At the heart of the row are clashing claims about the nature of sex work. One side holds it is exploitative. The other argues banning women from earning money from stripping is anti-feminist
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskThe clubs’ different fates result from a new licensing regime. Until recently strip joints in Scotland were licensed like any other bars or clubs. But in 2019 the country introduced legislation that reclassified them as sexual-entertainment venues, just as England and Wales had done a decade earlier. This has allowed councils to vote for a cap on such places and, if desired, to eradicate them.
Councils’ new powers to close strip clubs have accelerated a process already under way as a result of changing attitudes to the public consumption of sexual entertainment. Across Britain the number of clubs is thought to have fallen from around 350 a decade ago to 150 today. But the crackdowns have sparked an angry backlash from some strippers and their unions.
In 2016 Marvin Rees, the Labour mayor of Bristol, pledged to close such clubs during his election campaign. In July, following a campaign by United Sex Workers , part of the United Voices of the World, a union, the council voted to keep the city’s venues open.has been active in Edinburgh, too. On September 21st a judge ruled that strippers could take part in a judicial review of the council’s decision .
At the heart of such rows are clashing claims about the nature of sex work. One side holds that it is exploitative even if it does not involve touching . The Equally Safe Edinburgh Committee, a group of government and non-profit agencies, says the clubs’ existence “conveys a message that the objectification of women is culturally acceptable”. In Iceland, that position led to the first nationwide ban on strip clubs in Europe.
She says the opinion, expressed by one Edinburgh councillor, that women like her should find different work is “condescending”. It may also be unrealistic. The stigma of stripping, which the council will perpetuate by banning it, means that after five years stripping full time Sarah has nothing to put on herShe doesn’t want to anyway. Nightly earnings vary, but it is not unusual to make several hundred pounds from a shift of a few hours.
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