Lap Dancing Licensing in Scotland

On 13 April 2010, the Justice Committee from the Scottish Parliament decided to issue a call for evidence for amendment 516 [pdf] which equates lap dancing licensing with that of sex shops.

The amendment was put forward by Sandra White MSP (SNP) for Glasgow. The amendment is one of several hundred put forward to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, which also contains the extreme pornography law and amendment relating to the criminalising the purchasing of sexual services.

Amendment 516 changes the 1982 Civic Government (Scotland) Act  of control of sex shops. The original act states that local authorities can decide how many sex shops can be in their authority and that the potential sex shops must advertise their intention to apply for a license. The effect that this has had is that some local authorities rejecting all applications for a sex shop license. In Glasgow, for example, the guidance notes for sex shop applications reads:

Be advised that, in the past, applications for a sex shop licence have been refused on the grounds that the committee felt that the number of sex shops for the locality (ie. Glasgow) should be nil.

It's also worth noting that the licence costs £12,000+.

Glasgow in particular has had a long history of making life difficult for adult entertainment venues and it should come of no surprise that Sandra White had spoken out against lap dancing clubs in the past. Opponents of lap dancing issued a £7000 report by Julie Bindel in 2004 to prove lap dancing was bad. But in the past, Glasgow's prejudices did not seem to affect other cities, such as Edinburgh. This new amendment will drag all of Scotland into Glasgow's sex-negative way of life.

What is most disturbing about the lap dancing amendment is that, like so many other laws, it is so poorly written that it could potentially extend beyond its original intent. Sandra White and Glasgow Council are quite obviously dead against adult entertainment venues. But this law could potentially call your own bedroom an adult entertainment venue!

In the amendment, an adult entertainment venue is defined as any premises, vehicle, vessel or stall used for a business with an audience of one or more that any live performance or display of nudity (which includes breasts on a woman or pubic area on either sex) that is provided solely or principally for the purpose of sexually stimulating any member of the audience. Where this gets tricky is the little bits of (whether by verbal or other means) and ignoring financial gain.

Women taking their clothes off and dancing in an erotic way in front of a paying audience of men is the target. Ideally, I should be able to put on a strip show for my partner in the comfort of my own home. But is this allowed here? I'm not doing it for money, but we are ignoring financial gain. I'm only doing it for my partner, but audience includes an audience of one. I'm doing it in my own home, but the location is any premises. In other words, every time I expose my breasts to my partner, I would be committing a crime under this law. Even worse, I can't even verbally describe an erotic fantasy or read a published (and wholly legal) erotic story to my partner because it would count as a live performance of the verbal kind that is sexually stimulating.

Another bit of brilliant legislation from the Scottish Government in an effort to stop people from enjoying sex.

This news has been brought to you by CAAN Scotland.

On 13 April 2010, the Justice Committee from the Scottish Parliament decided to issue a call for evidence for amendment 516 [pdf] which equates lap dancing licensing with that of sex shops.

The amendment was put forward by Sandra White MSP (SNP) for Glasgow.

Amendment 516 changes the 1982 Civic Government (Scotland) Act  of control of sex shops. The original act states that local authorities can decide how many sex shops can be in their authority and that the potential sex shops must advertise their intention to apply for a license. The effect that this has had is that some local authorities rejecting all applications for a sex shop license. In Glasgow, for example, the guidance notes for sex shop applications reads:

Be advised that, in the past, applications for a sex shop licence have been refused on the grounds that the committee felt that the number of sex shops for the locality (ie. Glasgow) should be nil.

It's also worth noting that the licence costs £12,000+.

The Scottish Parliament's justice committee will consider the plan this week.

Glasgow Council's Community and Safety Services arm has urged MSPs to accept White's amendment, saying lap-dancing was a form of violence against women. The letter said: Intelligence would suggest that these venues are in fact linked to, and part of, the sex industry and selling of sexual services does occur in some clubs. The council said the current licensing regime was ineffective, and added local authorities must have the option to refuse to license such establishments.

The bid is reported to have backing from Scottish Women's Aid, the Scottish Coalition Ag-ainst Sexual Exploitation, and Scottish Women's Convention.

Councillor Jim Coleman, acting head of the council, said: We view lap-dancing as a form of sexual exploitation which degrades women and also contributes to public nuisance problems.

Some of the country's most celebrated arts bodies have welcomed clarification to new laws designed to crack down on lap-dancing clubs which would have inadvertently prevented them from staging shows featuring nudity.

Nationalist MSP Sandra White has put forward an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill going through Holyrood which would allow local authorities and licensing boards to ban lap-dancing venues in their area.

But organisations such as Scottish Ballet and the Festival Fringe Society had warned that under plans to tighten licensing rules, renowned shows featuring nudity, such as Nic Green's Trilogy, could have been pulled.

Cindy Sughrue, Scottish Ballet's chief executive, had urged the committee to carefully consider the wording of White's amendment, given the potential unintended consequences for theatre companies, who would be unable to show iconic works by world-renowned directors and choreographers.

She said: Nudity, as defined, would rule out presentations of some of the most powerful performance work of the 20th and 21st centuries, including numerous acclaimed productions created and presented in Scotland, including at the Edinburgh International festival.

At a meeting of the Scottish Parliament's injustice committee, politicians echoed such concerns. Robert Brown, Scottish Liberal Democrats justice spokesman, said: For theatrical performances, I'm not sure it presents as clear exemptions as one would hope.

Bill Aitken, his Tory counterpart and the committee's convener, agreed. I do have serious reservations and I don't think the issue of theatrical performances has been satisfactorily resolved.

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill told the committee that while communities should be allowed to refuse permission to license the clubs, the government had significant concerns over Ms White's amendment. He said: There are drafting difficulties with the amendment which will have to be addressed.

Ms White accepted an offer of assistance to clarify her amendment, meaning the government will now draft a tighter licensing regime which will come before MSPs when the bill is considered by the full parliament at its final stage.

A showgirl turned scholar is taking on the Scottish Government over new moves to ban lapdancing. Former dancer Sarah Vernon, 34, has just finished work on a PhD in striptease and strip club culture. She is using her expertise to campaign against the bid to allow councils to outlaw strip clubs.

She said a ban would infringe performers' human rights and damage Scotland's economy. Vernon, who runs an Edinburgh-based company specialising in burlesque and cabaret, said: I was a dancer for many years. I'm a big advocate of freedom within adult entertainment. Under human rights laws, if everyone is consenting, you have a right to dance around naked because that's your freedom of expression.

Vernon said there had been no long-term study in the UK which backed up the critics' claims that women were harmed by working as lapdancers.

MSPs are due to debate the issue later this month after Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill promised to table an amendment at the final stage of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, based on proposals from Glasgow SNP nutter Sandra White.

The Edinburgh-based Zero Tolerance Trust backed the call, arguing lapdance clubs are harmful to women individually, women collectively, and communities.

Ms Vernon said she understood Zero Tolerance's position, but claimed it did not look at the issue logically: The bottom line is some people don't like other people doing this for a living. They find it distasteful and they do not see it as a valid form of labour. The Zero Tolerance people think we are reinforcing patriarchy, permitting ourselves to be exploited and allowing the degradation of women. It's quite insulting to be told 'you might think you are choosing but you are not really'.

In a submission she wrote on behalf of the International Union of Sex Workers, Ms Vernon describes the proposed amendment as a form of censorship that does not fit with the image of Scotland as a modern, tolerant and diverse society: And she warns: Demand for this form of entertainment will not disappear. Closure of current adult entertainment venues will drive the practice into unlicensed venues, hotel rooms and domestic premises, greatly increasing the risk to dancers' safety.

Owners of lap dancing clubs are threatening to sue an MSP and a women's rights campaigner for branding dancers prostitutes.

They've called in lawyers following remarks made by SNP's Sandra White and Ann Hamilton, of the council-funded Glasgow Community and Safety Services group.

Club bosses and dancers are furious at what they regard as, slanderous and unsubstantiated, comments.

Sandra White has tabled an amendment to the Bill seeking greater powers to curb the number of clubs and force them to apply for new, stricter licences. Her aim is to shut the clubs, which she claims lead to prostitution.

But club owners and dancers claim the, so-called evidence, given to MSPs is based on rumour and hearsay, and politicians are being misled.

The legal threat is contained in a letter to Ms White and Ms Hamilton from the new Association of Scottish Adult Licensed Entertainment Venues. It states: The Association is extremely concerned over comments attributed to you in the media and the web to the effect that adult entertainment venues in Glasgow provide sexual services and that staff working within the premises are engaged in prostitution.

These reckless and irresponsible comments are entirely without foundation and as such are both defamatory and actionable.

The association has called for the women to withdraw their comments. Club bosses have sent letters to all MSPs. The dancers have also sent letters to the politicians in a bid to block the amendment to the Bill.

White said she believed dancers did use the clubs for more than lap dancing, but admitted most of her evidence was based on other people's comments and reports from women's support groups. The MSP, who has visited lap dancing clubs, said: There's not enough punters sitting in just to see the lap dancing. Other people have said, and there is research regarding the fact that some of the people that are in these clubs do revert to prostitution to earn extra money. I think a lot of guys expect it as well.

Ann Hamilton also said her evidence was based on the views of others: It's been very much from women that have talked about their involvement ... and men who have said they have bought sex in lap dancing clubs.

Update: Letter from Dancers

1st July 2010. Based on article from news.scotsman.com

In a separate letter, a group of lap dancers told MSPs: We choose lap dancing as a means of sustaining and improving our quality of life.

Sandra White and do- gooders have branded us as 'prostitutes, exploited, vulnerable, slappers' and our dancing in our clubs as 'demeaning' to women in general. We are anything but. The majority of us are well-educated women who train hard for our dance art.

Some of us work full-time and others part-time in what we regard as a safe, secure, friendly, clean and well-paid environment.

The proposed crackdown on lap dancing venues has been thrown out by MSPs despite winning the support of the government.

SNP backbencher Sandra White wanted to give local authorities the power to introduce a special licensing system which would allow them to ban strip clubs.

Injustice Secretary Kenny MacAskill gave his backing to the move, but Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Tories opposed it and the proposal was defeated by 76-45.

The decision was welcomed today by campaigners against the crackdown.

But Labour said it now plans to take its own look at the issue and bring forward proposals if the party returns to power at next year's elections.

Liberal Democrat Robert Brown said Ms White's proposal would introduce a dual licensing system, where venues needed a separate licence in addition to their liquor licence. He said there was no real evidence of a problem with the current powers.

Tory John Lamont said he had met a politics student who worked as a lap dancer in order to help her pay for university. He said: She was, quite frankly, insulted by the claims that lap dancers were either prostitutes being exploited or their work was demeaning.

Sarah Vernon, a former dancer who has just completed a PhD in striptease and strip club culture in Scotland, welcomed Ms White's defeat.  Vernon, who spent seven years carrying out field work as a participant-observer in two Edinburgh clubs as part of her research, had warned curbs on adult entertainment would hit Scottish tourism. She said: The parliament has made the right decision, particularly at this time for Scotland's economy. It shows Scotland is a tolerant and progressive country and does take account of the views of the nation and not just special interests.