes the case goes before the U.S. Supreme Court in October when it reconvenes.

  Record Keeping 4472 Censorship Laws

From J. D. Obenberger, Attorney at Law, www.xxxlaw.net

On Thursday, July 27 2006, President Bush signed House Resolution 4472 into law, an enactment with profound effects for adult webmasters.

The definition of those who produce sexually explicit content now includes the class of persons who have been called "secondary producers" in the Regulations. That change seems to take effect immediately.

Secondary producers, eg adult webmasters  now have to maintain records of actors in hardcore scenes. Previously these records were maintained by the primary producer.

In addition new softcore material will also require the maintenance of records.

JD Obenberger maintains information about the new censorship law at www.xxxlaw.net and in particular tries to answer some of the following questions:

• When does HR 4472 Take Effect?
• Why Did Congress Enact the Section 2257 Amendments?
• What is the Practical Effect of the Changes in Section 2257?
• What Should a Webmaster Do to Comply with the Amendments?
• What Else did Congress do in HR 4472?
• What other Changes of Interest to Adult Webmasters did HR 4472 Make?
• Isn't There an Injunction Against Section 2257 Inspections?
• Isn't all of this Unconstitutional?
• What Should I Do If the Agents Come for an Inspection?

  Bed Tax

From News.com.au

The Australian Taxation Office has launched a blitz on the billion-dollar sex industry in NSW in the biggest shake-up since decriminalisation a decade ago. In recent months tax investigators have visited or contacted about 300 legal and illegal brothels in the city.

During discussions with owners, investigators have said they believe the amount of tax being avoided is enough to build a new public hospital each year - up to $200 million.

An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found the brothel industry is a significant component of the NSW economy. However, it continues to be dominated by illegal operators, despite decriminalisation in 1995. The investigation reveals there are at least 500 illegal brothels and massage parlours operating across the Sydney metropolitan area.

A survey of local councils in the Sydney metropolitan area established that only 174 brothels have formal planning approvals. Yet, each week, suburban newspapers carry up to 1800 advertisements for sex services.

More than 4000 women and hundreds of men are employed in brothels, according to industry sources. Some brothels boast takings of more than $80,000 a week.

Earlier this year, tax officials met with dozens of brothel owners at the Masonic Centre in the city. The aim has been to get owners to pay tax, in particular Goods & Services Tax (GST), and keep better records. It's understood one of the city's most successful brothels, La Petite Aroma, in Chatswood, has been hit with a $500,000 GST bill.

Now, the ATO is moving to make the sex workers themselves "tax compliant". This involves forcing them to provide their ABN (Australian Business Number) or tax-file number to the brothel or the tax office. Taxation officers have been trawling though local newspapers to identify targets.

Many of the legal establishments are already tax-compliant, although there has been some confusion about the payment of GST. But some owners fear the crackdown will force many of the women into working illegally from units, small terraces or shopfronts.

The manager of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, Jo Holden, said the tax-office move would take a lot of financial appeal out of sex work. She said about 4000 women and men worked in Sydney's 750 brothels and parlours. Another 200 to 300 worked city and suburban streets. This broadly fits with the assessment of a newly formed sex-industry lobby group, the Adult Business Association. Holden told The Sunday Telegraph that 30% of brothel workers were from overseas or from a culturally and linguistically diverse background.

Councils across Sydney say unauthorised businesses are almost impossible to stamp out. Closing illegal brothels is time-consuming and difficult, said Eric Aubert from Ku-ring-gai Council. Once detected and ordered to close, they simply disappear, making it difficult to prosecute them."

  Reworking Reforms

From Scoop

A working group has been formed to review the New Zealand Prostitution Reform Act, part of United Future's support agreement with Labour.

United Future MP Gordon Copeland, Labour's Marion Hobbs and former United Future MP Larry Baldock will be part of the group that will also include officials from the Ministry of Justice and Department of Internal Affairs. The group will report to Justice Minister Mark Burton.

Mr Copeland said the group would consider three areas outlined in the party's confidence and supply agreement with Labour: That will involve addressing problems associated with street soliciting, underage involvement in prostitution, and local authority control over brothel zoning.

The Prostitution Reform Act, which legalised prostitution for those over 18 years old, was passed in July 2003.

United Future strongly opposed the Act, which it wants overturned.

Meanwhile, Hamilton City Council has won a landmark High Court decision backing its Prostitution Bylaw. Escort agency owner Julie Conley appealed the bylaw in May this year, because she was not allowed to operate her businesses in a residential area. The bylaw states brothels can only be sited in the main industrial and central city commercial areas.

Justice Ellen France has thrown out the appeal and awarded costs to the council.

Update: Working Well

2nd October 2007

The author of the prostitution law says it is working well following the arrest of a woman who allegedly sold her daughter for sex.

The South Auckland woman will be charged under the Prostitution Reform Act for marketing her 16-year-old to a client.

Labour MP Tim Barnett, who sponsored the Prostitution Reform Bill, says the case highlights how the bill is working effectively to clamp down on the actual criminal and not vulnerable youth. He says it's an example of the law getting the person allegedly causing the real harm.

Update: Unappealing Bylaw

4th December 2007

An appeal lodged in the Court of Appeal against a Hamilton City Council Prostitution Bylaw of 2004 has been dismissed.

Three Court of Appeal judges unanimously agreed to dismiss the appeal lodged by Julie Conley, the owner of Hamilton brothel Toni's Escort Agency.

The decision also included an order for her to pay costs of $6,000 to the council.

In 2004 the council passed a bylaw that established a permitted zone for brothels, and prevented them from being located within 100 metres of 'sensitive sites'.

  Seeing Red over Vague Porn Laws

From Asian Sex Gazette

Sergei Loginov is one of a handful of adult film producers in Russia trying to run a legal business. While a few small-time porn producers are trying to break into a domestic market flooded with pirated films from the United States and Europe, many others prefer to stay off the authorities' radar screens, selling raw footage under the table to studios in the West.

Because of a vague pornography law that both moral crusaders and porn producers alike deride, hard-core film producers operate in a strange legal purgatory.

Since 1997, the only provision in the Criminal Code regulating pornography states that anyone convicted of "illegal" production or distribution of pornography can be sentenced to up to two years in prison. The language, however, implies that there are avenues for legal production and distribution, a loophole that porn producers have used, with varying degrees of success, to legitimize their craft.

The law also fails to define what constitutes pornography, the equivalent to criminalizing drugs but not specifying which drugs are illegal, Loginov said.

Numerous bills in recent years have been proposed in the State Duma to clear up the ambiguities, but all have been shot down. Last month, the nationalist Rodina party offered legislation that would define pornography as: images -- television and radio programs -- whose primary content consists of a vulgar realistic portrayal of sexual relations and that are intended to spark lusty passion. The Rodina bill was subsequently scrapped.

There are other seemingly confusing aspects to the legality of pornographic films. According to research conducted last year by the Russian adult-video web site Adultreview.ru, only four studios in Russia have produced hard-core movies that have received the Federal Culture Agency's stamp of approval as "erotic films", including the films with the not-so-subtle titles Super Perverted Girls 2 and Vocational School Girls in the Torture Chamber.

State approval for hard-core films is obtained by sleight of hand, said Oleg Golduyev, head of the Moscow-based studio Yaros-Film, which specializes in soft-core pornography: All you have to do is give a soft-core version of the film to the culture ministry to get it licensed, and then you release the hard-core version for sale.

  Happening Bars

Based on an article from Mainichi

Tokyo's Shibuya district is home to 'happening bars' which offer chaotic, erotic action at bargain prices. One out-of-the-way club is located in the corner of a nondescript building off Miyamasuzaka and the place looks, well, sleazy right down to its official ladyboy greeter.

Happening bars in Roppongi and other parts of Tokyo, explains Shukan Taishu offer customers a chance to engage in, or observe, anything-goes activities, performed spontaneously in the most exhibitionist style imaginable. Catering to the jaded affluent and the morbidly curious, they generally charge a minimum of 10,000 yen (£50) for membership by couples, and perhaps twice that figure for unaccompanied males. Females are generally admitted for a nominal fee, and in some places even free of charge. A typical admission charge is 4,000 yen (£20)

An example club had a maximum capacity of about 15 people. So as to leave little doubt as to its purpose as a venue for the sexually open-minded and the hopelessly horny, its brown-hued walls were festooned with suggestive motifs, such as phallic symbols and erotic "shunga" woodblock prints from the Edo period.

Four women, who appeared to be in their 20s, and seven somewhat older men were already seated and sipping at their drinks. The reporter's eyes gradually adjusted to the interior gloom and they soon noticed that an older man with white hair was in the process of using a hemp rope to tie up a nude young woman, using an elaborate combination of loops and knots. Once she was rendered immobile, he began teasing her nipples, and she writhed and squealed with a combination of humiliation, pain and pleasure.

Seeing this, a woman who appeared to be an office worker said, Ah, I feel like eating! She knelt before her date, lowered the zipper on his trousers, and buried her face in his crotch, making loud sucking sounds. After bringing her date to orgasm, 'Yukorin' moved on to the customer at the next stool and, after washing out her mouth with a shot of tequila, repeated the process.

The reporter was upbeat after his experience. After all, he asks, where else can you enjoy such chaotic, erotic action in a city like Tokyo at these bargain prices?

  Twenty Thousand Nutters

Based on an article from The Fact Is

Petitions were delivered today to the German Government complaining of the prostitution situation connected to the Soccer World Cup underway now in Germany. 20,000 people from 144 countries signed a petition circulated by the Catholic Famliy and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM). The petition was delivered today to Klaus Scharioth, German Ambassador to the United Nations and to Gunter Pleuger, German Ambassador to the United States. The petition is also being sent to Andrea Merkel, the German Chancellor and to pro-family members of the German Parliament.

The petition calls upon the 32 countries participating in the World Cup Games who have ratified UN Conventions and protocols against prostitution and trafficking to oppose the promotion of prostitution connected to the World Cup.

Last month, C-FAM launched a massive internet campaign to raise awareness and enlist the support of concerned people from around the globe to send a message to the German government against state-sponsored prostitution. After four weeks, C-FAM has received thousands of signatures from over 140 countries.

Prior to the start of the World Cup, many predicted a boom in the local sex trade industry and in the demand for prostitutes. However, latest news reports from Germany state that the anticipated boost has largely failed to materialize.

  Transparent Repression

From AVN

A Nebraska woman, Melissa Harrington of Lincoln, was found guilty of indecency under the city's public decency ordinance and now faces up to eight months in jail when she is sentenced on Aug. 2

Harrington is known for her porn Web site, www.melissamidwest.com which features public nudity and girl on girl porn.

Police said the woman was arrested after she conducted a wet t-shirt ordinance in a local bar while topless last March. Harrington told the court she was not nude since her areolas and nipples were covered with pink paint.

But a Lancaster County judge said the paint did not properly cover her because it was transparent.

Prosecutors said she violated a section of the city ordinance prohibiting the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering on any part of the areola and nipple.

Next comes Harrington's sentencing. She could face as much as eight months in jail or a $500 fine when Lovell sentences her Aug. 2.
 

  Update: Lincoln made an International Laughing Stock

Thanks to Alan

The public section of Melissa Harrington's site includes three video clips of her arrest (see www.melissamidwest.com/policevideo.html ). They are worth watching as a chilling example of law enforcement in the land of the not so free.

They appear to show:

1. A raid involving three or four police cars, intended to arrest a female suspect on a charge of public nudity, but with not a single policewoman involved.
2. A male officer insisting that Ms Harrington accompany him to another room and threatening to arrest a male friend who wished to accompany her.
3. An officer threatening to arrest the cameraman who was filming this conduct.
4. After the ticket had been issued to Ms Harrington, a male officer approaching her as she sat in a car and asking her to remove the controversial nipple covering (i.e. the only complete exposure of one of Ms Harrington's breasts was at the direct instruction of a policeman).

It might be interesting to get people to write gently pointing out that the legislation under which Ms Harrington has been convicted makes the city an international laughing stock, and that its implementation makes it look worse than that.

Perhaps the most appalling part isn't shown on the video, because the coppers had taken Ms Harrington away to another room, forbidding any of her friends to follow. In her own words: The worst part is they kicked everyone out and then had me expose my breasts so they could examine my pasties with no female officer at the bar or anyone from my company around.
 

  Update: Erections Illegal in Lincoln, Nebraska

Thanks to Alan

The local newspaper for Lincoln, Nebraska has a story about Ms Harrington . From there you can get a contact link so that you can write to tell them what you think about their repressive attitude.

A bit more digging on her site discovers a scan of the law in question:
www.melissamidwest.com/scan12.jpg

Section (2) is a beauty. It actually makes it illegal to have an erection! Public Nudity Unlawful: The showing of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state
 

  Update: Nipple on Public Display Judging in a Lincoln Court

Thanks to Alan

In Melissa's own words from www.melissamidwest.com

So I was sentenced today on my recent public nudity charges! The judge gave me 6 months probation and 50 hours of community service but told me if I finish my community service early she may let me off in December. I guess I would say it's about what I expected but I still plan to file the appeal on Monday for both the conviction and the sentence because I still think it was crap. This may take up to a year to get resolved so I will go ahead and get my probation out of the way in the mean time. I also almost have my lawsuit ready to file I hope within the next 10 days it will be done. I am sure you will hear about all of this on the news but I wanted to share it before it was all over the place. Melissa

Update: Melissa Goes Hardcore

1st October

 Fans may like to know that Melissa has just released her first boy/girl hardcore DVD see melissamidwest.com/store.html