Adult World News

A proposal to levy a $5 tax on sex acts in Nevada has died in a state Senate committee.

The 3-4 vote Thursday in the Nevada Senate Taxation Committee was one shy of the four needed to keep the proposal afloat.

Committee Chairman Bob Coffin, the Las Vegas Democrat who sponsored the bill, says the state is desperate for revenue and has not collected taxes from prostitution since it was legalized in some rural counties more than 30 years ago.

Adult industry businessman and performer Dave Cummings has blasted a bill wending its way through the Massachusetts Legislature that would place a ban on producing and distributing porn involving anyone age 60 or over or anyone who has physical or mental impairment.

In my 69-year-old opinion, sex between consenting adults, or with oneself, is a God-given gift to mankind that is natural, normal, and healthy, Cummings told XBIZ: And by healthy, I mean not only sexually, but also emotionally and physically — sex provides focus, stress relief, increased productivity and a myriad of other beneficial effects for normal humans.

Cummings went on to say that pornography is legal; obscenity is not and questioned the legality of the proposal: I wonder if prohibiting my right to work based upon age/occupation is constitutional. Is Massachusetts also restricting employment to church ministers, physicians, legislators, politicians, volunteers and public safety folks who are over 60?

The piece of legislation is House Bill 1688. Regional District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who helped craft the legislation, said that the intention with the bill is to protect our two most vulnerable populations.

But Boston-based attorney Harvey Silverglate said the proposal amounts to blatant censorship.

I wouldn't worry about the press Jacqui, but Harriet and your man hating mates aren't going to be very pleased

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's political future was in jeopardy after it was revealed that her husband used her Commons expenses allowance to pay to watch softcore pornographic films.

Richard Timney, who works as Smith's Commons adviser, used part of the Minister's second-homes allowance to pay for the not so blue movies he watched on a subscription television channel.

Tory MP Philip Davies said last night that if the porn-movie claims were true, the Home Secretary would have to resign: Claiming that her sister's back bedroom is her main home is one thing but this could push her over the cliff. It is surely not legitimate to use Commons' second-home allowances to buy blue movies. If this is true, I cannot see how she can survive.

Just three months ago, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Timney – who is paid £40,000 of public money a year as Smith's to run her Redditch constituency office – was behind a letter-writing campaign defending the Government in her local paper.

Timney had a series of letters published in the Redditch Advertiser backing Smith's identity card plans and attacking the Tories over schools, without revealing that he was married to the woman responsible for the policies.

The ACA allows MPs to claim for television subscriptions at their second home. Last year, under freedom of information requests, it emerged that Gordon Brown claimed for a Sky TV subscription and television licence.

A court in Switzerland has ruled that value added tax (VAT) must be paid for all things sold, including prostitution, dismissing a claim by a brothel owner.

The owner, who was told by the tax authorities to pay 95,000 Swiss francs ($84,640) in VAT on the services she proffered, claimed the government could not tax immoral acts.

The court ruled in favour of the principle of neutrality of the tax code, meaning all business deals, including the selling of drugs or sex services, should be subject to the value added tax.

Nevada senator Bob Coffin has proposed a $5 tax on every prostitution transaction that occurs in the state, according to a Las Vegas Sun report. Coffin says the tax would raise an additional $2 million a year for Nevada, and a lobbyist for the legal brothel industry supports the idea.

I think we will support [the tax], said George Flint, director of the Nevada Brothel Owners Association. There are 28 legal brothels operating in Nevada, along with illegal unlicensed prostitution, and prostitution is actually illegal in the city of Las Vegas. Coffin's proposed tax would apply to both legal and illegal prostitution.

The proposed tax would be paid by customers, not levied from the prostitutes' wages.

The owner behind Scotland's newest lapdance club has a sideline in hardcore porn films starring his dancers.

Spearmint Rhino tycoon John Gray boasts that his gentleman's clubs are in the fantasy business with strict no-touching rules.

The American also has an X-rated Rhino Girls website at www.TheRhinoGirls.com offering hardcore action that the girls can't do in the clubs.

Whingers who failed to stop Scotland's first Rhino club opening in Glasgow this month predictably condemned the company's porn business. They say the explicit online content blurs the lines between lap-dancing, porn and prostitution.

Sandra White MSP said: I've been suspicious of the club's insistence that it offers nothing but squeaky-clean, harmless fun but the Sunday Mail has uncovered a part of the business that clearly goes far further than that. I hope this leads to the club's closure in Glasgow.

Last week Glasgow councillors banned the club from describing itself as a gentleman's club in taxi adverts as true gentlemen would be embarrassed to visit it.

These are hard times even for the oldest trade in the world. A Berlin brothel has responded to the economic crisis by launching a flat-rate service to woo customers.

The city's "Pussy Club" has made headlines in the local press by giving clients unlimited access to all its ladies for €70, which includes an all-you-can-eat-and-drink offer, in a bid to weather Germany's worst economic slump since World War II.

To clinch the deal, it is even offering men the opportunity to bring their wives along.

Seventy euros, that includes everything -- ladies, drinks and food, a member of staff contacted by phone told SPIEGEL ONLINE. The offer runs during off-peak times. On weekdays it applies between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. On weekends, it's extended by an hour until five p.m.

Iceland plans to introduce legislation criminalising the purchase of sexual services, the operation of strip clubs the government have said.

Parliament is expected to vote on the plan before Iceland's general elections on April 25, the minister said.

Prostitution was legalised in Iceland in 2007 in order to protect prostitutes and make it easier for them to seek assistance and go to the police without fearing recrimination.

The ban on buying sex is aimed at hitting users of prostitutes.

According to the bill currently being discussed by parliament, anyone who purchases or promises to purchase sexual services can expect fines or up to one year in jail.

Strip clubs are as a general rule forbidden in Iceland but are allowed to operate with special permission from local authorities. The new legislation would abolish that exception.

Business is slower than before, partly because of the bad economy but also, according to government officials, due to the Anti-Sex Trafficking Law, which was enacted five years ago amid great fanfare.

However, except for cosmetic changes, the lucrative sex trade is still very much around, experts say. The only difference is that since the law was enforced, the sex trade has evolved.

More visible outlets such as the one in Yeongdeungpo have taken the brunt of the law as have the once notorious neighborhoods of northern Seoul's Cheongnyangni and Mia-ri Texas, which are both scheduled for urban redevelopment.

A tell-tale sign that business was, if not booming, reasonably healthy came earlier this month when the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced it would transfer hundreds of police officers in southern Seoul. The move has been widely interpreted as an effort to sever ties between the police and entertainment establishments offering sex services.

Nowadays, adding to the sex-for-cash businesses, hyugae-tel (resting rooms), where customers can call up sex workers and then later join them at another venue, are expanding rapidly, while commercial sex offered online, which is harder to track, is also growing.

Still, government officials say the implementation of the law from five years ago has helped significantly reduce the scale of the sex industry.

If you look at the numbers, coming down from a 24 trillion won industry to a 14 trillion won one is a step forward, said Cho Sin-suk, an official at the Ministry of Gender Equality. According to ministry estimates, there were 269,000 active sex workers in Korea in 2007, a decline from 320,000 five years earlier.

To try to curb prostitution, Korea introduced a special law in 2007 that gave the authorities the power to deny the issuance or renewal of passports to men who had a track record of purchasing sex.

In addition, the Ministry of Justice is running an education and awareness program for men who have been prosecuted for buying sex. Last year, 17,956 men took part in the program.

One of the problems facing the police is that it is very difficult to prosecute an individual for buying sex services because of the lack of evidence, a point highlighted by an Asia Foundation study in 2006: It has become a new trend in the sex industry to use other body parts [hands] to perform sexual service without having intercourse. Up to now, the Korean courts have made different decisions on whether to regard this as sex trade or not, the study said.

A police officer who declined to be named admitted that the current focus of all crackdowns is geared toward the better known red-light districts as a successful campaign is more visible to the public.

We have limited resources and there is only so much you can do, said the officer: We know that when we close the red-light districts these women will just use another venue. There is no perfect solution.

The numbers seem to reflect the reality. In 2003, the number of men arrested for buying sex services stood at 12,737 but that number is expected to reach 40,000 this year.

Eradicating one of the oldest trades is perhaps a Sisyphean challenge for the government and law enforcement agencies, a task made doubly difficult by the ingrained attitude among many men that commercial sex is not wrong.

Three years ago, in a survey of 448 males by the Korean Institute of Criminology 58.5% said they had experienced buying sex at least once. In recent surveys conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality that number still hovers around the 50% mark.

You can't put a plug on sexual desire. People who look like they never would buy sex suddenly go wild once they get some alcohol in their system, said a salon-owner: This is almost a recession-proof business.

The decision to shut down the designated street prostitution zone in Eindhoven in 2011 is coming up against criticism and incomprehension among prostitutes. These ladies must be helped out of their dead-end situation, says the alderman. Then I'll go back to illegal soliciting, says one prostitute.
By Esther Wittenberg

Prostitution has been legal in the Netherlands since 2000 and six years ago Eindhoven opened a designated street prostitution area. The aim was to put an end to the nuisance caused by street prostitution in the working class area of Woensel West. Used condoms were being thrown into front gardens, cars were cruising around the area at night, and neighbourhood girls were being asked how much they charged. Thirty prostitutes with addiction problems were given a pass that allowed them to work in the special designated zone. The aim was also to provide addicted street prostitutes with better healthcare.

A sitting room facility was provided were prostitutes could shower, wash their clothes and get ready for work. Condoms, clean needles and coffee were provided. People from the Salvation Army spoke with the women, a doctor examined the women, and police kept an eye on the situation. The nuisance was reduced and the women's health improved

Although the street prostitution zone has succeeded at virtually all its aims, according to an evaluation, the municipality wants to shut it down in 2011. In the next three years, aided by assistance workers, all the addicted prostitutes must become independent of the drug dealers and pimps. Alderman Mariët Mittendorff: We do not want to facilitate these women in remaining in their dead-end situation. We would rather offer them a dignified existence.

Opinions on street prostitution zones vary throughout the country. Amsterdam shut its zone down in 2003. Rotterdam and The Hague followed suit in 2006. The argument for closing the zones was that they attracted drug dealers and human trafficking. The street prostitution zones are still open in Utrecht, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Heerlen and Groningen.

A drive to clean up Soho and to diminish its red-light image has been unveiled by Westminster City Council.

Council leader Colin Barrow has pledged to shut down the last remaining unlicensed sex premises following the recent closure of 51 sex shops and the complete eradication of clip joints.

Councillor Barrow said: The idea that the seedy side of Soho is a magnet for tourists and creative trade is a flawed one. It may well be a curiosity, but there is no compelling economic argument for this.

This is not about sanitising the area ...BUT... simply making it fit for a modern capital city where people are more aware than ever of the true costs of prostitution and drugs to society.

A senior police officer claims that there are more fake prostitutes and drug dealers than real ones on the streets of Soho in London's West End. Soho was once known as a notorious area for its sex shops, but now while there are still some prostitutes who work inside some premises, the ones on the streets are almost all fake operators.

Det Chief Supt Andy Rowell says that the area has been cleaned-up by the police, but now the danger comes from con artists targeting gullible foreign tourists and out-of-town visitors.

The fake drug dealers pass off boot polish or liquorice as cannabis, and wax wrapped in foil as crack cocaine and aspirin pills, with the markings rubbed off on the side of a matchbox, as tablets.

Where the fake prostitutes are concerned, around 15 of them work together by taking a deposit for a room then disappearing, or luring a punter into an alleyway where a male accomplice will relieve them of their cash.

Rowell said: Soho is now a safe place to come and enjoy yourself - but please don't come looking for drugs and prostitutes. You will almost certainly get something you didn't expect.

A Norwegian law against paying for sex has made a real dent in street prostitution, and for the few sex workers that remain, times are tough.

Since January 1, men caught buying sex face up to six months in jail and in some cases a fine. The impact of the law has been immediate, with most sex workers disappearing from the streets at once.

The clients are extremely nervous. Most of them don't dare come here, said Nadia, a 22-year-old from Oslo. On a recent nighttime visit to the centre of the Norwegian capital, only three prostitutes walked the snowy streets, in an area where there previously would have been women at every corner.

Before, you would work until you made 4,000-5,000 kroner (600 to 750 dollars, 450 to 560 euros). Now you have to work all night and you earn only about 1,000-1,500 kroner, Nadia told AFP as police patrols cruise by every few minutes.

The men are afraid to drive by, so they walk up to us, tell us 'my car is parked around the corner, meet me there', said Michelle, 25, also from Oslo: Before we would go down to the harbour and be back in 15 minutes. Now they drive us out of town, where there is no one, and we're back one hour later .

At least 23 men have been arrested since the law came into force. Of these, 20 accepted an on-the-spot fine of between 8,000 kroner (1,195 dollars, 898 euros) and 9,000 kroner. Three have refused to pay and will go to court.

The law also affects Norwegians who buy sex abroad, but as yet no one has been arrested for the crime.

There is as yet no official figure showing whether the law has had a real impact on demand or whether street prostitutes have shifted to the indoor scene.

If you pay for sex with a prostitute working for a pimp, you should be prosecuted.

This is the policy shift — being considered in the United Kingdom and Wales — that Singapore MP Christopher de Souza believes Singapore needs as the vice numbers continue to rise and the serious limitations of police enforcement become apparent.

The number of foreign prostitutes arrested in 2006 and 2007 rose by 34% and 25% respectively.

In 2007, an average of about 100 vice-related arrests per week were made, with 91% arrested here on Social Visit visas. Those numbers, though, should be put in the context of the 190,000 tourists entering Singapore weekly, replied Senior Minister of State (Home Affairs) Ho Peng Kee, who added: It's possible to tighten up further on checks and screening on female tourists, but this will cause delays and inconvenience and hamper our efforts to promote tourism.

Exciting news from our friends in Sweden, from the mailing list for the group Revise F65 which has been dedicated to educating and motivating the medical community to stop treating kinky sex as if it was a disease. They've succeeded! Kinky sex will no longer be viewed or treated as pathological in Sweden, and European activists are getting closer to convincing doctors in Norway to do the same.

Fetishism and Sadomasochism, along with four other sexual behaviours, has been struck from Sweden's official list of medical diagnoses since January 1st, 2009.

On the 17th of November 2008, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) announced that six diagnoses of sexual behaviours will be deleted from Sweden's official version of medical ICD diagnoses. The six diagnoses include

• sadomasochism
• fetishism
• transvestism
• fetishistic transvestitism
• gender identity disorder in youth
• multiple disorders of sexual preferences.

It all started 23rd of November 2006 when Mika Nielsen wrote an article in the biggest Gay and Lesbian swedish online newspaper QX . She encouraged the Swedish sexual political movement to follow the example of the Norwegian "Revise F65" pioneer group and start the work to remove transvestism and BDSM-diagnoses from the ICD-10.

Svein Skeid, leader of Revise F65 said: We really hope that we can celebrate a victory regarding these diagnoses during Christopher Street Days in Oslo in the end of June 2009!

New laws to penalise kerb crawling and prostitution were introduced in Northern Ireland on 2nd February 2009.

More laws in the name of youth protection and exploitation also come into effective.

The Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order, which passed through parliament last year, brings legislation in the region into line with the rest of the UK.

The courts will now be able to impose harsher penalties for a range of sexual offences and new offences of kerb crawling and soliciting for prostitution have been placed on the statue book.

Criminal Injustice Minister Paul Goggins claimed the new framework was victim centred: The new legislation clearly sets out the parameters of acceptable sexual activity in a modern society and clearly states what the law will not tolerate. The law puts victims first. They are designed to protect everyone - adults, as well as children and vulnerable people - from abuse and exploitation.

The new offences include :

• Sexual activity involving a child under 13 can mean a maximum life sentence
• Sexual activity with anyone under 16 means a maximum sentence of 14 years
• Rape and other serious sexual assault means a maximum of life
• Offences of familial sexual abuse, or where an adult is in a position of trust, will apply to young people up to 18
• Offences involving abuse of young people in prostitution or pornography will likewise apply to those up to 18
• Offences relating to making, taking and possessing indecent images of children will be extended to apply to children up to 18 instead of 16 as at present.

Goggins said: The Order also sets the age of consent at 16 - in line with the rest of the UK. This defines the age in law at which a criminal offence takes place even when consent is given.

Here's some eye-popping news. Sex and Zen , the classic Category III sexploitation film, is being remade in 3-D to lure patrons back into Hong Kong theaters.

Producer Stephen Shiu Jr has said that he will use special effects to make the love scenes as realistic as possible! (suggesting that it will be distinctly non real softcore).

Shiu says that 25 to 30% of the remake will be made up of love scenes, including many close-ups. The source article goes on to cite the producer as saying that actresses would appear only a few centimeters from viewers, who would need 3-D glasses to enjoy the full effect.

Shiu is looking outside of Hong Kong to find actresses to fill the lead roles, specifically porn stars from Japan and Taiwan.

Shooting is expected to begin in April with a release set for Christmas.

A San Francisco supervisor is pushing for a crackdown on permitted businesses that operate as brothels.

Supervisor Carmen Chu has asked the city attorney's office to review massage parlor licensing laws in hopes of making it easier to close operations known for prostitution. A Chronicle investigation earlier this month revealed that Health Department inspectors suspect at least 50 of the city's 150 licensed massage parlors are places where sex is traded for money.

At some, rooms have tubs and wall-to-wall mirrors, and the workers dress in lingerie. During one bust two years ago, Mayor Gavin Newsom walked in on a man and a woman engaged in a sex act in the business lobby. Despite Newsom's call for action back then, even that business still operates with a city permit.

That's not uncommon. Over the past few years, federal authorities and local police have made arrests and given citations at places suspected of selling sex, but the businesses are almost never shut down by local health officials.

Health Department officials have said licenses often are not revoked due to a combination of factors. Agency Director Mitch Katz has said the police are responsible for stopping prostitution. Yet the crime is generally considered a low priority and carries minimal penalties.

Officials also say they lack the resources to aggressively monitor the massage business and to fight the legal battles needed to close brothels. It can be prohibitively expensive to go to court to defend a decision to revoke a license, officials say.

Another hurdle is the vast discretion given to Health Department hearing officers who decide whether a license should be withdrawn. Under current laws, the hearing officer may revoke an owner's permit for a single health code violation - such as employing a masseuse who wears lingerie. But the hearing officer, who also is a Health Department employee, has broad discretion under flexible guidelines, and revocations have been rare.

The Philippines Supreme Court (SC) has declared as unconstitutional Manila City Ordinance No. 7774 which prohibits hotels, motels, inns, lodges and pension houses from offering short-time deals to the public.

This is the second time that the SC has struck down a Manila city ordinance involving the tourist district in Ermita that has challenged the right of the government to impose its morality on its constituents restricting personal liberty which is guarded by the Constitution.

In an en banc decision penned by Associate Justice Dante O. Tinga, the High Court said the apparent goal of the ordinance is to minimize if not eliminate the use of these establishments for illicit sex, prostitution, drug use and alike. These goals, by themselves, are unimpeachable and certainly fall within the ambit of the police power of the State. Yet the desirability of these ends does not sanctify any and all means for their achievement.

However well-intentioned the ordinance may be, it is in effect an arbitrary and whimsical intrusion into the rights of the establishments as well as their patrons, the SC added.

The Malate Tourist and Development Corporation (MTDC), which operates Victoria Court, challenged the legality of the ordinance before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) which ruled in MTDC's favor and nullified the ordinance.

Appealing the lower court's ruling before the Court of Appeals (CA), the City Council justified the ordinance as a valid exercise of police power. The CA reversed the ruling of the RTC. But on review by the SC, it reversed the ruling of the CA and reinstated the decision of the lower court nullifying the measure for being unconstitutional.

Under the guise of protecting the public interest, personal rights and those pertaining to private property will not be permitted to be arbitrarily invaded, the High Court ruled.

In passing the ordinance the City said the establishments have gained notoriety as venue for prostitution, adultery and fornications since they provide the necessary atmosphere for clandestine meetings and become ideal haven for prostitutes and thrill-seekers.

But the Court said whether this perception is accurate, it cannot be denied that legitimate sexual behavior among consenting married and consenting single adults which is constitutionally protected will be curtailed as well.

The Court explained that there are other legitimate activities that the ordinance seeks to impair like family gatherings, transit passengers who wish to wash-up and rest between trips and groups in need of comfortable private spaces for a few hours.

...And if you don't ban slavery... We'll punish you bad

The original William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act created the Trafficking in Persons Office, an organization to monitor trafficking worldwide and to rate countries in a three-tier system based on trafficking levels and government efforts to combat the trade.

The most recent revision updates the criteria by which nations are evaluated, requiring that they show serious and sustained efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex. This new stipulation is intended to address nations in which prostitution is legal.

The bill provides for sanctions against countries that receive poor ratings. Countries scoring in the lowest tier risk losing aid in certain areas, and their officials can be denied admittance to the country.

Discounts are not only for products these days but women are also being offered at reduced prices.

With discounts being offered by prostitution businesses in Kuala Lumpur, the crazy promotion for massage and services has inadvertently sparked a price war.

The tabloid claimed to receive crazy promotion pamphlets from businesses operating from spas offering up to 40% discounts.

The prices are between RM158-188 (ฃ30-36, 1500-1800 Baht) for a 45-minute session compared to RM200-250 (ฃ38-ฃ48, 1900-2400 Baht) previously. Many of the girls are from China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Alex, a spa worker, said the discounts were necessary because the number of clients had dropped due to the current economic slowdown. He claimed that there used to be a few spas offering such services, but now even hotels are promoting these women.

In November 2008 the Home Office published its report Tackling the Demand for Prostitution , this was closely followed by the Policing and Crime Bill in December 08 which contained proposals in prostitution.

UKNSWP invited all members to send their comments on both these documents to feed into a UKNSWP response. We have produced a response and thank all members who contributed

From the UKNSWP response [pdf] :

Offence For Paying For Sex With Someone Controlled For Another Persons Gain

In the demand review the Home Office recommended that:

The Government should consider introducing a specific strict liability offence of paying for sex with someone who is controlled for another person’s gain, in order to protect vulnerable individuals, for example those who have been trafficked or exploited by any other means

The Policing and Crime Bill part 2 Sexual Offences and Sex Establishments includes the following offence:

Prostitution Clause 13: Paying for sexual services of controlled prostitute:

England and Wales

69. This clause inserts a new section 53A into the Sexual Offences Act 2003, creating a strict liability offence of paying or promising payment for the sexual services of a prostitute who is controlled for gain by a third person.

70. Subsection (2) of the new offence provides that it does not matter where in the world the sexual services are to be provided. It also explains that an offence is committed regardless of whether the person paying or promising payment for sexual services knows or ought to know or be aware that the prostitute is controlled for gain or not. In other words the offence is one of strict liability and that no mental element is required in respect of the offender’s knowledge that the prostitute was controlled for gain.

71. Subsection (3) of the new offence states that a prostitute is controlled for gain if a person intentionally controls the prostitute’s activities relating to the provision of sexual services for or in the expectation of gain, for himself or a third party. This is essentially the same definition as is used in the offence of controlling a prostitute for gain in section 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

72. Sub-clause (4) provides that the maximum penalty for this offence will be a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale, currently ฃ1000.

Creating specific policy to address the direct exploitation of people in the sex industry and the trafficking of people for sexual exploitation can only be commended as a measure to ensure human rights abuses are addressed, deterred and those perpetrators of such crimes are brought to justice. However, this generic proposal to make it a crime to pay for sex from anyone who is ‘controlled for another person’s gain’ is fundamentally flawed and misdirected in respect of both sex workers and those who buy sex.

‘Controlled for another person’s gain’

Our key concern with framing of the proposed offence is this wide reaching term would include virtually everyone involved in selling sex, from those vulnerable people the law intends to protect, as well as those who are voluntarily working with others (including family members) involved in the organisation of their sex work. For instance, those who work collectively in massage parlours and brothels, or two women who work together sharing the rent costs would also be included. Escort agencies and websites that charge a fee for organising bookings, and hotels that rent out rooms where individuals can meet clients, all come under the ‘controlled for gain’. An escort whose partner drives her to meetings with clients, and shares some of her earnings, or lives in a house where she is paying the mortgage, would also be included.

Hence this law effectively has the potential to criminalise a large proportion of men who buy sex, as there are few circumstances where sex workers work alone with no other party benefiting from their earnings in some way. N.B. This is not the same thing as saying that that sex workers are always exploited, coerced, or are forced to sell sex, UKNSWP recognises both voluntary and forced prostitution. Also we acknowledge that there are some circumstances in which sex workers work entirely independently and no other party benefits from their earnings.

Applying the law

The ‘controlled for gain’ legislation already exists and itself is rarely used. Hence how would this new offence be policed and proved? How will it be proved that the person is “controlled for gain”? Will the police have to have brought “control for gain” charges against an individual and then prosecute people who paid for services with people who they “controlled”? Will those individuals who were “controlled” have to give evidence in court?

Strict liability offence

It is preposterous to impose strict liability on a person buying sex from someone who is trafficked when they have very little means of finding out if the person is in the sex industry by force. This logic is the same as saying that when shoppers buy vegetables from a supermarket which have been harvested by people who have been trafficked to the UK to work in agriculture, that those shoppers are culpable for exploitation. How is a person supposed to assess whether a person is held against her will? The organised crime that we are told by the Home Office is running the sex industry will surely not allow these signs of force and ‘slavery’ to be visible to the fee-paying customer? Will the government be supporting/developing ways of sex workers communicating/demonstrating that they are not “trafficked” etc? Will the government encourage men who pay for sex to be responsible clients and provide guidance about how to do this?

UKNSWP advises that new law should focus on violent and exploitative individuals and in the case of trafficking those people who know a person is trafficked or forced into prostitution. This proposed law does not do this. Disincentive for male clients to provide intelligence to the police: In a number of trafficking related cases recently, the police have made pleas to male clients to come forward with information. Some of this information has helped with convictions

This kind of co-operation would be much more difficult to encourage if the proposed law was in place which criminalised purchasers of sexual services, especially as a strict liability offence. Men with concerns would be more fearful of coming forward (even anonymously) due to anxieties about being prosecuted under this proposed offence. Some countries have had considerable success positively encouraging men who pay for sexual services to report concerns about trafficking, this may be a constructive approach the government could consider.

Entrapment and blackmail

A number of member projects, particularly those who work with male sex workers or who work with Lesbian Gay Bisexual or Transgender projects in their responses raised the fear that the proposition to criminalise the purchasing of sex from people “controlled for gain” (with the wide ranging meaning of control for gain) in the context of the male sex industry puts in place a regulatory system that is not dissimilar to that which existed prior to the legalisation of homosexuality (pre Wolfenden) and when consensual adult sexual relations were seen to require intervention from the state to remain within the realms of ‘morality’. This had devastating effects on individuals and on the gay community. This offence could provide opportunities for gay men and men who have sex with men to be “set up” and black mailed. What is at stake here is not that the criminalisation of privately enacted sexual transactions between consenting adults would add criminal prosecution to the humiliation and disgrace that often accompanies being ‘found out’ as being a male client of a male sex worker. Rather, the very precepts of the Wolfenden Report and the liberalisation of laws regarding homosexuality and prostitution i.e. that the law had no place regulating questions of sexual morality for consenting adults would be seriously undermined.

If those convicted of paying/attempting to pay for sex with a person who is controlled for gain are classed as sex offenders, the Sex Offenders Register would become wholly unmanageable, thus making it far less effective in monitoring those who are truly dangerous. What will be the other practical, financial and social implications of this.

Some projects who have experience of working with migrant sex workers (many who are not trafficked and some who are) raised concerns about how this will impact on those migrants facing forms of exploitation. Migrant sex workers sometimes report that some clients do ask them if they have been trafficked. One project reports that the majority of migrant women they work with report that they have not been trafficked. Yet it is feared that the proposed legal changes will cause women who are being coerced and exploited who will adopt further strategies for hiding their circumstances, making it even harder to access and build relationships with vulnerable women to give them the help that they need.

In summary, this current proposal does nothing to address the complex issue of trafficking or victim needs, nor does it make any stronger laws other than what exist under the SO Act 2003, which would apprehend traffickers and those who coerce people into the sex industry. The approach of criminalising, what would be in effect a large proportion of men who pay for sexual services would detract from prioritising the real issues of addressing perpetrators of violence and other crimes against sex workers.

We advise that that this proposed offence be dropped. Yet if the government are determined to persist with an offence targeting people paying for sex with trafficked or coerced people they should produce legislation which does not use the “control for another person’s gain” language but actually specify that the crime is knowingly paying for sex with someone who was been trafficked or forced by another individual. Any such offence should not be a strict liability offence. Those accused of this offences should have the opportunity to show that they did not know if someone was “trafficked” or “forced”.

Berlin’s Tempelhof-Sch๖neberg district mayor wants less sex in the city and is supporting a ban on prostitution in front of public buildings like schools and religious facilities, daily Berliner Zeitung reported.

The situation has become worse over the last two years. There are even prostitutes in front of the Elisabeth hospital, mayor of Tempelhof-Sch๖neberg Ekkehard Band told the paper, referring to Berlin’s famous shopping mile Kurfrstendamm. The sex trade is booming on and around the Ku’damm, branching out into nearby roads and alleys.

Band wants the working girls to turn off their red lights – at least in front of schools, playgrounds, churches and hospitals. After all, it is about the protection of minors. At any rate in the immediate areas around youth and social facilities.

Meanwhile investors want to build a new brothel on top of a big sex department store on one of the area’s main street corners. District officials rejected the application, but investors await a ruling on the matter after taking the senate for urban development to court.

A complete ban on street-walking is not an option, though. Band said this would push the sex workers underground, making them more vulnerable to crime.

But residents who fear negative effects of prostitution in their neighbourhood have organized citizens’ action groups to patrol the streets at night with flashlights to keep hookers from doing business in parked cars along city streets.

Lap dancers are the credit crunch’s latest victims as recession-hit men tighten their belts.

The owner of one of Cardiff’s largest lap-dancing bars claims the 30 girls who vie to peel off their underwear on weekends were finding it harder to persuade punters to part with their cash.

Ian Willison, who owns Fantasy Lounge, said: We have our regulars but the credit crunch is affecting more professional people like bankers and solicitors, the traditional white-collar workers and high-flyers.

People are still going out but they are being a bit tighter with their money, that’s what everyone in the industry has found.

The volume of customers through the doors is the same, but people aren’t spending as much. The girls definitely have to work harder to get someone to pay for a dance, because everyone is jostling for custom.

I’ve been talking to owners of other lap-dancing clubs and we are all very concerned about 2009.

I think it will hit us this year if the recession is as bad as experts predict. But we have already taken steps to encompass that. Measures include half-price dances before midnight on week nights. He added: Lap dancing has always been seen as a luxury where people go every couple of months, but clubs need to be more affordable.

Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge sailed off with the lion's share of the booty at the 2009 AVN Adult Movie Awards.

Digital Playground's heavily hyped super-big budget epic scored 15 prizes, including Best Video Feature. That's half the 30 it was nominated for, and four more than the original Pirates in 2006.

Digital Playground took home seven more awards, including four for Cheerleaders and the Best New Starlet prize for contract star Stoya.

Jenna Haze won the highly coveted prize of Female Performer of the Year, making her only the second woman to win both that and Best New Starlet.

The jubilant Jenna drew cheers from the crowd by echoing Jenna Jameson’s infamous remark from last year: I will spread by legs forever in this fucking business for you—this is just the beginning of my sluttiness.

The evening’s oddest moment came when James Deen was announced as Male Performer of the Year. Though he had been quite visible all evening, the notoriously stage-shy actor was suddenly nowhere to be found. He did eventually show up to accept his award offstage, and later admitted to suffering a panic attack that prevented him from taking the stage. I can have sex in front of a room full of people, but I can't get up on stage and say thank you, Deen told AVN.

In the final year of the anachronistic film categories, the six nominations were split evenly between directors Paul Thomas and Andrew Blake. Vivid won the Best Film trophy for Thomas' Cry Wolf , and Blake's Studio A was awarded Best Cinematography for Paid Companions.

The award for Best Actress went to jessica drake for Fallen , which she called the best movie I have ever been in.


The awards show began rambunctiously with a number by hip-hop star Flo Rida. It featured an appearance by Larry Flynt and an unusual politically-themed presentation: a video montage of Bush Administration abuses accompanied by an a cappella rendition of the National Anthem by an uncredited young African-American woman. It brought the audience to its feet.

Police raids on organised dens of prostitution have spawned a new trend away from brothel-based sex work to more relationship-based prostitution, which is having a damaging effect on the rate of HIV/Aids infection in the Kingdom, officials say.

Amid sporadic but often violent crackdowns on brothels throughout the country, men have been turning instead to karaoke bars and beer gardens, where they meet with regular partners, they said.

The number of men who go to brothels has significantly decreased. Now, about 50% of men who would normally go to a brothel house go to beer gardens or karaoke bars instead, Teng Kunthy, secretary general of the National Authority on HIV/Aids said: Before, when they go to a brothel, they know what they are doing clearly, so they use condoms to protect them from HIV/Aids.

But when they go to karaoke bars and become close with a girl as a partner, or have a relationship as a sweetheart, 50% of them don't use condoms, so it is much more dangerous.

Dan Borapich, director of communication and marketing at the reproductive health NGO PSI, said the trend was a direct response to recent brothel closures: When the authorities closed brothel houses, all sex workers moved to work in karaoke bars, beer gardens and massage shops . Now, less than 50 percent of [casual] sexual partners have sex using a condom because they want to believe in their partner, she added.

She said that by developing a relationship with a particular girl, or "sweetheart", many men felt it was no longer necessary to use condoms: Before, when men went to brothel houses they used condoms because they were afraid that some girls are infected with HIV/Aids because they didn't know them . When they have a beloved sweetheart, they don't use condoms because they know them, and they are afraid their partner will lose confidence in them and accuse them of having another girl .

Plans are afoot to persecute men for buying sex in the name of addressing the issue of sex trafficking.

But how big is the current problem? It's hard to know, although that hasn't stopped some people from thinking they do, writes Ruth Alexander, of Radio 4's More or Less.

Fiona Mactaggart, a Labour MP and former Home Office minister, is a supporter of the government's plans to change the laws on prostitution. In November, she told BBC Radio 4's Today in Parliament that something like 80% of women in prostitution are controlled by their drug dealer, their pimp, or their trafficker.

In fact, it is impossible to find that number in any research done on this subject.

The anti-prostitution campaigners of the Poppy Project found 81% of prostitutes working in London in 2004 were foreign nationals. But foreign doesn't mean forced.

Yet the two are often confused, says Julia O'Connell Davidson, professor of sociology at Nottingham University and an expert on trafficking and the global sex trade. Some academic and press reports imply that foreign sex workers are all being made to work against their own free will, she says.

She and her team did some research, ringing up massage parlours and escort agencies in London, asking exactly what sort of services they offered and what nationality the workers were. It is significant, she notes, that in two-thirds of cases researchers were told the prostitutes would not offer anal sex: That suggests to me that more sex workers in indoor prostitution in London exercise more control over the details of their working practices than a lot of the commentators believe, says O'Connell.

And she points to high-profile police operations, where the results, in her opinion, do not match the hype.

In 2006, Operation Pentameter carried out 515 raids on indoor prostitution establishments in the UK and Ireland over four months. It resulted in the 'rescue' of 84 women and girls believed to have been trafficked. This was followed by Operation Pentameter 2 in 2007. Again, the results didn't match the hype. In total 822 premises were visited and 167 victims identified. [and many of the 167 will surely prove to have not been trafficked as the cases come to court]

So that is more than 1,300 premises raided in total - specifically targeted by police as likely to be abusive - and around 250 women rescued. That suggests the proportion of women in forced trafficking situations, while disturbing, is much lower than 80%.

We do not even know for sure how many prostitutes there are working in the UK. The consensus is about 80,000. That figure - recently used by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in an interview about the proposed new law - comes from research done 10 years ago by Hilary Kinnell, when she was working for an organisation providing health services to sex workers.

Ms Kinnell contacted 29 projects that provided services for sex workers to ask how many prostitutes they were working with. She had 17 responses. The average number of prostitutes per project was 665. She then multiplied that figure by 120, the total number of projects on her mailing list, to get an estimation of the total number of prostitutes.

That brought the total up to very close on 80,000, which is still being quoted, Ms Kinnell says. And I find that quite bizarre really. The figure was picked up by all kinds of people and quoted with great confidence but I was never myself at all confident about it. I felt it could be higher, but it also could have been lower.

Kinnell is the first to point out the possible problems with her method: the centres responding might be larger than most; some sex workers might use more than one centre, and some might not be on the radar at all.

So is Fiona Mactaggart sticking by her 80% figure?

Inevitably it's very difficult to get exact numbers here, she says. But it's a combination of studies, many conducted by universities and so on which are quoted in the Paying the Price Home Office document [a 2004 consultation paper on prostitution].

Information from the UN suggests there is a very large extent of trafficking, she says, and that most of it is women or children, and that the experience of most women in prostitution is akin to that of being trafficked.

MacTaggart also admitted to subscribing to the US/US nonsense that the economic hardship suffered by prostitutes is akin to being trafficked and is hence counted as trafficking. This basically means that the UN/US believe that all prostitution can be counted as trafficking and hence the ludicrously high figures like 80% get bandied around.

Denis MacShane was also brought to account for his nonsense about their being 25,000 trafficked prostitutes in Britain. It appears that he read the figure in the Daily Mirror and trusted it because he once worked for the paper.

The Home Office have told us that they do not endorse or use the figure that 80% of prostitutes are controlled by others.

A sex shop in Cairns in Far North Queensland has been broken into three times in recent weeks, however the perpetrator was not looking for money or goods to be sold on the black market but rather sex..... with blow up rubber dolls.

Apparently the burglar has a particular like for a doll called Jungle Jane that has gone missing in two of the break-ins involving Laneways Adult Shop .

Evidence suggests that the thief would blow up the dolls after he left the building and then use them in the alleyway behind the Sex Shop. It has been noted that DNA evidence of the crime had been left behind in at least two occasions.

A clinical psychologist who deals with sex offenders commented that it appears that in this instance the dolls were not a substitute for the real thing but an actual preference, this is not as rare as one might think and the perpetrator might be acting out fantasies involving capturing and then seducing his ‘victim’. He may even see himself as liberating the blow up dolls from captivity.

Update: Sex Dolls Can Rest Easier

21st January 2009. See article from news.com.au

Police have charged a man with breaking into adult shops and having sex with blow-up dolls in a series of crimes that made headlines round the world.

Update: Normal Sex Life

14th March 2009. See article from chattahbox.com

Adam Rosberg, the 24-year-old responsible for the Jungle Jane robberies, has said that he is actually a normal guy with a normal sex life.

He has been ordered to pay $520 in restitution to the sex shop, where he stole three blow up dolls, a number of magazines, and lube, as well as $100 to fix the wall that he crashed through to get to them.

But his actions have had a higher price tag then $630. Rosberg says he is harassed in the street, can’t find a room to rent, and has been unable to find a job since he was caught. It looks as though blow up dolls aren’t as good at keeping secrets as he had hoped.

Porn kings Larry Flynt and Joe Francis are calling on the US government to revive the sex lives of Americans by providing a $5 billion bailout of the country's adult entertainment industry.

Hustler magazine publisher Flynt and Girls Gone Wild founder Francis have sent a joint request to the Government asking for the bailout to help them ride out the economic crisis.

The pair said while the porn industry was still viable, the economic crunch had taken its toll.

Francis said as the government was prepared to bail out other faltering industries such as car-manufacturers, they should be willing to help the porn industry.

Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration, the statement is reported to have said.

Flynt said the downturn was having an unhealthy affect on the sexual appetites of Americans: People are too depressed to be sexually active . This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.

After banning prostitutes from its streets, Verona is planning Italy's first crack-down on sex workers who operate in private apartments, Mayor Flavio Tosi said.

The right-wing Northern League mayor said residents will be asked to report people causing disturbances in their apartment blocks, who will then be slapped with a heavy fine.

Under current Italian law only the exploitation of prostitution - pimping - is illegal in Italy, but city mayors combat the phenomenon through the use of fines, often via traffic or public decency laws.

Verona and Padua were the first Italian cities to introduce an experimental scheme in 2007 cracking down on clients and introducing fines of 50 euros, which resulted in prostitutes demonstrating against the measure in the streets and offering anyone slapped with a fine a free service . Last summer the two cities also led the way in introducing fines of 500 euros for clients caught with streetwalkers, using repressive powers given to city mayors as part of the centre-right government's emergency security decree.

Rita Sanlorenzo, secretary of a magistrates' organisation, meanwhile expressed concerns about Tosi's plans to fine prostitutes working in private houses: Tosi wants to put a stop to an activity that is not banned by law. Mayors have a general power to supervise public welfare, but if Tosi's ordinance is aimed (specifically) at prostitutes, it strikes me as illegal and unequal treatment .

Several sex worker advocacy groups have staged a protest in front of the Taiwan Ministry of the Interior, demanding that the government decriminalize prostitution and enact a new law to protect the right to sex among consenting adults.

Wearing face masks and red headbands with slogans that read Legalize the sex industry, protesters from the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS), the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association of Taiwan and Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association called on the government to heed the needs of the minorities by abolishing Article 80 of the Social Order Maintenance Act, which stipulates that any one intending to profit through performance of a sexual act is subject to a three-day detention or fine of up to NT$30,000.

COSWAS secretary Chian Chia-ying said the government should follow the trend of many developed countries by legalizing prostitution and not penalizing sex workers and their patrons. Instead of continuing to ignore their plight, the government should protect their right to work in a clean and safe environment, the protesters said.

The ministry held a public hearing on the issue of problems faced by sex workers. No resolution was reached, but a ministry official promised that the issue would be further discussed after the legislative recess.

COSWAS said the 1997 ban on brothels had devastated the lives of many sex workers, who had no other way to make a living. Forced to continue working illegally, the workers lost all legal options for recourse if they were hurt or cheated by customers, it said. Before the clampdown, prostitutes could charge customers between NT$800 and NT$1,000 for 15 minutes and could demand their customers wear condoms or else refuse to have sex with them. After the crackdown, working conditions have deteriorated drastically, COSWAS said, with most prostitution rings controlled by organized crime.

Two years after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom called for a crackdown on brothels that front as massage parlors, city health officials say they know of more than 50 city-licensed establishments where they suspect sex is traded for money.

Yet health officials have no plans to revoke the city permits and shut them down, despite several cases where undercover officers have cited workers for soliciting sex. One parlor continues to operate even though, during a raid, the mayor personally walked in on a man engaged in a sex act with a young woman on the lobby couch.

The sex shops exist in plain sight from the Sunset District to downtown, serving clients who walk into so-called spas, often with bathtubs, wall-to-wall mirrors and scantily clad women. In some places, the women are willing participants.

Some health department staff members say they're frustrated. There is only one inspector to oversee the city's 150 sites with massage permits, and officials say they lack the legal and financial resources to aggressively pursue cases where they suspect prostitution.

And despite the mayor's professed interest in going after the erotic massage parlors, the official line at the health department is that that the agency's job is to look for health code violations - not stop prostitution.

Aaargh Fucking Fem-Nazis!!!

The Norwegian Minister Of Justice, Knut Storberget, has stated that all Norwegian sex clients should now be wary and has made it clear that the ban on buying sex also applies to Norwegians purchasing sexual favours outside of the country. It will be difficult to prosecute, he said, but not impossible.

Pattaya Daily News decided to gauge the reaction to the new law among Norwegian visitors in Pattaya. They chose Kๅre’s Party Bar on Pattaya’s second road, a beer bar popular among Norwegian tourists who make up 90% of the bar’s clientele.

The co-owner of the bar said the law had long been a popular theme of discussion but no-one took it seriously. He suggested Norwegian authorities should put their own house in order before persecuting its citizens abroad. He also wondered how the authorities planned to enforce the law in Thailand. Would Norway be sending undercover agents to gather evidence? Would the Thai Police cooperate?

The law also specifically defines the sexual activities it covers. These include payment for sexual intercourse, physical contact between exposed genitalia, one or two-way masturbation or touching someone’s private parts or breasts. Payment is defined as the exchange of money, or payment in kind, including the giving of flowers and gifts.

Pattaya Daily News suggested selling t-shirts in Pattaya with the slogan: Have you broken the law today?