One Australian state has so many shops selling adult entertainment that a trade group has called on the government to limit their numbers.

Queensland has about 65% more sex shops now than it did two years ago, The Brisbane Sunday Mail reported. With 180 adult stores, Queensland has twice as many sex shops as Blockbuster video outlets.

EROS, the trade group, said capping the number of sex shops and regulating them more strictly would halt the proliferation of stores and allow the government to crack down on sales of illegal items. Queensland bans the sale of the most explicit DVDs and restricts the sale of some magazines.

Family First, a nutter group, also wants to limit sex shops, saying too many are opening in suburban areas: I've had so many families say they don't want their children confronted with these sexual images and issues in suburban areas, Family First Chairman Peter Findlay said.

Dublin Labour Party parliamentarian, Joe Costello, has launched a new private members planning Bill aimed at restricting the growth of the sex industry in Ireland.

Costello said that it was high time that the sex industry in Ireland was subject to regulation by the authorities. He said that no specific planning permission was required at present for change of use from retail to sex shop.

Costello also wants members of the public to be given the opportunity to make comments and observations to the relevant authorities. He says there is a complete lack of political will to deal with what he says is a serious problem for many urban communities.

Hundreds of bar owners and workers in the Nepalese capital blocked traffic and vandalized vehicles Wednesday to protest new closing hours imposed by the government.

The Home Ministry earlier this month issued an order that night entertainment establishments would have to close by 11 p.m. in the Thamel area, a tourist hub and nightlife center in Katmandu. The ministry said it was 'necessary' to impose an earlier closing time in order to control growing crime in the city.

Hundreds of people working in bars, nightclubs and discotheques forced shopkeepers in the main markets to close their stores. Some protesters vandalized taxis and public vans whose owners had defied their call for a general strike.

The Organization of Nightlife Business entrepreneurs said in a statement their protests would continue until the government withdraws the new closing hours.

Clubs in the past have remained open past midnight until the early hours of the morning.

Update: Providing Jobs

29th September 2008

Prominent women rights activist Sapana Malla Pradhan today cautioned that closure of dance bars and night clubs could force a large number of women currently employed there into prostitution.

"The problems won't be solved without offering alternative jobs to women who have been eking out their living by dancing," said Pradhan who is also a CPN-UML Constituent Assembly member. "The government should provide jobs or else it will prove that the government is forcing these women into prostitution."

Speaking at a program "Questions at policy level vis-à-vis HIV and AIDS" organized by several organizations including the European Union here in Pokhara, she demanded that the government regulate such dance bars with necessary laws, instead of pulling their shutters down forcefully.

Update: Prohibiting Off Sales

29th September 2008

Nepal has also begun cracking down on the sale of alcohol and tobacco goods in the Himalayan republic, closing duty-free spirit shops at the sole international airport and confiscating bottles stowed away in passengers' luggage.

The internal revenue department issued the first notification late last week, warning shops that stock essential goods for daily use, like groceries, that they have till Nov 17 to comply with the new rules or face stiff punishment.

Earlier, liquor was available freely in shops throughout Nepal and there was no drinking age limit. Only licensed sellers can now sell alcohol. However, even they need to renew their licence for the current financial year.

Department stores will have to construct separate rooms to display their spirit and tobacco products. Ordinary shops selling essential goods will either have to acquire a licence and build a separate room for alcohol and tobacco products or return such goods to the manufacturers.

The state government of Queensland, Australia, has unveiled plans for an advocacy service that could include extolling the positive side of prostitution.

The $333,000 a year program would include free or discounted safe-sex products for prostitutes and sexual health education programs for the sex workers, the Brisbane Courier-Mail reported.

The Prostitution Licensing Authority, the government's sex industry regulator, is pushing for Premier Anna Bligh's government to also include community advocacy for prostitutes in the program: The service should contribute to a more balanced and positive view of sex workers in the general community, assisting to overcome the stigma attached to prostitution.

South Korean police said they have seized beds and bathtubs weighing a total of 100 tons during a crackdown on prostitution in the capital Seoul.

They said the items and others were confiscated and destroyed during raids on dozens of massage parlours and brothels in the city's eastern district of Jangan.

A massage parlour owner committed suicide in protest at the crackdown which began on July 28, but police vowed to step up their campaign against prostitution, which is illegal in South Korea.

On Wednesday police set up a 270-member special unit to tackle the crime in Seoul.

Prostitutes in Italy who have been ordered to stop wearing skimpy clothing while they tout for business in broad daylight plan to dress as nuns instead.

By donning nuns' black and white habits street walkers hope to make the tough new legislation so confusing that it becomes unworkable.

Thousands of women, many of them from Eastern Europe and South America, sell themselves for sex on the side of major roads leading in and out of Italy's main cities, where brothels and red light districts are banned.

But they face a crackdown from the centre-right government of Silvio Berlusconi, as well as individual city councils such as Rome, Milan and Florence.

The mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, unveiled a decree this week which will ban the capital's thousands of street prostitutes from wearing unseemly and indecent clothing, saying the sight of barely clothed young women distracted male motorists and caused accidents.

Even the way in which sex workers stand is under scrutiny - the decree bans the women from adopting poses or behaviour or wearing clothing that unequivocally manifest the intention to solicit or practise the activity of prostitution.

Sex worker welfare groups have called the decree absurd and have pledged to challenge it in any way they can.

We'll dress as nuns so that the police will arrest scantily dressed girls outside discos or other women with their cleavage on show, said Pia Covre, of the Committee for the Rights of Prostitutes.

In Florence, for example, the mayor has forbidden girls from walking up and down and we are thinking of going around on bicycles instead. Meanwhile police in Rome have issued more than 100 prostitutes and 40 of their clients with spot fines of 200 euros (£158) since the new decree was introduced on Tuesday.

The sex workers were mostly from Romania, Colombia and Brazil. Many of the women have refused to pay the fines, which the mayor has said could increase to 500 euros by next month.

The Rome decree came after the Italian government last week agreed to outlaw prostitution in public places, recommending prison terms of up to 15 days and fines of 200 to 13,000 euros for prostitutes and their clients.

The mayor said his order would be valid until January 31, 2009, when the parliament is expected to adopt the government's proposed law.

The proposed law does not ban prostitution altogether because it does not outlaw sex work as a private business.

It’s hard to find a decent peeler on Toronto's Yonge Street these days. There are only three strip clubs, one porn cinema and a handful of sex accessory shops now.

But in the 1970s, Yonge was the dirtiest street in Canada. Body-rub parlours, porno vendors, cinemas and clubs lined the strip south of Bloor. There was music on the street. Tourists visited Yonge for the atmosphere and not the Eaton Centre.

Valerie Scott worked in the body-rub parlours on Yonge during the ’70s: There wasn’t a lot of violence, hardly any. I never even came across any at all, all the times I worked in the massage parlours. I think because we worked together, there were always two or three or four of us working in a place. And it was just nice to hang out with the other women in between clients.

The first body-rub parlour opened in the spring of 1971. They grew in tandem with the Yonge Street Mall, an annual festival held between 1971 and 1973.

Parts of Yonge from Gerrard to Queen were closed to traffic and vendors moved into the street. The sex industry thrived on the increase in street business the mall provided. The body rub parlours also filled an economic niche on the street and kept Yonge going, taking advantage of real estate that other businesses didn’t want.

It filled a vacumn. The stores were there, it was the centre of the city. Landlords were pretty desperate because they couldn’t get serious retailers to go there, says Ron Soskolne, Toronto’s chief planner in the ‘70s.

The increase in people attracted by the mall, however, meant an increase in crime. Some businesses complained they were losing money just as the parlours were flourishing. The mall became a financial liability for the city and was shut down in the summer of 1973. The parlours, however, remained. In just four years, there were more than 100 of them.

The party ended in 1977. On July 28, four men lured 12-year-old Emanuel Jaques, who worked on Yonge shining shoes, into an apartment above Charlie’s Angels, a body-rub parlour across from the just-opened Eaton Centre. Jaques was restrained and sexually assaulted over 12 hours, then strangled and drowned. The murder shocked the public and provided the city and local businesses with a moral martyr to rally behind. Many of the sex businesses threw in the towel rather than endure the legal shitstorm. Some were closed down by the bawdy-house law, which gives authorities the legal right to close down any place in which prostitution occurs. Whether or not prostitution was indeed happening was beside the point. None of the businesses could afford to fight both the government and the public. At the time of Jaques’ murder, there were 40 parlours on Yonge. By November there were four and in December the last one closed its doors.

The body-run era was over.

By the early 80s, Scott found herself dancing at the Zanzibar. The Zanzibar was a happening place. That place was packed on the weekends. Even during the week it was busy in the evenings and they had good quality shows. This is before table and lap dancing. It was far more burlesque. You didn’t have anything on the stage like showers or poles. The stage was nice, it was a good hardwood stage. Good for dancing.

The strip clubs continued to do well, but Yonge Street decayed in the 80s.

After nearly 15 years of planning, Toronto Life Square finally opened last year. Yonge has become an epileptic’s nightmare. Neon signs advertising the latest cell phone plans flash electric kool-aid over newly erected condos. It’s a 21st century circus, with a size that fits for anyone with cash to spend.

The sex industry is still there, but it’s only a shadow of its former self. The Zanzibar, the Brass Rail and Remington’s are the only strip clubs left. A porn cinema commands a second-floor perch on the east side of Yonge. Only a few sex shops remain.

A Spanish politician's public description of how he lost his virginity in a brothel has angered his female counterparts, who accused him of encouraging prostitution.

Miguel Angel Revilla, head of the government of the northern region of Cantabria, told a television interviewer earlier this week that he had paid the first time he had sex at the age of 18.

Female members of the regional parliament from the opposition conservative Popular Party were outraged. As the head of the regional government, he should be an example for the young people of Cantabria, they said in a communique.

Revilla retorted:  There are major problems which need to be addressed now, not what a poor 18-year-old did who is now 65, adding: 99% of Spanish men did it back then.

Hundreds of disco workers protested in Kathmandu on Monday against a government crackdown on "nude dancing".

Police have raided scores of discos, nightclubs and dance bars in the past two weeks and detained 1,500 people saying many were running bars where "nude dances" were performed, not allowed by law in the Hindu majority society.

There are hundreds of such night spots in the Kathmandu valley, although the country has no specific law to regulate them.

A Maoist-led government which took power in August has already ordered the bars should be closed an hour before midnight.

Bar and disco operators are protesting the move would jeopardize their business and render 80,000 people jobless.

Police official Sarbendra Khanal said those dancing nude in bars as well as their clients would be charged under the public offence act. If found guilty they could be sentenced to up to one year in jail and fined $400.

Amsterdam's infamous red-light district is to be recreated in central London's National Gallery.

Visitors will peep through windows and doorways at mannequins dressed as prostitutes in the installation.

The Hoerengracht, by US artists Ed and Nancy Kienholz, will open in November next year.

A gallery spokesman said it would "shed light" on its collection of Dutch 17th Century masters. These will include Jan Steen's Interior of an Inn, a bawdy pub scene, and de Hooch's Musical Party in a Courtyard.

The gallery's head of education, Colin Wiggins, said: Visitors will be able to walk into the installation, which is like a succession of streets.

Wiggins said the gallery would not warn children against entering the installation: If you look at the National Gallery as a whole, there are more things to warn against.

New laws will be introduced in a crackdown on hundreds of prostitutes who work in Victoria's unlicensed brothels.

Prosecutors will no longer have to prove sex took place to be able to close down an illegal brothel. Showing a sexual service was offered or advertised will be enough to get a conviction.

The imminent blitz on illegal brothels has already been approved by Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Robinson who expects the Prostitution Control Act amendments to be introduced next month.

He is also keen to control Victoria's sex entertainment industry. Robinson has ordered CAV to review operations of all sexually explicit entertainment venues that serve alcohol. He is considering a new category of licence for such clubs so owners and operators can be subject to stringent probity checks.

The CAV review will also look at the possibility of banning those venues from serving alcohol. Robinson said alcohol was already banned in legal brothels and it made sense to look at extending that ban to table-top dancing clubs.

Say “Peddapuram”, and every man grins. This is a village of “high-class” sex workers from the Kalavanthalu subcaste, hereditary courtesans and temple dancers famous for their elegant beauty. Almost every family is involved in the trade.
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They trace their lineage from the days when they were protected by royalty, priests and landowners, all the way downhill to a franker prostitution as patronage crumbled in a modernising India of another shade of morality. There is still a lot of money in this dhanda (business).

The price of a high-class sex worker in Peddapuram: all the way from Rs 200 ($5) a shot, and Rs 1,500 ($37) for a night, to Rs 1,000 ($25) a shot, Rs 10,000 ($250) for a night; depending on beauty, fairness of skin. “Shot” always said in English, with movie swagger. All ages were sought after, from teenagers to “auntys”, for younger men feel safer with “auntys”, explained a sex worker.

See article from women.timesonline.co.uk

Nimbyism is alive and well in Italy.

This weekend, the Bergamosex show is taking place, with a substantial number of Italian porn stars in attendance.

Pettyfogging locals are petitioning the mayor to ban it. (See also news item in Italian)

What makes the attitude of a minority of locals in Cologno al serio seem even more mean-spirited is that the takings of Bergamosex will be given to charity.

Australia's Victoria State Government is refusing to rule out banning Melbourne's King St strip clubs from selling alcohol, but says the measure would only be a last resort.

The Government has ordered a review of venues serving alcohol and also offering nudity and sex entertainment in the wake of another violent weekend in the city during which one person was killed.

But the minister responsible for liquor licensing, Tony Robinson, today hosed down speculation of a blanket alcohol ban on King St strip clubs: The Government's not in the business of coming out and banning things, banning things is a last resort.

We simply want to ensure that the conditions under which those premises in particular operate are appropriate, that they get the right balance between people's ability and capacity to enjoy Melbourne and all that it offers and also to walk the streets safely.

David Butten, spokesman for the Nightclub Owners' Association, has dismissed the idea of banning alcohol in such venues, describing the idea as totally left-field. Butten pointed to population growth and an influx of international students as major factors in the increase of city violence: The amount of visitors has increased by 6% each year. Melbourne’s population is increasing dramatically.

Butten called on the Government to provide better infrastructure to cope with the increased numbers flooding the city streets at weekends, including 24-hour public transport, more police patrols and the education of young people about how to behave in a responsible manner.

(Anti-social) behaviour in the streets and public places is the real issue and it's not just in nightclub precincts, claimed Butten: It’s happening throughout society. Nightclubs are just an easy label to associate with this violence. When you look at the media every day, there are incidents happening in suburbia that don’t attract the same level of attention."

If people did some research, they’d find that the majority of people go out, socialise safely and responsibly and aren’t even aware of these incidents. They are isolated incidents compared to the number of people that go out.

Australians spent $1.13 billion on prostitutes and strippers last year, business analysts say.

And despite concerns of rising fuel prices and a slowing economy the sex industry would grow at 8.1% to $1.22 billion this financial year.

Neil Gilmore, owner of Gold Coast brothel Pentagon Grand, said he was confident there would always be demand for the world's oldest profession.

In economic terms, the sex industry does enjoy so-called sticky consumption in that, like tobacco and alcohol, consumption levels remain relatively strong compared with other products during economic downturns, Gilmore said.

IBISWorld says prostitutes in brothels generate the biggest share of revenue, with street walkers accounting for about 15% of revenue. The next largest "product segments" are strippers at 12% and escorts at 8%.

And it seems an economic bust may produce a boom for the sex industry. Gilmore said compared to a night out trying to woo a woman the brothel's services - starting at $150 for 30 minutes - could be cost effective.

Fiona Patten the chief executive of the Eros Association, which represents adult retail and entertainment companies, said these related industries would also feel the pinch of an economic downturn but not too badly: We are somewhat shielded as in hard economic times people spend more time at home. Our products offer an inexpensive past time so we're seeing that DVD sales have not been hit as hard. Sex is a pretty basic part of life. It is like eating – if we don't do it we're not going to be around for very long. And, to extend that analogy, not everyone can afford to eat out at a restaurant but they'll still need to have a meal at home.

Harmony Films produces the acclaimed and award winning Young Harlots, Slam It! and Fuck Me lines, casting its movies with international performers in locations around the world.

The American audiences' first taste of Harmony Films' lavishly produced movies came through its distribution deal with Evil Angel. Jason Maskell, sales and marketing manager for Harmony Films, said the relationship between the two companies remains close and that Evil Angel did an amazing job selling and distributing their product.

We enjoyed four great years working with Evil Angel but we feel the time has come to develop and grow the Harmony Films brand across the US and North America.

Harmony Films Co-Owner Steve Elvins said: We now would like to expand the brand by taking on a couple more directors so we can start to release three or possibly four films a month. When we released one film a month, it worked fine for both Evil Angel and ourselves — but we would not expect the situation to be mutually beneficial if we increase our releases. Our films will have a different feel and look to that of Evil Angel's, so this will create a marketing problem which would be easier resolved if Harmony Films stood on its own two feet.

The first titles to be released in November by Harmony Films' American arm will be Young Harlots: Dirty Secrets and Strangelove: Ladies of Pleasure.

The German town of Marburg is planning to introduce a tax on its prostitutes based on the size of the establishment where they conduct their business, a local official has said.

Rainer Kieselbach, spokesman for the city of Marburg said the lump sum tax was aimed to raise an estimated 90,000 euros in annual tax revenues.

The prostitutes will be taxed for their services, but not for the entertainment acts, such as table-dancing, Kieselbach said: We decided to tax them based on the size of their working rooms -- a daily flat rate of 2.50 euros per 10 square meters.

A group of 22 masked prostitutes protested against the tax in a city council meeting last week.

There has long been a tradition of the gentleman’s “happy ending” to round off a relaxing massage. Recently, there has been chatter in the New York press about just such shenanigans in upscale Miami hotels and New York bathhouses: the female “happy ending” is out there.

Grant Stoddard, the author of Working Stiff: The Misadventures of an Accidental Sexpert, tells a story that illustrates the Jackanory finish is not confined to men, and possibly on the increase. An ex went for a regular massage. It was her first time at this establishment, and the receptionist suggested that she get her massage from George. She called me two hours later to ask me if it was okay that a Chinese guy in scrubs had brought her to orgasm six times. I was more impressed than anything. My girlfriend recommended George to several friends, most of whom went to the massage parlour. George, they were told, had been let go, and nobody hinted at ‘happy endings’ being on offer.

So I set out to find — if not experience — some “happy endings” in London myself, and posted an ad. In 20 answers from both genuine masseurs and dodgy chancers, I found one guy who offered delightful Hawaiian lomilomi massage the naturist’s way. Another came with several qualifications, including a diploma in sports and remedial massage. As I posed as a nervous potential client, he explained: “

I try to make people relaxed and happy. The ending is sensual and arousing, but it is done without any form of penetration. I do know how to give an amazing orgasm without. We talk a little about pressure points and human anatomy. I wonder how he broaches the subject of “extras”? He replied: When you massage a person, you ask how they want it: soft, medium or firm. You then ask what parts they want massaged: if they say yes to inner thighs, buttocks and the chest, and if they want to be totally naked, you generally get an idea of what they really mean.

Would “happy endings” become acceptable if all your friends were doing it, too? A bit like Botox and cocaine, it’s ostensibly a dodgy sort of business, but its definition as such is dictated by your peer group.

Read full article from women.timesonline.co.uk

Those who watch over the morality of Beijing's nightlife may have closed down some of the dingier bars in a pre-Olympics "purge", but the oldest profession is alive and well - only, not as open.

Normally every foreigner getting out of a taxi at the entrance to the street full of bars in Sanlitun is bombarded with offers of "lady bar", "massage" or "sex" from the girls and their pimps.

During the Olympics, business has been swept into the sidestreets and clubs. The red light district is not quite as sinful as normal, but it's still far from innocent.

But aren't the police especially strict during the Olympics? asks a foreigner. They only bother about the Chinese, not you foreigners, a soliciting sex worker says.

Just 20 metres away stand two soldiers guarding the entrance of the diplomatic compound. They look on but do nothing. Their job is to stand guard, not stop prostitution.

In fact, prostitution is illegal in China. The girls - and their customers - face being sent to re-education camps. Occasionally the police will detain foreigners for a few days if they are caught in raids on brothels or massage salons.

Where's the Suzie Wong? asks an Olympic tourist seeking the expensive bar by Chaoyang Park with more than its share of attractive women.

You chat up three and score with one, laughs an insider. Semi- professionals, perhaps - beauties with a daytime job financing their Gucci handbags and designer outfits. Or perhaps looking for the big catch - a rich Chinese or foreigner.

It's a dangerous game. Today there are an estimated 700,000 Chinese infected with AIDS, and it would be an achievement if this were only to double in the next two years. UN estimates say the number could rise to several million.

It's why several hundred thousand free condoms have been provided for the more than 10,000 athletes in the Olympic Village and guests in Beijing's hotels.

The Boobs on Bikes parade has gone off without incident on Auckland's Queen Street despite a march by about 60 nutter protesters.

Thousands of spectators lined the city's main street to watch the parade of topless women, which went head despite the city council's opposition.

But a few nutters joined groups including the Human Rights Foundation and Auckland's Women's centre, carrying banners with slogans such as porn fuels rape.

The protest group walked silently along the street, protesting not about bare breasts, but against the free advertising they say the parade gives to Steve Crow and his hard-core pornography empire.

Auckland City Councillor Cathy Casey had threatened to lie in the path of the parade with a group of other morality protestors to stop it but her protest didn't eventuate.

Kamasutra TV, the only pornographic cable channel on Colombian TV will stop their transmission because of a lack of viewers, cable company Telmex announced.

The sex channel transmitted programs like La cocina erótica (Erotic cuisine), el Gúru del porno (the Porn guru), Al otro lado del sexo (At the other side of sex) and Cámara triple X, where the host would go to various discoteques to find couples to be intimate publicly.

The channel’s most talked about program was Los pichones, a reality show wherein people would perform explicit sexual acts.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to flock to Auckland, New Zealand, tomorrow to watch topless women riding on motorbikes after a judge dismissed a council's attempt to ban the parade.

Judge Nicola Mathers threw out Auckland District Council's attempt to gain an injunction to stop the Boobs on Bikes parade down Queen Street, saying it breached a new bylaw allowing the council to ban offensive parades.

But Judge Mathers said in Auckland District Court today that it was debatable whether the bylaw was legal, and also debatable whether it met the legal threshold of offensiveness.

Parade organiser Steve Crow, who also organises the R18 Erotica Expo held in Auckland over the weekend, said the decision was a victory for common sense and freedom of speech.

Judge Mathers noted that some people were deeply offended and considered the parade tactless and distasteful. But she said at least 80,000 people voted with their feet last year by attending the parade, suggesting they approved of the parade and considered it harmless fun.

As police had advised that it was not an offence under the Summary Offences Act for a woman to go topless in public, Judge Mathers said it was hard to argue that the parade met the legal definition of offensive.

There has been an angry backlash to a New Zealand court's decision to ban a parade of topless women on motorbikes in Auckland.

The lawyer for the annual Boobs on Bikes parade says a by-law used to ban the event is invalid after the council asked an Auckland District Court judge to issue an injunction to prevent to event happening on Wednesday.

The council claims the parade would breach a newly amended by-law banning offensive public events but Jesse Soondram, lawyer for the parade's organiser Steve Crow, said the by-law was invalid.

Soondram said it had already been decided, by police and the courts, that it was not an offence for women to bare their breasts in public in the Summary Offences act.

He argued the council was trying to apply a stricter standard of what was offensive than existed in the law.

Although there were some opposed to the parade, the fact that 100,000 spectators turned up last time showed a large number of people held a different view, Soondram said.

A judgement will be given on the matter tomorrow, but Crow said the parade will go ahead regardless of the court's decision.

The new BJP Government tightening the screws on nightlife in Bangalore, protestors are calling it ‘Bangalore bleeding’.

With the Bangalore police deciding to go strictly by the book again all restaurants with live bands and dancing have been banned. Over the past two Sundays musicians, artistes, disc jockeys and Bangalore’s partying public have been protesting the reinforced ban at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in central Bangalore. Participating in this Sunday’s protests, writer and theatre personality Girish Karnad said the decision to ban live music lacked logic. It will affect artistes adversely. Instead of going after criminals the police are going after musicians.

Despite the protests featuring over 1000 people on Sunday, the Bangalore police cracked down on as many as 32 discotheques operating without valid licenses in the city.

The licensing order makes it mandatory for all places offering live entertainment to be licensed by the police after meeting strict standards. The Act prevents places serving alcohol from staying open beyond 11:30 pm and women from dancing in places where alcohol is sold.

Though, the state home department has indicated a move to modify the laws to reduce restrictions on nightlife, no legislative action has been taken yet. New Bangalore police commissioner Shankar Bidari has stated that he is willing to consider relaxation of nightlife rules if he receives sufficient representation from the public.

The existing laws has resulted in a tussle between owners of lower end dance bars and the upper end lounge bars and discotheques. The introduction of the licensing rules for cabarets, dance bars, discotheques and live bands in June 2005 had resulted in a clampdown on all forms of dancing at public entertainment spots in Bangalore.

However, in December 2005, following appeals by owners of establishments, the Supreme Court permitted live bands and dancing in restaurants and hotels on the condition that the establishments didn’t encourage prostitution or indecent shows. While the Bangalore police allowed dancing and live music shows at pubs, restaurants, nightclubs and discotheques, they imposed a more stringent curb on dance bars on the grounds that they encouraged prostitution. This discrimination has been challenged by owners of dance bars in the High Court resulting in a complete clampdown on all nightlife.

Swedish state-run pharmacies began to sell over-the-counter sex toys this summer.

Now the shops are being hauled before the Equal Opportunies Ombudsman, the government referee on sexual discrimination, after two men complained that the erotic toys – the bestselling are vibrators and vagina balls – discriminate against males.

The pharmacy chain, Apoteket, had a misguided and untrue view of sexuality whereby a woman with a dildo is seen as liberated, strong and independent, while a man with a blow-up plastic vagina is viewed as disgusting and perverted, said one of the petitioners.

Apoteket responded with a bollox claim that there are no products of good quality on the market for men.

The men were exercising their rights under a 2005 amendment to the Equal Opportunities Act, which was supposed to right the balance in a society in which women were seen as winning more and more ground.

It is said to be unlikely that the pharmacy chain will end up in court.

Swedish men have recently been railing against discrimination in favour of women. Hairdressers and taxis are no longer allowed to offer preferential rates to women. The entry age for clubs and discos has to be the same for men and women. Dating services also have to charge the same for males and females.

Western Australia's Opposition Leader Colin Barnett said hw would scrap laws legalising brothels. He said he would not allow brothels to spread across suburbs. He intended to regulate the industry by licensing brothels in designated areas.

If elected, a Liberal government will repeal the Prostitution Amendment Bill 2007, Barnett said: A Liberal government will not allow the spreading of brothels throughout the suburbs and towns of WA.'

Barnett and Opposition police spokesman Rob Johnson have been calling for changes to WA's new prostitution laws for months.

Johnson said only a few designated areas would be allowed in WA: We can't afford mini-brothels operating in residential areas where you have men coming and going all the time to satisfy their sexual pleasures. Legalising brothels hasn't worked in the east. Since legalising brothels, there has been a proliferation of legal and illegal brothels.

Despite its notorious reputation, the Reeperbahn is gaining some unexpected new residents. As property values have risen sharply in Hamburg during the past decade, smart residential buildings have increasingly crowded the area. The latest addition is the Bavaria, a 28,000-sq metre complex that includes dozens of luxury residences with panoramic views of the city, and a boutique hotel designed by architect David Chipperfield.

There was a time when real estate developers would not have considered building in an area with this kind of reputation, says Nina Riedel, a managing partner at Engel & Voelkers, a Hamburg-based property firm: Now we see more and more of them doing it and I really don’t believe it will stop any time soon.

...Read full article

A conservative nutter group has laid a formal complaint against Auckland's controversial Boobs on Bikes parade.

Family First NZ laid the complaint with police today against the parade which is planned for Auckland's Queen St in August. National director of Family First NZ Bob McCoskrie said he was calling on the police to enforce the law and prevent offensive actions happening in a public place.

This parade is an advertisement for the porn industry which is simply a business, with no regard for the welfare and protection of families who are exposed to offensive aspects of the parade.

It is certainly not a charitable family-friendly event like the Santa Parade or a sports event or celebration."

The parade drew thousands of people last year, as an assortment of porn stars, erotic dancers, models and a few drag queens, exposed their breasts downtown.

McCoskrie said the event was in breach of the Crimes Act. It will also now be in breach of a new bylaw just passed by the Auckland City Council (Bylaw 20.6.9 - Public Places 2008) banning public events likely to be offensive.

The parade, which last year had council approval, was organised by then Auckland mayoral candidate Steve Crow to promote the Erotica Expo.

Update: Not Indecent

8th August 2008

In response to an official complaint by Family First NZ to the police about the upcoming Erotica Expo advertising stunt known as “Boobs on Bikes”, the police have said 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.

Update: Offensive Nutters

12th August 2008

Family First NZ has written to the Minister of Police Annette King asking whether she supports the refusal by the police to take action against the Boobs on Bikes parade.

We know that almost 1,000 emails labeling the parade as offensive have been sent to both the Mayor of Auckland and the head of the Auckland police, says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ: Yet despite this strong opposition from families and the City Council themselves, the police are refusing to act.

In the letter, Family First NZ has asked for confirmation that as Minister of Police, Annette King supports the interpretation of the Police that ..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.

Ryan Horne arrived in China in March from Los Angeles to manage the opening of a club in the heart of the city's night-life district.

With the Olympic Games just six days away, Beijing police are out in force, carrying out orders to increase security and clean up the district, called Sanlitun, with zeal.

Horne has been summoned to the local police station three times in as many months for somewhat bewildering and intimidating interrogations that last for hours and probe his views on topics from Tibetan separatism to whether Jackie Chan or Jet Li has the best kung fu moves.

I call them my 'special' experiences, Horne said, smiling tightly as he uses his mother's term to avoid saying something negative.

The crackdown has renewed allegations of xenophobia and even racism in Beijing, as well as cries that the police are draining the vitality from a place where foreigners and Chinese have traditionally mixed.

Bar owners report being swamped by new police demands, with rules changing daily and the threat of closure if they are not enforced. It's not just no drugs, no gambling, no prostitution. It's also: no tables on the sidewalk, no excess partying, no displays of affection. No service for foreigners with prostitutes.

Dozens of police patrol the area on foot and in cars, frequently raiding bars to check patrons' visas. Dozens more in plain clothes mingle with guests in the clubs, owners say. Their numbers are augmented by private security guards hired by local businesses.

Last week police told Horne he had to get rid of two bartenders who are of Tibetan origin. Horne was told no Tibetans could work in Beijing during the Olympics; police apparently fear they might mount disturbances in sympathy with the widespread protests this spring against Chinese repression.

The Olympics, which many here thought would bring thousands of customers, has instead driven many away, and business owners say they are counting the days until the closing ceremony. Thousands of foreigners have had their visas canceled or been blocked from obtaining one for fear they could be troublemakers, or worse, terrorists.

A Chinese woman, proud that she can afford to rent a new apartment said in an interview that she would love to show it off, except that her lease included a clause that she not invite any foreigners to her place until after the Olympics.

Sex workers of eastern Nepal have launched a campaign for legalisation of their profession after the authorities refused to recognise them as an organisation.

Nearly 70 sex workers had tried to register their organisation with the name Sex Worker Women's Group", but the district administration turned down their move. Later, they got registered their organisation as Helping Women's Group and started campaign to legitimise sex workers.

We formed the organisation in order to face the hassle posed by the administration in an organised way. One of our aims is to motivate customers to have safe sex, Debika Dhamala, leader of the group, said.

She said the organisation would provide counseling to women sex workers to protect themselves from the deadly disease of HIV/AIDS.

Madrid nutters who filmed prostitutes negotiating with their clients outside their homes and broadcast them on YouTube have been fined for infringing the Spanish data protection Act.

Even after its facelift, Calle de la Montera has remained a haven for prostitutes.

Residents took matters into their hands last year by installing webcams and recording images of the prostitutes' clients.

Twenty-two of them were then placed on the YouTube website in the hope that they would act as a deterrent for the men if there was the danger that their wives would spot them attempting