World Sex Sells News

Chief Religious Censor

The Indonesian government has formed an anti-porn task force to monitor and enforce an anti pornography 2008 law that prohibits just about anything vaguely sexy.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who formed the group under a presidential regulation signed on March 2, created the Pornography Prevention and Management Task Force to more effectively coordinate state bodies.

The government stated on its website:

The task force will work under the President and be responsible to the President, and will serve as a coordinating institution, which will coordinate efforts to curb and handle pornography.

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali will serve as executive chairman of the task force and Agung Laksono, coordinating minister for people's welfare, will act as the organization's chair. Other members include State Minister for Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Linda Gumelar, Justice and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsudin and Education and Culture Minister Muhammad Nuh.

Update: As expected, extreme repressive ideas result from putting a nutter in charge of defining pornography

29th March 2012. From  thejakartaglobe.com

The government's controversial anti-pornography task force, headed by Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Al, is now working on measures to repress anything sexy in Indonesia. A discussion that includes coming up with a massively broad definition of pornography, which could potentially equate to dictating how women dress.

We think that there should be general criteria [for women's clothing]. For example, women's skirts should go past their knees, Suryadharma said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The task force, he said, is in the process of gathering suggestions from the public about what activities should be classified as pornographic and how best to repress them.

Masruchah, the deputy head of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), immediately slammed the proposed legislation, calling it a violation of women's rights.

Offsite Article: Minister's bid to ban miniskirts using anti-pornography law angers Indonesian women

23rd April 2012. See  article from  thenational.ae

One opposition politician, Rieke Dyah Pitaloka, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, told the Jakarta Post that the government should be focusing on more important issues. The way women wear their skirts, below or above the knees, will not impact others, she said.

One of the country's main women's groups, the National Commission on Violence Against Women, has denounced the proposed ban as absurd and repressive.

One of the commissioners, Nurherwati, said it bolstered the still common perception in Indonesia that rape victims were to blame for their ordeal.

The pornography law, she said, was supposed to protect women, but it actually criminalises them . Ms Nurherwati gave the example of a striptease dancer in Bandung, West Java, who was prosecuted under the law, although she was a trafficking victim. When women reported sexual assaults, she said, the first thing police ask is, 'What did you do to get raped?'

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A Paris sex shop owner has been found guilty in court of selling porn within 200 yards of a school.

The controversial Love Shop prosecution resulted from complaints by two nutter groups. The National Confederation of Catholic Family Associations (CNAFC) and the CLER Love and Family Association complained that shop manager Nicolas Busnel was pushing porn.

Busnel said he sold dildos and vibrators but said that they shouldn't be considered porn. He maintained that limiting sex toy shops to areas outside of 200 yards of educational institutions would mean the only places they could be sold would be cemeteries, parks and on train tracks.

But the court disagreed and found Busnel had violated porn laws because his central Paris shop was only 100 yards from a local elementary school.

The good news for the shop owner was that the court only ordered him to pay 1 euro in damages to the associations as a symbolic sign. However even the nominal judgement may put an end to the business lest they get prosecuted again.

Malawi Information Minister Patricia Kaliati is aging a nutter war with local tabloid, Weekend Times , with its Page 8 Action Girl that depicts sexualised images modestly reminiscent of Page 3 of The Sun in the UK.

Kaliati, speaking at the launch of the Malawi Child Protection and Gender Media Network, is reported to have condemned the Weekend Times Page 8 girls , describing it as pornographic and misogynistic.

What a shame! she screamed: How would you feel to see your daughter or sister exposed like that?

She called on journalists to campaign for the removal of Page 8 from Weekend Times.

The Philippines Senate has now passed on final reading a proposed law with extreme penalties for cybersex, child pornography on the web, spamming, and other cybercrimes.

Under Senate Bill 2796, people engaging in cybersex-defined as the willful engagement, maintenance, control, or operation, directly or indirectly, of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system -will be imprisoned for 6 to 12 years or made to pay a fine of P200,000 to P1 million.

The politics of liquor and sex have collided with Christian fundamentalism in British Columbia's Bible belt, forcing organizers of an adults-only erotic show to cancel a three-day event.

For the past four years, the Fraser Valley Taboo Naughty But Nice Show has offered patrons the opportunity to shop for sex toys, watch fashion shows and live demonstrations and participate in seminars.

But Canwest Productions have now announced that the fifth annual show at the Abbotsford Tradex is history because the company couldn't secure a roaming liquor licence and because of push back from a vocal group of Christian fundamentalists.

The company said a roaming licence allows patrons to carry their drinks around the event, instead of being restricted to a beer garden in the corner of the trade show's floor. Peter Kiddell, the company's president said:

Based upon the restrictions placed upon us concerning our ability to serve liquor and the negative push-back we were getting concerning our show's entertainment and educational offerings, we do not feel that we can meet the expectations of our guests or our exhibitors.

The nutter backlash was led by former mayoral candidate Gearda Peachy who has lobbied Abbotsford's city council to ban the event. Peachy explained why she opposed the event:

This obsession with deviation, it does nothing to help, it does nothing to enhance humanity.

Dan Stefanson, executive director of Tourism Abbotsford, said the community will feel the effect because the exhibition attracted many visitors. He said:

People would come and stay in our hotels and rent cars and fly into the airport, and that's going to be very sadly missed in our community in a few weeks when the events not here.

The party town of choice for young adult Americans (ie those have not reached the grand old drinking age of 21) is Tijuana in Mexico.

Tijuana also has a legal red-light district and a hands-on policy with strippers. Fact is, here you'd be looked down upon for not touching the merchandise. Enjoy!

A word of warning: the police are all too happy to arrest gringos, so try not to overdo the bad behaviour -- which can be difficult with tequila this cheap.

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The manager of a French shop selling sex toys has gone on trial to determine whether he is breaking the country's pornography laws by selling his products within 200m of a school.

The manager of the Love Shop, Nicolas Busnel, is facing the action after two nutter Christian groups filed complaints that his shop is within 90m of an elementary school.

The two plaintiffs, the National Confederation of Catholic Family Associations and the CLER Love and Family association, also are asking for EUR10,000 each in damages.

Busnel denies that the Paris shop, at 69 rue Saint Martin, sells pornography and says its products are simply of an erotic nature.

His lawyer, Richard Malka said that limiting the sale of sex toys within 200m of educational institutions would mean the only places they could be sold would be cemeteries, parks and on train tracks .

The trial opened with Malka making a motion for the case to be dismissed as unconstitutional, but it was rejected by the court.

Sex toys are still a difficult topic in many South Asian countries. In India they're often sold as massage products because officially they're banned. Even though the demand on black markets across the region is high, a law change is nowhere near in sight. But across the border in Nepal, the authorities have shown a much more progressive attitude towards the positive effects of sex toys.

When new customers come here the first thing they ask us 'Is this legal?' When we show our license they are relieved to find out that it's legal what they are doing, says Manish Paudel, the owner of the first shop for sex toys in Nepal.

Paudel's shop Sweet Secret is located on one of Kathmandu's busiest streets, but the entry is discretely tucked away in a corner ally. That was one of the criteria the government office set for Paudel before he could open his shop. Though legal in Nepal, his products cannot be openly displayed.

To Paudel this limitation is not an issue. With a steadily growing client base, his shop has become so successful that he's opening three more branches across Nepal in the coming months.

Sweet Secret provides a wide range of imported products, from dildo's and colourful vibrators to blow-up dolls. But most customers that come here are not looking for the more kinky toys. It's the basic condoms that sell the best.

To address the many questions they get from the often shy Nepalese as effectively as possible, there is an online question desk on the shop's website. The owners say they receive about 200 questions a day via this service.

Strip club owner Dragan Bratic, due to open up a club near the hugely popular Swedish ski resort Are in the north, is suing the local politician who said his new club would attract criminal elements for libel and defamation.

Why should I be forced to take this kind of shit lying down, Bratic told local paper O stersundsposten .

As The Local reported in December, miserable politicians in the area have been up in arms about the plans since they became public, but as long as Bratic doesn't do anything illegal on the premises there is very little they can do to stop him.

It is not illegal, but it is inappropriate, claimed Eva Hellstrand of the Centre Party :

The villagers were divided on the issue. Many pointed out that it was perhaps not the best location for a strip joint, situated in an old country inn, between the church and the cemetery in the sleepy little village of Morsil, home to many families with children.

Hellstrand claimed without substantiation that a venture such as Bratic's could draw unwanted elements and criminal activity to the area and said she hoped the police would keep a keen eye on it. Hellstrand also told O stersundsposten that they can't stop the strip club from opening but that they can try to sway public opinion against it. Without customers the club would have to close.

Soon after, Bratic reported Eva Hellstrand to the police for libel. He thinks it was wrong of her to talk about his business this way. He feels that he has been insulted: She doesn't even know who I am

The comment about criminal activity was what made Bratic see red.

I have a family and it isn't so nice that they are forced to read this kind of stuff about me in the press.