2010 has been a pretty horrifying year for domestic violence in the news. Arguably the biggest crime story this year involved the man hunt for a perpetrator of domestic violence, who has since been lionized by some and condemned by many. Yet little of the news coverage seemed to address the big elephant in the room of Raoul Moat’s history of domestic violence, whilst the polices’ initial lack of response to Susan Stobbart’s pleas for help and protection resulted in 1 murder, 2 more shootings and 1 suicide.
And the biggest sports story of the year has been the World Cup, a tournament during which rates of domestic violence shot up by 31%. On 27th June, when England was knocked out, the highest incidences of domestic violence in the year so far were recorded. Although news outlets did report this increase, it didn’t receive that much prominence. It seemed to me that rather than have half time beer ads, it would have been far more sensible and far more pertinent to have ads promoting an anti domestic violence message.
Anyway. All this has brought back into my mind a plan I conceived of a while back to get the mainstream media to dedicate one month to reporting domestic violence.
Once a week, for one month I would like to see the following report.
“This week it is estimated 2 women were murdered by their current or ex partners. It is believed that 1 in 4 women will be victims of domestic violence in their lifetimes.”
The final week would finish with:
“Over 100 women this year will die as a result of domestic violence. Violence against women kills and injures more women aged 16-45 than cancer or road traffic accidents.”
More or less detail can be added as the news agency prefers. Perhaps the final week could even feature a special report!
This isn’t a big ask. Most news programmes have a ‘summary of the rest of today’s news’ where this can be slotted in. Most papers have a column with 4 or 5 news stories briefly reported. With news agencies reporting Penelope Cruz’s marriage and Lindasy Lohan’s arrest, there is surely space available to reiterate this devastating statistic. News agencies could give the story as much or as little prominence as they like. But for one month, news consumers would hear that women are dying as a result of domestic violence.
I wanted to set up a campaign like this because once on a news website’s comments, someone complained that ‘violence against women was in the news all the time’. If this was the case, then these 2 deaths a week would be reported without fail. Clearly, they are not.
BUT I NEED YOUR HELP!
I want to contact:
Channel 4 News
Woman’s Hour
BBC News
ITN
Sky News
Radio 1 Newsbeat
Guardian
Sunday Times
The Sun
The Independent
The Telegraph
The Mirror
The Daily Mail
I think I have contact details for Woman’s Hour and I have a contact at the Guardian. Can anyone help me out with advice on how to contact the other news agencies? And is there anything you would like to see in this campaign that I’ve missed out?
I will also be contacting CAADA and WomensAid for advice and support. If you work for a women’s organisation please get in touch with me if you would like to endorse or sign up to this campaign.
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Monday, 26 July 2010
article on liberal conspiracy
Hi there
I;ve had an article put up on Liberal Conspiracy here:
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/07/25/contrary-to-the-media-the-sex-industry-doesnt-empower-women/
You can also read it below:
We live in a society that has very successfully sold the sex industry to us as an empowering ‘lifestyle’ choice where women exploit men’s ‘need’ for sex in order to extract money from them.
We are told that it’s a free choice and feminists who criticise that choice are prudes, anti sex and anti women.
This cultural narrative is a chimera that disguises the real story of the sex industry, a story that involves PTSD, sexual assault, drug abuse and sex trafficking.
A recent article on Libcon accused Bristol Feminist Network and Object of being motivated by nimby-ism in members’ objections to the sex industry.
It suggested that feminists who oppose the sex industry do so out of ‘distaste’ and deny women who work in prostitution a voice. I would like to show why these accusations are false.
The rhetoric of free choice is also a chimera that hides how, in a world with decreased social mobility, where the pay gap still stands, and where women’s worth is still too often calculated on their physical appearance, women’s choices can become very limited. The sex industry is very much a class issue.
A recent application in Durham to open a lap-dancing club is a good example. During the planning process, the applicant was asked how they would deal with ‘inappropriate touching’ in the club.
The applicant replied that the offender would be ejected. However, this response completely ignored the fact that ‘inappropriate touching’ is, in fact, a criminal incident. It is either selling sexual contact or its sexual harassment. The appropriate response would be to report the customer’s crime. The magistrates turned the application down.
We all know that ‘inappropriate touching’ occurs in lap dancing clubs. In fact, one report in Vancouver found 100% of dancers surveyed had been inappropriately touched by customers. The report ‘Challenging men’s demand for prostitution in Scotland’ found that prostitution was routinely offered in lap dancing clubs – a claim supported by Channel 4′s Dispatches programme interview with Philip Kolvin.
Prostitution
It is a fact worth repeating that most women in prostitution do not enjoy the lifestyle depicted by Belle de Jour, and most don’t get their stories published in glossy magazines selling the ideal that prostitution brings with it Prada handbags and Jimmy Choos (Marie Claire, March 2010).
Behind the façade lies the knowledge that women in the sex industry are 60-100 times more likely to be murdered than women who aren’t in the sex industry (Salfati, James, Ferguson), and that trans women who work in prostitution are at an even higher risk. We know that 2/3 of women who work in prostitution routinely suffer client violence (Church, Henderson, Barnard and Settings).
We know that 1.2 million people are trafficked as sex slaves and that 500,000 – 600,000 people every year are trafficked into the sex industry over national borders (International Organisation of Migration). We know that 68% of women who work in prostitution suffer from PTSD (M Farley) and that between 50-75% enter prostitution before they are 18 years old (Paying the Price).
So when feminists campaign against the sex industry it is because they want to end the very real and horrific dangers that these women and men face every day – violence, coercion, rape, trauma. It has nothing to do with nimby-ism or distaste. It has everything to do with ending the idea that it is ok to put someone’s safety, and mental and physical health at risk so that someone can pay to masturbate in or over her/him.
Offering a voice
The accusation that feminists deny women who work in prostitution a voice is an accusation that is borne out of ignorance and an unwillingness to engage in the evidence. For example, in The Equality Illusion and Living Dolls, two books on feminism published this year, women who work in the sex industry speak out.
There are many blogs where women who have exited prostitution talk about the horrors they faced. On Object’s website you’ll find voices crying out to be heard and taken seriously, voices ignored by our dominant cultural narrative that tells us prostitution is empowering.
In Bristol, women from charity One25 go out on the streets and talk to women who work in prostitution who have been sexually assaulted, listen to them, and let them speak about what has happened to them. And there are many more examples.
I believe that it is, in fact, those who promote the sex industry who more often deny women their voices. Because they are so invested in supporting and propping up an industry that too often makes its money from violence and exploitation, they refuse to give space to the voices that contradict their narrative.
Whilst I recognise that some people enter prostitution and find it empowering, many more do not. In refusing to hear the stories of the men and women who are damaged by the sex industry, and only giving space to the voices that support their agenda, the pro sex industry lobby are doing a grave disservice to the men and women who feel trapped and silenced, as their bodies are sold to be used for the sexual pleasure of others.
This closing quote is taken from an interview with a lap dancer in The Equality Illusion.
I;ve had an article put up on Liberal Conspiracy here:
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/07/25/contrary-to-the-media-the-sex-industry-doesnt-empower-women/
You can also read it below:
We live in a society that has very successfully sold the sex industry to us as an empowering ‘lifestyle’ choice where women exploit men’s ‘need’ for sex in order to extract money from them.
We are told that it’s a free choice and feminists who criticise that choice are prudes, anti sex and anti women.
This cultural narrative is a chimera that disguises the real story of the sex industry, a story that involves PTSD, sexual assault, drug abuse and sex trafficking.
A recent article on Libcon accused Bristol Feminist Network and Object of being motivated by nimby-ism in members’ objections to the sex industry.
It suggested that feminists who oppose the sex industry do so out of ‘distaste’ and deny women who work in prostitution a voice. I would like to show why these accusations are false.
The rhetoric of free choice is also a chimera that hides how, in a world with decreased social mobility, where the pay gap still stands, and where women’s worth is still too often calculated on their physical appearance, women’s choices can become very limited. The sex industry is very much a class issue.
A recent application in Durham to open a lap-dancing club is a good example. During the planning process, the applicant was asked how they would deal with ‘inappropriate touching’ in the club.
The applicant replied that the offender would be ejected. However, this response completely ignored the fact that ‘inappropriate touching’ is, in fact, a criminal incident. It is either selling sexual contact or its sexual harassment. The appropriate response would be to report the customer’s crime. The magistrates turned the application down.
We all know that ‘inappropriate touching’ occurs in lap dancing clubs. In fact, one report in Vancouver found 100% of dancers surveyed had been inappropriately touched by customers. The report ‘Challenging men’s demand for prostitution in Scotland’ found that prostitution was routinely offered in lap dancing clubs – a claim supported by Channel 4′s Dispatches programme interview with Philip Kolvin.
Prostitution
It is a fact worth repeating that most women in prostitution do not enjoy the lifestyle depicted by Belle de Jour, and most don’t get their stories published in glossy magazines selling the ideal that prostitution brings with it Prada handbags and Jimmy Choos (Marie Claire, March 2010).
Behind the façade lies the knowledge that women in the sex industry are 60-100 times more likely to be murdered than women who aren’t in the sex industry (Salfati, James, Ferguson), and that trans women who work in prostitution are at an even higher risk. We know that 2/3 of women who work in prostitution routinely suffer client violence (Church, Henderson, Barnard and Settings).
We know that 1.2 million people are trafficked as sex slaves and that 500,000 – 600,000 people every year are trafficked into the sex industry over national borders (International Organisation of Migration). We know that 68% of women who work in prostitution suffer from PTSD (M Farley) and that between 50-75% enter prostitution before they are 18 years old (Paying the Price).
So when feminists campaign against the sex industry it is because they want to end the very real and horrific dangers that these women and men face every day – violence, coercion, rape, trauma. It has nothing to do with nimby-ism or distaste. It has everything to do with ending the idea that it is ok to put someone’s safety, and mental and physical health at risk so that someone can pay to masturbate in or over her/him.
Offering a voice
The accusation that feminists deny women who work in prostitution a voice is an accusation that is borne out of ignorance and an unwillingness to engage in the evidence. For example, in The Equality Illusion and Living Dolls, two books on feminism published this year, women who work in the sex industry speak out.
There are many blogs where women who have exited prostitution talk about the horrors they faced. On Object’s website you’ll find voices crying out to be heard and taken seriously, voices ignored by our dominant cultural narrative that tells us prostitution is empowering.
In Bristol, women from charity One25 go out on the streets and talk to women who work in prostitution who have been sexually assaulted, listen to them, and let them speak about what has happened to them. And there are many more examples.
I believe that it is, in fact, those who promote the sex industry who more often deny women their voices. Because they are so invested in supporting and propping up an industry that too often makes its money from violence and exploitation, they refuse to give space to the voices that contradict their narrative.
Whilst I recognise that some people enter prostitution and find it empowering, many more do not. In refusing to hear the stories of the men and women who are damaged by the sex industry, and only giving space to the voices that support their agenda, the pro sex industry lobby are doing a grave disservice to the men and women who feel trapped and silenced, as their bodies are sold to be used for the sexual pleasure of others.
This closing quote is taken from an interview with a lap dancer in The Equality Illusion.
Lap dancing is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I’ve found it tough, soul destroying… you are forced to behave in a way which is completely demeaning and submissive…The last thing they want is a clever lap dancer. You have to play dumb, that’s the way to make the most money…and perhaps most importantly pretend to find them attractive when you do not find them attractive. (pg 136-37)Please don’t silence her voice.
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Latitude Festival - campaign to prevent rape
Suggested action?
As many people know, 2 women were raped at Latitude this weekend. As a result, the UK’s biggest festival organisers are launching a personal safety campaign for female fans.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jul/19/latitude-festival-safety-campaign
Melvin Benn, chief exec of Festival Republic has said:
"It is fair to say that in the future we will be making much more high profile the issues of being alone at night, particularly if you are a girl – definitely,"
As well as the problematic use of the word ‘girls’, we yet again have a situation where women are being told to be cautious as a result of the actions of a number of men – two male rapists and a group of men who aided in one of the rapes.
One of the rape victims was attacked after going to the toilet. The second was raped in a tent.
As I am sure many of you appreciate, it is impossible to not go to the toilet, and not be in a tent during a festival. So, apart from warning women to not go to festivals, or to not at any point leave the side of a ‘buddy’ even when going to the loo or going to sleep, a campaign telling women to ‘keep safe’ wouldn’t have prevented the attacks.
It seems to me that men such as Benn, who I am sure has the best intentions, do not understand that every where they go, festivals, clubbing, walking home from work, walking to the shops, walking to school, being in school, being at home, everywhere they are women are aware of the threat of rape. Telling women again and again to be careful in case they get raped is never going to change anything.
If Festival Republic want to make sure no other woman is raped at one of their festivals, then they need to do a public safety campaign that targets rapists.
I would like to suggest that we send a letter to Melvin Benn explaining and suggesting this. I couldn’t find an email address but they have a contact us page on their website.
http://www.festivalrepublic.com/contact/
This is the letter I am going to write. As ever, please feel free to use and send yourselves.
Dear Melvin
I read in the Guardian today that as a response to the two rapes at the Latitude festival you and Festival Republic will be launching a public safety campaign to raise women’s awareness of the risks of violence at a festival, with advice on how to keep safe.
Although I appreciate this campaign comes from the very best intentions, and indeed it is certainly necessary for men and women alike to understand how to keep safe from crime at a festival, I do find it troubling that your campaign is targeting women, and advising them how to prevent themselves being a victim of rape.
Women are consistently given warnings about how they can and should alter their behaviour to prevent rape. But rape is not a natural hazard, such as falling off a cliff, something that women can protect themselves from. Women cannot prevent rape from happening to them by following a set of rules. The only way rape can be prevented is if the rapist chooses not to rape.
I would like to request that you consider running a safety campaign that instead of telling women to keep themselves safe from rape, actively encourages potential rapists not to rape. Women the world over know themselves to be vulnerable to rape, in a society where it is estimated 100,000 rapes happen every year. The rapes at Latitude happened when a woman was returning from the toilet and when a woman was in a tent. Unfortunately, no public safety campaign aimed at women is going to stop women from having to go to the toilet, or to sleep. And a safety campaign aimed at telling women to ‘be safe’ is never going to prevent a rapist from raping.
Rather than putting the onus onto women to prevent rape by curtailing their own freedom of movement at a festival which should be fun and exciting, it would be wonderful to see a campaign that pushed forward the idea that the only person who can prevent rape, is the person/group of people who is planning to rape.
Please consider this strategy as a way to make Latitude, and your other events, a safe and positive space for women to be.
Best wishes
Sian Norris, Bristol Feminist Network.
www.sianandcrookedrib.blogspot.com
www.ukfeminista.org
As many people know, 2 women were raped at Latitude this weekend. As a result, the UK’s biggest festival organisers are launching a personal safety campaign for female fans.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jul/19/latitude-festival-safety-campaign
Melvin Benn, chief exec of Festival Republic has said:
"It is fair to say that in the future we will be making much more high profile the issues of being alone at night, particularly if you are a girl – definitely,"
As well as the problematic use of the word ‘girls’, we yet again have a situation where women are being told to be cautious as a result of the actions of a number of men – two male rapists and a group of men who aided in one of the rapes.
One of the rape victims was attacked after going to the toilet. The second was raped in a tent.
As I am sure many of you appreciate, it is impossible to not go to the toilet, and not be in a tent during a festival. So, apart from warning women to not go to festivals, or to not at any point leave the side of a ‘buddy’ even when going to the loo or going to sleep, a campaign telling women to ‘keep safe’ wouldn’t have prevented the attacks.
It seems to me that men such as Benn, who I am sure has the best intentions, do not understand that every where they go, festivals, clubbing, walking home from work, walking to the shops, walking to school, being in school, being at home, everywhere they are women are aware of the threat of rape. Telling women again and again to be careful in case they get raped is never going to change anything.
If Festival Republic want to make sure no other woman is raped at one of their festivals, then they need to do a public safety campaign that targets rapists.
I would like to suggest that we send a letter to Melvin Benn explaining and suggesting this. I couldn’t find an email address but they have a contact us page on their website.
http://www.festivalrepublic.com/contact/
This is the letter I am going to write. As ever, please feel free to use and send yourselves.
Dear Melvin
I read in the Guardian today that as a response to the two rapes at the Latitude festival you and Festival Republic will be launching a public safety campaign to raise women’s awareness of the risks of violence at a festival, with advice on how to keep safe.
Although I appreciate this campaign comes from the very best intentions, and indeed it is certainly necessary for men and women alike to understand how to keep safe from crime at a festival, I do find it troubling that your campaign is targeting women, and advising them how to prevent themselves being a victim of rape.
Women are consistently given warnings about how they can and should alter their behaviour to prevent rape. But rape is not a natural hazard, such as falling off a cliff, something that women can protect themselves from. Women cannot prevent rape from happening to them by following a set of rules. The only way rape can be prevented is if the rapist chooses not to rape.
I would like to request that you consider running a safety campaign that instead of telling women to keep themselves safe from rape, actively encourages potential rapists not to rape. Women the world over know themselves to be vulnerable to rape, in a society where it is estimated 100,000 rapes happen every year. The rapes at Latitude happened when a woman was returning from the toilet and when a woman was in a tent. Unfortunately, no public safety campaign aimed at women is going to stop women from having to go to the toilet, or to sleep. And a safety campaign aimed at telling women to ‘be safe’ is never going to prevent a rapist from raping.
Rather than putting the onus onto women to prevent rape by curtailing their own freedom of movement at a festival which should be fun and exciting, it would be wonderful to see a campaign that pushed forward the idea that the only person who can prevent rape, is the person/group of people who is planning to rape.
Please consider this strategy as a way to make Latitude, and your other events, a safe and positive space for women to be.
Best wishes
Sian Norris, Bristol Feminist Network.
www.sianandcrookedrib.blogspot.com
www.ukfeminista.org
Thursday, 15 July 2010
me at the women in psychology conference
Tomorrow (friday 16th july), Dr Helen Mott, Anna Brown and me will be presenting 3 papers at the British Psychology Society's conference on Women in Psychology.
Helen will be talking about her PHd research on sexual harassment, Anna on the importance of intersectionality in activism and i will be presenting a paper co-written by Dr Sue Tate called 'Performing the Erotic Body' which covers issues of representation, misrepresentation and absence of representation of women. It will look at Pauline Boty - a pop artist, our own BFN and Fawcett research on representation of women in the media, and the Dita Von Teese debate in Bristol. It explores how women can be sexual subjects and agents of the world, but how so much of our culture is invested in seeing women's bodies as only sexual and only as objects.
Once i work out how to upload a word document as a link, i'll post my paper. it's 10 pages long so won't be posting it here!
Helen will be talking about her PHd research on sexual harassment, Anna on the importance of intersectionality in activism and i will be presenting a paper co-written by Dr Sue Tate called 'Performing the Erotic Body' which covers issues of representation, misrepresentation and absence of representation of women. It will look at Pauline Boty - a pop artist, our own BFN and Fawcett research on representation of women in the media, and the Dita Von Teese debate in Bristol. It explores how women can be sexual subjects and agents of the world, but how so much of our culture is invested in seeing women's bodies as only sexual and only as objects.
Once i work out how to upload a word document as a link, i'll post my paper. it's 10 pages long so won't be posting it here!
Monday, 5 July 2010
a response, a rant, a moan
Bristol Feminist Network, Sex work and blogger responsibility
Last week on the Liberal Conspiracy website, a blogger named Elly accused the Bristol Feminist Network of nimby-ism, and suggested that, as a network, they were opposed to sex work and sex workers, and that their protest was motivated by a distaste for the sex industry.
This was untrue.
To substantiate her claims, the writer went on to compose various tweets, including one that made up a quote from the BFN website, stating that on the home page we had written, in relation to objecting to a planning application for a strip club, 'write your objection NOW', when in fact, the website home page said 'Urgent Action...you can read the appeal documents here...you can make your own objection here.' The 'urgent' was included in the headline because if you did choose to file an objection you had to do so by the 28th June.
Why is this important? Lets start from the beginning.
Last year, a businessman applied to open a lap dancing club on Old Market street, a road that is generally considered to be Bristol's red light district on the outskirts of the city centre, between Barton Hill and Easton. A number of women from BFN and Bristol Fawcett went and campaigned against the application and won. Not least because in the planning application the club owner had written that he would be opening a restaurant that would become a strip club at 9pm, however he had not remembered to include restaurant equipment in his 'restaurant' plans.
He has since appealed, and the women originally involved in the protest emailed the members of BFN inviting them to object to the appeal if they wanted to. These are the key words. BFN does not decide on behalf of its members what their opinions are and what they think. Instead, we let people know about campaigns, we give people access to resources and we run discussion groups to talk about issues so that we can all work together to form our own individual view points.
Because of my own personal views on the sex industry I decided to object to the appeal. My friend who had alerted me to the appeal sent me the objection statement she had written and I adapted it to reflect my own views. I then posted my objection on my blog and on UK Feminista as a resource, so that should other people wish to object, but didn't have the time to write their own statements, or wanted some ideas, they could use mine. This was exactly the same practise I had used when writing model letters to MPs or the PCC etc – allowing people to access resources that might help them make their own complaints. I wrote clearly at the top of the statement that I was writing as an individual who was a member of BFN. This is because of the importance of explaining your own interests, but as my views did not represent the views of all my BFN colleagues, I was not able to write that I was representing the network.
Makes sense? Right. Back to Liberal Conspiracy, Firstly, on the blog post, Elly quoted a line from a statement that I had written as an individual, and presented it as being a quote from the Bristol Feminist Network. She has since apologised to me, but the fact is this was a serious misrepresentation of the view points and the actions of the network. By presenting my statement as coming from the whole network, a group of well over 500 people, she was suggesting that me – just me – was deciding the agenda and speaking on behalf of a big group. A group who don't all agree on sex work or the issues surrounding the sex industry. At BFN, we go to great lengths to ensure that we do not speak on behalf of members, and that our own personal views do not take precedence over the members. So, for example, on the website home page we clearly say 'we do not subscribe to one type of feminist thought' and, in relation to the 'urgent action' we wrote that BFN are not against consensual decisions around sex and sex work. It is not for us to tell people how to think and we take so much care to make sure this happens. Therefore, for Elly to quote BFN, when she meant me, was damaging to the network's representation.
The quote that was used was in answer to the objection's questions about environmental impact on Old Market. This is a very specific question, and I answered it by explaining that streets where sex work establishments abound are often isolating to women – leaving them feeling vulnerable and unsafe. I wrote that the abundance of SEVs on Old Market leave me feeling that I cannot walk down the streets of a city I have lived in since I was four.
I can understand why this quote comes across as NIMBY-ism. Indeed, taken out of the context of the fact:
• That it was from a planning objection
• It was in answer to a question of environmental impact
• I don't live near Old Market
then you could see why it would read as NIMBY-ism. However, as in so many issues of feminism, context is vital here. Within the context of asking how a new business will impact the environment around it, it is particularly pertinent to suggest that women will feel unsafe in their local environment. When talking about a planning application, it is vital to talk about impact. And seeing as I live a good few miles from Old Market, the lap dancing club isn't opening in my back yard. When you take these elements into account, NIMBY-ism becomes rather a flimsy accusation.
Further, this was one moment in the objection statement where I talked about how the opening of the lap dancing club would effect me, giving connotations of NIMBY-ism. Elsewhere in the statement I discuss the problems of violence against women where we find SEVs. I talk about the illegal activity – such as sexual harassment and prostitution that happens in SEVs. I talk about how the idea that SEVs provide great employment opportunities to women is a chimera, especially when we see how women have to pay to work in SEVs, often leading to competition with the other women, leading to breaking of the no touching rules in order to get bigger tips. I talk about how the plans for the smoking area haven't been thought through, and questions remain unanswered about how the surreal lap dancing club/restaurant dynamic will work. None of these discussions are about NIMBY-ism.
Therefore none of these points were raised in the critical blog post.
The result was a complete misrepresentation of my motivation for objecting to the lap dancing club, and a reputation damaging representation of BFN's views and beliefs. Coupled with the incredibly loaded word 'distaste' and readers of the blog post were left with the impression that I – and by extension BFN – were some kind of outraged Mary Whitehouse NIMBY figures, rather than as an individual with very real and informed concerns about how the normalisation of the sex industry is effecting women of all ages, class and backgrounds. My objection to the sex industry isn't motivated by distaste.
It's motivated by the following points and more:
• Female sex workers are 60 to 100 times more likely to be murdered than women who are not sex workers (Salfati, James, Ferguson)
• The Ipswich and Bradford murders, and the disgusting reactions in the press
• A study in England and Scotland that 2/3 of 240 prostitutes had experience client violence (Church, Henderson, Barnard and Settings)
• The fact that trans sex workers are in even greater danger of abuse
• Inequalities faced by immigrant sex workers, compared with native sex workers
• The 1.2 million people trafficked as sex slaves (International Organisation of Migration)
• The 500,000 – 600,000 people trafficked every year over national borders to enter the sex industry (International Organisation of Migration)
• 68% of prostitutes suffer from PTSD (M Farley)
• 88% of pornography portray physically aggressive acts against women
• 50-75% of prostitutes enter sex work before they are 18 years old (Paying the Price – a consultation paper on prostitution)
• Prostitution takes place in lap dancing clubs (Challenging men's demand for prostitution in Scotland)
This is a snapshot of the reasons I object to the sex industry.
NIMBY-ism is emphatically not among them. Neither is distaste.
But anyway, back to the blogpost.
One of the accusations laid against me was the idea that by objecting to a club opening on Old Market I was pushing the sex industry out of the city centre and into the less salubrious areas of Bristol. This is absurd, not least because Old Market is not in the centre of Bristol and is, in fact, one of the less salubrious areas of the city. When I picked Elly up on this, she explained that she hadn't checked where Old Market was and she didn't know Bristol. This is completely ridiculous. If you're going to write for a national website, and make accusations on the website about an organisation's motivations, you need to get your facts checked. I imagine that most people reading the website don't know where Old Market is, so a completely false impression was given in order to support the writer's agenda.
It's just unfair isn't it? It's just unfair to write a post to support your own agenda (that women who oppose the sex industry do so out of NIMBY-ism and selfish reasons) without taking into consideration the actual facts of the matter. People who read that post would have a real skewed and warped opinion on the great work of BFN and my own views. It's easy to write something sensationalist by taking quotes out of context. It's much harder to try and express the subtleties.
One of the issues Elly has with feminists who object to the sex industry is that they silence the voices of sex workers. But so do the men and women who support the sex industry. In fact, they are so busy pushing their pro sex industry agenda – that, as Elly puts it, it's the same as working in McDonalds, (which, if nothing else, ignores the fact that no-one pays McDonalds a fee for the privilege of working there) and the 'look at Belle de Jour, she's done alright' angle, that the women who are harmed by the sex industry are completely silenced and ignored.
Take this quote in Kat Banyard's book, from a prostitute who is angry about the comparison that the sex industry is the same as stacking shelves:
“Whoever says that prostitution is just ordinary work has never walked even a minute in my shoes, or any other [call] girl's that I know. Prostitution is far from ordinary. It's demeaning and degrading and by no means a way to an end. It's actually a trap.” (The Equality Illusion, pg 145)
Or this lap dancer?
“Lap dancing is one of the hardest things I've ever done. I've found it tough, soul destroying. You are constantly lying about who you are, because you don't want to tell these men about your real self. You don't know them, and yet you are exposing yourself sexually and physically. Worst of all, for me, you are forced to behave in a way which is completely demeaning and submissive...The last thing they want is a clever lap dancer. You have to play dumb, that's the way to make the most money...and perhaps most importantly pretend to find them attractive when you do not find them attractive.” (The Equality Illusion, pg 136-37)
Most sex workers don't get glossy TV dramas made about them. They don't get book deals or interviews in shiny magazines where we are sold the myth that sex work is an empowering choice. They get mental health problems, they get PTSD, they get infections, bruises, broken bones.
The women who walk past sex entertainment venues get harassed or attacked.
When pro sex work advocates say that feminists deny women in sex work a voice, they forget that in fact they are doing exactly the same thing. Yes there are sex workers who enter in the industry and enjoy it and get something out of it. But their voices seem to ring louder in the cultural consciousness than the voices of the women who don't fit the empowered model. It seems to me that feminists who object to the sex industry seem more prepared to allow space for that alternative voice, the voice that isn't on TV billboards, the voices that slip through the cracks.
Last week on the Liberal Conspiracy website, a blogger named Elly accused the Bristol Feminist Network of nimby-ism, and suggested that, as a network, they were opposed to sex work and sex workers, and that their protest was motivated by a distaste for the sex industry.
This was untrue.
To substantiate her claims, the writer went on to compose various tweets, including one that made up a quote from the BFN website, stating that on the home page we had written, in relation to objecting to a planning application for a strip club, 'write your objection NOW', when in fact, the website home page said 'Urgent Action...you can read the appeal documents here...you can make your own objection here.' The 'urgent' was included in the headline because if you did choose to file an objection you had to do so by the 28th June.
Why is this important? Lets start from the beginning.
Last year, a businessman applied to open a lap dancing club on Old Market street, a road that is generally considered to be Bristol's red light district on the outskirts of the city centre, between Barton Hill and Easton. A number of women from BFN and Bristol Fawcett went and campaigned against the application and won. Not least because in the planning application the club owner had written that he would be opening a restaurant that would become a strip club at 9pm, however he had not remembered to include restaurant equipment in his 'restaurant' plans.
He has since appealed, and the women originally involved in the protest emailed the members of BFN inviting them to object to the appeal if they wanted to. These are the key words. BFN does not decide on behalf of its members what their opinions are and what they think. Instead, we let people know about campaigns, we give people access to resources and we run discussion groups to talk about issues so that we can all work together to form our own individual view points.
Because of my own personal views on the sex industry I decided to object to the appeal. My friend who had alerted me to the appeal sent me the objection statement she had written and I adapted it to reflect my own views. I then posted my objection on my blog and on UK Feminista as a resource, so that should other people wish to object, but didn't have the time to write their own statements, or wanted some ideas, they could use mine. This was exactly the same practise I had used when writing model letters to MPs or the PCC etc – allowing people to access resources that might help them make their own complaints. I wrote clearly at the top of the statement that I was writing as an individual who was a member of BFN. This is because of the importance of explaining your own interests, but as my views did not represent the views of all my BFN colleagues, I was not able to write that I was representing the network.
Makes sense? Right. Back to Liberal Conspiracy, Firstly, on the blog post, Elly quoted a line from a statement that I had written as an individual, and presented it as being a quote from the Bristol Feminist Network. She has since apologised to me, but the fact is this was a serious misrepresentation of the view points and the actions of the network. By presenting my statement as coming from the whole network, a group of well over 500 people, she was suggesting that me – just me – was deciding the agenda and speaking on behalf of a big group. A group who don't all agree on sex work or the issues surrounding the sex industry. At BFN, we go to great lengths to ensure that we do not speak on behalf of members, and that our own personal views do not take precedence over the members. So, for example, on the website home page we clearly say 'we do not subscribe to one type of feminist thought' and, in relation to the 'urgent action' we wrote that BFN are not against consensual decisions around sex and sex work. It is not for us to tell people how to think and we take so much care to make sure this happens. Therefore, for Elly to quote BFN, when she meant me, was damaging to the network's representation.
The quote that was used was in answer to the objection's questions about environmental impact on Old Market. This is a very specific question, and I answered it by explaining that streets where sex work establishments abound are often isolating to women – leaving them feeling vulnerable and unsafe. I wrote that the abundance of SEVs on Old Market leave me feeling that I cannot walk down the streets of a city I have lived in since I was four.
I can understand why this quote comes across as NIMBY-ism. Indeed, taken out of the context of the fact:
• That it was from a planning objection
• It was in answer to a question of environmental impact
• I don't live near Old Market
then you could see why it would read as NIMBY-ism. However, as in so many issues of feminism, context is vital here. Within the context of asking how a new business will impact the environment around it, it is particularly pertinent to suggest that women will feel unsafe in their local environment. When talking about a planning application, it is vital to talk about impact. And seeing as I live a good few miles from Old Market, the lap dancing club isn't opening in my back yard. When you take these elements into account, NIMBY-ism becomes rather a flimsy accusation.
Further, this was one moment in the objection statement where I talked about how the opening of the lap dancing club would effect me, giving connotations of NIMBY-ism. Elsewhere in the statement I discuss the problems of violence against women where we find SEVs. I talk about the illegal activity – such as sexual harassment and prostitution that happens in SEVs. I talk about how the idea that SEVs provide great employment opportunities to women is a chimera, especially when we see how women have to pay to work in SEVs, often leading to competition with the other women, leading to breaking of the no touching rules in order to get bigger tips. I talk about how the plans for the smoking area haven't been thought through, and questions remain unanswered about how the surreal lap dancing club/restaurant dynamic will work. None of these discussions are about NIMBY-ism.
Therefore none of these points were raised in the critical blog post.
The result was a complete misrepresentation of my motivation for objecting to the lap dancing club, and a reputation damaging representation of BFN's views and beliefs. Coupled with the incredibly loaded word 'distaste' and readers of the blog post were left with the impression that I – and by extension BFN – were some kind of outraged Mary Whitehouse NIMBY figures, rather than as an individual with very real and informed concerns about how the normalisation of the sex industry is effecting women of all ages, class and backgrounds. My objection to the sex industry isn't motivated by distaste.
It's motivated by the following points and more:
• Female sex workers are 60 to 100 times more likely to be murdered than women who are not sex workers (Salfati, James, Ferguson)
• The Ipswich and Bradford murders, and the disgusting reactions in the press
• A study in England and Scotland that 2/3 of 240 prostitutes had experience client violence (Church, Henderson, Barnard and Settings)
• The fact that trans sex workers are in even greater danger of abuse
• Inequalities faced by immigrant sex workers, compared with native sex workers
• The 1.2 million people trafficked as sex slaves (International Organisation of Migration)
• The 500,000 – 600,000 people trafficked every year over national borders to enter the sex industry (International Organisation of Migration)
• 68% of prostitutes suffer from PTSD (M Farley)
• 88% of pornography portray physically aggressive acts against women
• 50-75% of prostitutes enter sex work before they are 18 years old (Paying the Price – a consultation paper on prostitution)
• Prostitution takes place in lap dancing clubs (Challenging men's demand for prostitution in Scotland)
This is a snapshot of the reasons I object to the sex industry.
NIMBY-ism is emphatically not among them. Neither is distaste.
But anyway, back to the blogpost.
One of the accusations laid against me was the idea that by objecting to a club opening on Old Market I was pushing the sex industry out of the city centre and into the less salubrious areas of Bristol. This is absurd, not least because Old Market is not in the centre of Bristol and is, in fact, one of the less salubrious areas of the city. When I picked Elly up on this, she explained that she hadn't checked where Old Market was and she didn't know Bristol. This is completely ridiculous. If you're going to write for a national website, and make accusations on the website about an organisation's motivations, you need to get your facts checked. I imagine that most people reading the website don't know where Old Market is, so a completely false impression was given in order to support the writer's agenda.
It's just unfair isn't it? It's just unfair to write a post to support your own agenda (that women who oppose the sex industry do so out of NIMBY-ism and selfish reasons) without taking into consideration the actual facts of the matter. People who read that post would have a real skewed and warped opinion on the great work of BFN and my own views. It's easy to write something sensationalist by taking quotes out of context. It's much harder to try and express the subtleties.
One of the issues Elly has with feminists who object to the sex industry is that they silence the voices of sex workers. But so do the men and women who support the sex industry. In fact, they are so busy pushing their pro sex industry agenda – that, as Elly puts it, it's the same as working in McDonalds, (which, if nothing else, ignores the fact that no-one pays McDonalds a fee for the privilege of working there) and the 'look at Belle de Jour, she's done alright' angle, that the women who are harmed by the sex industry are completely silenced and ignored.
Take this quote in Kat Banyard's book, from a prostitute who is angry about the comparison that the sex industry is the same as stacking shelves:
“Whoever says that prostitution is just ordinary work has never walked even a minute in my shoes, or any other [call] girl's that I know. Prostitution is far from ordinary. It's demeaning and degrading and by no means a way to an end. It's actually a trap.” (The Equality Illusion, pg 145)
Or this lap dancer?
“Lap dancing is one of the hardest things I've ever done. I've found it tough, soul destroying. You are constantly lying about who you are, because you don't want to tell these men about your real self. You don't know them, and yet you are exposing yourself sexually and physically. Worst of all, for me, you are forced to behave in a way which is completely demeaning and submissive...The last thing they want is a clever lap dancer. You have to play dumb, that's the way to make the most money...and perhaps most importantly pretend to find them attractive when you do not find them attractive.” (The Equality Illusion, pg 136-37)
Most sex workers don't get glossy TV dramas made about them. They don't get book deals or interviews in shiny magazines where we are sold the myth that sex work is an empowering choice. They get mental health problems, they get PTSD, they get infections, bruises, broken bones.
The women who walk past sex entertainment venues get harassed or attacked.
When pro sex work advocates say that feminists deny women in sex work a voice, they forget that in fact they are doing exactly the same thing. Yes there are sex workers who enter in the industry and enjoy it and get something out of it. But their voices seem to ring louder in the cultural consciousness than the voices of the women who don't fit the empowered model. It seems to me that feminists who object to the sex industry seem more prepared to allow space for that alternative voice, the voice that isn't on TV billboards, the voices that slip through the cracks.
Friday, 18 June 2010
be free to wear whatever you want!
This stupid ad appeared at the bottom of my last blog post (i think i'll ditch google ad words)
thank goodness for that! there i was, agonising over my summer wardrobe - what shall i wear! what can i do! someone might see my stubble!
I shave my legs and armpits. I have experimented with not shaving and i just happen to prefer the way i look this way. lots of people feel differently from me and i appreciate that, this is just my preference, a preference that i know is influenced by social and cultural factors.
But ads like this make me want to throw my razors away and join the hairy awarey gang. because, ffs. i am sick of advertising co-opting the language of feminism and empowerment to sell products that maintain the patriarchal status quo. apparently this product will liberate me from not being able to wear the clothes i like. it gives me the freedom to wear anything. anything!
it's like that nivea ad 'women feel more sexy when their underarms look good', or veet and venus saying that depilating your body hair will unleash your true femininity. when really, really really, if we take true femininity to mean the fact of being a woman, true femininity would in fact be nature: hairy, not artifice: shaved.
and anyway boots marketing team - i am, in fact, not totally free to wear whatever i want if i am delightfully hair free. not in this culture of rape myths in every paper. or street harassment at every summer-drunk turn. short skirts? strappy low cut top? skinny jeans? Not free to wear those according to a terrifying number of jury members and court judges. Or your average street harasser, who sees the wearing of these clothes as a free for all for commenting on me.
And i'm not free to dress in an unfeminine manner, not unless i want to attract some trans or homophobic abuse.
And if i work at one of the high profile london banks say, with their seminars on appropriate female dressing, i wouldn't be free to wear anything that wasn't 'sexy but not slutty' (i quote!) http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2010/01/the_professiona, even if i had smooth, smooth underarms.
And what about women forced to wear burquas (i am talking about countries where wearing the veil is law not a choice, i would never invalidate a woman's choice to wear the burqua, chador, niqab, hijab etc) - could shaving their legs free them from this oppression? should we throw up our arms and exclaim 'aha! the answer was there all along! shaving liberates women! not education, not respect, not freedom from violence, not freedom from poverty - shaving!'
I know it is only an advert. i know the marketing exec didn't think about all this when they came up with the concept. i know sometimes i copywrite lines that make my feminist conscience wince. but ads tell us something about what our culture values and what our society thinks. trust me, a lot of time goes in to making sure ad campaigns speak to people with messages they appreciate and understand. so this kind of bullshit pisses me off. it's a throw away line, a silly bit of aspirational marketing, but it is also symptomatic of why women spend so much time and money conforming to a silly idealised model of femininity. ads sell us this nonsense as liberation. they ignore the truth in what they're really saying.
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Protest against strip club appeal to the BCC
Hi there
As many of you know, a recent strip club application for a lap dancing venue on Old Market was turned down by the Bristol City Council, helped in part by amazing and dedicated campaigning by some Bristol Feminists, who even took time off work to attend the council hearing.
Needless to say, the owner of the proposed club has appealed the decision to try and get the club opened.
The club will ostensibly be a restaurant until 9pm, when it will become a lap dancing venue.
You can read the appeal docs here: http://e2edocs.bristol.gov.uk/WAM/findCaseFile.do?appType=planning&appNumber=09/03268/F
And you can file your objection on this link here:
http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/makerep.asp?caseaddress=COO.2036.300.8.3620946&appealtype=COO.2036.300.2.2083
or here: http://tinyurl.com/37p2g5a
Steph has written her objection and I have modified it to include my own personal thoughts and feelings on why Old Market doesn't need another strip club. I have pasted it below for people to make use of if they wish.
Statement to the planning committe in respect of application number: 09/03268/F
Sian Norris
I am making this statement on behalf of myself, as an individual, and as a member of the Bristol Feminist Network.
The impact on the physical and economic regeneration aspirations for Old Market
• Page 10 of the summary document, “the proposed uses will not cause harm to the physical and economic regeneration aspirations for Old Market”.
Ø It needs to be understood that lap dancing clubs do not create viable employment opportunities for women. Lap dancing clubs require the women who work in them to pay a ‘house fee’ to work, which can result in the women losing money during a shift. They are not employed by the clubs and do not receive sick or holiday pay or other benefits. The only employment that is created by a lap dancing club opening would be a small number of bar jobs and security staff jobs, usually oriented towards men.
Ø Page 7 states that “the use of part of the premises as a lap dancing club during night time hours would not have a negative impact of the area or its regeneration prospects so significant as to justify a refusal on these grounds”. This justification assumes that the use of the premises as a lap dancing club is a secondary use to the use of the premises as a restaurant/wine bar during other times and that this will mitigate the use of the premises during its designated times as a lap dancing club.
Ø I know of few women who would feel comfortable visiting a restaurant or a bar that becomes a lap dancing club from 9pm to 3am at weekends and this would, in effect, make the lap dancing club seen as the primary use of the premises by customers. It seems surreal to me that the atmosphere created by a restaurant ‘turning’ into a lap dancing club halfway through a meal aren’t being taken into consideration. This would surely isolate or put off women from feeling happy visiting the restaurant.
Ø Reports have shown that many women feel that the area around lap dancing clubs are ‘no go areas’ for them. It is therefore disingenuous to assume that the use of the premises as a restaurant/wine bar will mitigate the negative effect of the sex related business also on offer.
Ø I personally would not feel happy being on the premises at any time if I knew that lap dancing was on offer. I have lived in Bristol my whole life, and ever since becoming an adult, I have felt unsafe and unwelcome in Old Market, seeing it as a place that is clearly geared towards the sex industry. It is not somewhere where I feel comfortable going or even passing through.
Environmental impact
• The statement on page 7 on the environmental impact of a lap dancing club does not take into account the problems that may be caused for women living and passing through the area. It has not taken into account whether women feel safe around lap dancing clubs, or the level of abuse that women experience when walking past lap dancing clubs. I personally have suffered significant verbal harassment whilst walking past a lap dancing club on St Stephens Street in broad daylight. This kind of abuse becomes even worse at night. I now have to change my walking routes to avoid going past clubs because I was frightened and alarmed by the abuse I had received. I know I am not the only woman that does this. Object have found that sexual violence has risen in areas where lap dancing clubs proliferate having conducted research in Camden. The Tower Hamlets MP, when discussing the new licensing legislation, told the House of Commons how she had been sexually harassed whilst on her way to pray at her mosque by some men waiting outside a lap dancing club. Comments range from “get your tits out, love” to “get your kit out and save us a fiver”, giving us an insight into how the women inside the clubs are treated. It is easy to find anecdotal and statistical evidence to support these claims.
Again, from a personal point of view, I do not feel comfortable walking past a lap dancing club and I always go out of my way to avoid such places when I am out. This is a restriction on my human right to freedom of movement.
Use of smoking terrace
• Page 8 of the application refers to the smoking terrace and states that “assuming that customers to the club are likely to wish to enjoy the ‘entertainment’ rather than to sit out on the terrace in groups smoking for extended periods it is not considered necessary to specifically limit the hours of the terrace’s use for this purpose”.
Ø It cannot be assumed that those visiting a lap dancing will not wish to smoke for extended periods. In fact, we would need to see evidence that club security are regulating how long customers are spending on the smoking terrace. We should not be making assumptions about what may or may not be problematic for the local residents. It would be responsible for the BCC and the applicant to be sure of this before granting planning application rather than dealing with problems after the premises is in use.
Ø Restricting the use of the smoking terrace to before 10:30pm will result in smokers congregating at the front of the building, further impacting on the safety of the women passing by the area, where they will be more vulnerable to verbal and perhaps physical violence. Again, this will have an impact on women’s freedom of movement in the city.
Objections to the lap dancing club on moral grounds
• It is stated on page 5 that “it must be borne in mind that, although the proposal for a lap dancing club is considered offensive by many, that moral objections are not a material planning consideration.”
Ø This assumes that the objections against the use of the premises as a lap dancing club deem them to be offensive on moral grounds. This is a common confusion used to portray those who protest against lap dancing clubs as ‘prudes’ or ‘uptight’. I do not object on moral grounds, but on social ones. I object to the impact these clubs have on women, men and communities.
Ø Lap dancing clubs in residential areas and on high streets normalises the sex industry and has damaging effects on attempts to achieve gender equality, which the Council has a duty to promote under the Gender Equality Duty.
Ø Statements are made about low key signage and blacked out windows. This is disingenuous. It is the effect that these establishments have on a community by normalising the objectification of women. Otherwise you fall on the facile argument that what you can’t see won’t hurt you. There is also accompanying advertisement which usually gives little doubt as to what services are on offer inside the clubs.
Links between lap dancing and prostitution
• The links between lap dancing and prostitution also need to be considered.
Ø A leading licensing barrister, Philip Kolvin, commented on the Dispatches programme about lapdancing, broadcast in October 2008, that the difference between lap dancing and prostitution was the width of a pair of jeans. The programme filmed undercover in lap dancing clubs up and down the country and prostitution was on offer in nearly every single one, some on the premises and some off.
Ø Although page 5 of the summary documentation states that lap dancing is legal, prostitution currently is not. However both anecdotal and statistical evidence supports the claim that touching does indeed happen in these clubs and what’s more, are considered the norm precisely because the women have to pay to work, then need to compete with the other women to earn tips and payments from the customers.
Ø One of the clubs featured in the programme, the Capricorn Club in London, was shut down in November of this year after a police operation exposed it as being a brothel. Large amounts of cocaine were also found on the premises.
Ø A common practice is for club owners to have high dancer to customer ratios so that customers have a choice of girls. This increases competition between dancers, particularly as they are already in debt to the club through just walking through the door, and can further blur the line between lap dancing and prostitution.
Impact on public safety
• Page 9 states that “there is little available evidence to support that there would be reduction in public safety in the vicinity”. I strongly disagree with this statement. I have already quoted examples of widespread sexual harassment linked to the proliferation of lap dancing clubs in the city.
Ø I like to point your attention to Durham, where a lap dancing club licence was turned down on the basis that the lap dancing club could only increase sexual assaults against women and hence that the licensing was in conflict with the aims of the Sexual Violence and Abuse Action Plan published by the Government in April 2007. In the Durham case, the applicant, Vimac Leisure was asked during cross examination how they would deal with any “inappropriate touching” of the dancers. They stated that the customer in question would be ejected from the club. However, this ignores the fact that a criminal incident has taken place for which the perpetrator should be reported to the police and, where possible, brought to justice for their offence. This normalisation of the sex industry is therefore blurring the lines between what is legal (lap dancing) and illegal (prostitution/sexual harassment). The magistrates in the case turned down the application and concluded that they considered “that many of the objections were made not on moral grounds but reflected real and practical concerns”.
Ø In the Holsopple report, published in 1999, 100% of the 18 strippers surveyed had been sexually assaulted by customers. The Eden report, published for the Eaves Housing Project in 2007 states that: “wherever lapdance and strip clubs appear, women’s quality of life deteriorates as a result, with increased reports of rape (Eden, 2003) and increased fear of travelling as a result. (TfL, 2004)”
Ø The Lilith report, published in 2003, highlighted the extensive impact that lapdance and striptease clubs had upon women in the local area of Camden, Westminster and Islington, in terms of immediate dangers such as a 50% increase in reported rape, but also in terms of less measurable effects, such as increased harassment and fear of violence.
Ø I would argue therefore that, contrary to the statement made on page 9, there is much evidence to support that there would be a significant impact on the safety of women both inside and outside of the club. The Council has a duty to promote gender equality and to reduce violence against women and it would therefore be irresponsible of the Council to grant an application unless they were absolutely convinced that there would be no impact on women living and working in the area. It would, in fact, be betraying their legal obligation to uphold the gender equality duty.
Ø Lap dancing clubs have also been linked to an increase in sexual violence towards women in the surrounding area, sex trafficking, as well as prostitution and drugs.
In summary, if you are truly serious about regenerating Old Market, lets bring businesses there that don’t encourage sexual objectification, don’t leave women feeling vulnerable and afraid to walk down the street, don’t normalise the sex industry and don’t isolate 50% of the population. Lets see new bars, restaurants, youth projects, galleries, shops – places that are welcoming and open to all and will have a real impact on making Old Market a safer place for local residents and Bristolians.
As many of you know, a recent strip club application for a lap dancing venue on Old Market was turned down by the Bristol City Council, helped in part by amazing and dedicated campaigning by some Bristol Feminists, who even took time off work to attend the council hearing.
Needless to say, the owner of the proposed club has appealed the decision to try and get the club opened.
The club will ostensibly be a restaurant until 9pm, when it will become a lap dancing venue.
You can read the appeal docs here: http://e2edocs.bristol.gov.uk/WAM/findCaseFile.do?appType=planning&appNumber=09/03268/F
And you can file your objection on this link here:
http://www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk/pcsportal/makerep.asp?caseaddress=COO.2036.300.8.3620946&appealtype=COO.2036.300.2.2083
or here: http://tinyurl.com/37p2g5a
Steph has written her objection and I have modified it to include my own personal thoughts and feelings on why Old Market doesn't need another strip club. I have pasted it below for people to make use of if they wish.
Statement to the planning committe in respect of application number: 09/03268/F
Sian Norris
I am making this statement on behalf of myself, as an individual, and as a member of the Bristol Feminist Network.
The impact on the physical and economic regeneration aspirations for Old Market
• Page 10 of the summary document, “the proposed uses will not cause harm to the physical and economic regeneration aspirations for Old Market”.
Ø It needs to be understood that lap dancing clubs do not create viable employment opportunities for women. Lap dancing clubs require the women who work in them to pay a ‘house fee’ to work, which can result in the women losing money during a shift. They are not employed by the clubs and do not receive sick or holiday pay or other benefits. The only employment that is created by a lap dancing club opening would be a small number of bar jobs and security staff jobs, usually oriented towards men.
Ø Page 7 states that “the use of part of the premises as a lap dancing club during night time hours would not have a negative impact of the area or its regeneration prospects so significant as to justify a refusal on these grounds”. This justification assumes that the use of the premises as a lap dancing club is a secondary use to the use of the premises as a restaurant/wine bar during other times and that this will mitigate the use of the premises during its designated times as a lap dancing club.
Ø I know of few women who would feel comfortable visiting a restaurant or a bar that becomes a lap dancing club from 9pm to 3am at weekends and this would, in effect, make the lap dancing club seen as the primary use of the premises by customers. It seems surreal to me that the atmosphere created by a restaurant ‘turning’ into a lap dancing club halfway through a meal aren’t being taken into consideration. This would surely isolate or put off women from feeling happy visiting the restaurant.
Ø Reports have shown that many women feel that the area around lap dancing clubs are ‘no go areas’ for them. It is therefore disingenuous to assume that the use of the premises as a restaurant/wine bar will mitigate the negative effect of the sex related business also on offer.
Ø I personally would not feel happy being on the premises at any time if I knew that lap dancing was on offer. I have lived in Bristol my whole life, and ever since becoming an adult, I have felt unsafe and unwelcome in Old Market, seeing it as a place that is clearly geared towards the sex industry. It is not somewhere where I feel comfortable going or even passing through.
Environmental impact
• The statement on page 7 on the environmental impact of a lap dancing club does not take into account the problems that may be caused for women living and passing through the area. It has not taken into account whether women feel safe around lap dancing clubs, or the level of abuse that women experience when walking past lap dancing clubs. I personally have suffered significant verbal harassment whilst walking past a lap dancing club on St Stephens Street in broad daylight. This kind of abuse becomes even worse at night. I now have to change my walking routes to avoid going past clubs because I was frightened and alarmed by the abuse I had received. I know I am not the only woman that does this. Object have found that sexual violence has risen in areas where lap dancing clubs proliferate having conducted research in Camden. The Tower Hamlets MP, when discussing the new licensing legislation, told the House of Commons how she had been sexually harassed whilst on her way to pray at her mosque by some men waiting outside a lap dancing club. Comments range from “get your tits out, love” to “get your kit out and save us a fiver”, giving us an insight into how the women inside the clubs are treated. It is easy to find anecdotal and statistical evidence to support these claims.
Again, from a personal point of view, I do not feel comfortable walking past a lap dancing club and I always go out of my way to avoid such places when I am out. This is a restriction on my human right to freedom of movement.
Use of smoking terrace
• Page 8 of the application refers to the smoking terrace and states that “assuming that customers to the club are likely to wish to enjoy the ‘entertainment’ rather than to sit out on the terrace in groups smoking for extended periods it is not considered necessary to specifically limit the hours of the terrace’s use for this purpose”.
Ø It cannot be assumed that those visiting a lap dancing will not wish to smoke for extended periods. In fact, we would need to see evidence that club security are regulating how long customers are spending on the smoking terrace. We should not be making assumptions about what may or may not be problematic for the local residents. It would be responsible for the BCC and the applicant to be sure of this before granting planning application rather than dealing with problems after the premises is in use.
Ø Restricting the use of the smoking terrace to before 10:30pm will result in smokers congregating at the front of the building, further impacting on the safety of the women passing by the area, where they will be more vulnerable to verbal and perhaps physical violence. Again, this will have an impact on women’s freedom of movement in the city.
Objections to the lap dancing club on moral grounds
• It is stated on page 5 that “it must be borne in mind that, although the proposal for a lap dancing club is considered offensive by many, that moral objections are not a material planning consideration.”
Ø This assumes that the objections against the use of the premises as a lap dancing club deem them to be offensive on moral grounds. This is a common confusion used to portray those who protest against lap dancing clubs as ‘prudes’ or ‘uptight’. I do not object on moral grounds, but on social ones. I object to the impact these clubs have on women, men and communities.
Ø Lap dancing clubs in residential areas and on high streets normalises the sex industry and has damaging effects on attempts to achieve gender equality, which the Council has a duty to promote under the Gender Equality Duty.
Ø Statements are made about low key signage and blacked out windows. This is disingenuous. It is the effect that these establishments have on a community by normalising the objectification of women. Otherwise you fall on the facile argument that what you can’t see won’t hurt you. There is also accompanying advertisement which usually gives little doubt as to what services are on offer inside the clubs.
Links between lap dancing and prostitution
• The links between lap dancing and prostitution also need to be considered.
Ø A leading licensing barrister, Philip Kolvin, commented on the Dispatches programme about lapdancing, broadcast in October 2008, that the difference between lap dancing and prostitution was the width of a pair of jeans. The programme filmed undercover in lap dancing clubs up and down the country and prostitution was on offer in nearly every single one, some on the premises and some off.
Ø Although page 5 of the summary documentation states that lap dancing is legal, prostitution currently is not. However both anecdotal and statistical evidence supports the claim that touching does indeed happen in these clubs and what’s more, are considered the norm precisely because the women have to pay to work, then need to compete with the other women to earn tips and payments from the customers.
Ø One of the clubs featured in the programme, the Capricorn Club in London, was shut down in November of this year after a police operation exposed it as being a brothel. Large amounts of cocaine were also found on the premises.
Ø A common practice is for club owners to have high dancer to customer ratios so that customers have a choice of girls. This increases competition between dancers, particularly as they are already in debt to the club through just walking through the door, and can further blur the line between lap dancing and prostitution.
Impact on public safety
• Page 9 states that “there is little available evidence to support that there would be reduction in public safety in the vicinity”. I strongly disagree with this statement. I have already quoted examples of widespread sexual harassment linked to the proliferation of lap dancing clubs in the city.
Ø I like to point your attention to Durham, where a lap dancing club licence was turned down on the basis that the lap dancing club could only increase sexual assaults against women and hence that the licensing was in conflict with the aims of the Sexual Violence and Abuse Action Plan published by the Government in April 2007. In the Durham case, the applicant, Vimac Leisure was asked during cross examination how they would deal with any “inappropriate touching” of the dancers. They stated that the customer in question would be ejected from the club. However, this ignores the fact that a criminal incident has taken place for which the perpetrator should be reported to the police and, where possible, brought to justice for their offence. This normalisation of the sex industry is therefore blurring the lines between what is legal (lap dancing) and illegal (prostitution/sexual harassment). The magistrates in the case turned down the application and concluded that they considered “that many of the objections were made not on moral grounds but reflected real and practical concerns”.
Ø In the Holsopple report, published in 1999, 100% of the 18 strippers surveyed had been sexually assaulted by customers. The Eden report, published for the Eaves Housing Project in 2007 states that: “wherever lapdance and strip clubs appear, women’s quality of life deteriorates as a result, with increased reports of rape (Eden, 2003) and increased fear of travelling as a result. (TfL, 2004)”
Ø The Lilith report, published in 2003, highlighted the extensive impact that lapdance and striptease clubs had upon women in the local area of Camden, Westminster and Islington, in terms of immediate dangers such as a 50% increase in reported rape, but also in terms of less measurable effects, such as increased harassment and fear of violence.
Ø I would argue therefore that, contrary to the statement made on page 9, there is much evidence to support that there would be a significant impact on the safety of women both inside and outside of the club. The Council has a duty to promote gender equality and to reduce violence against women and it would therefore be irresponsible of the Council to grant an application unless they were absolutely convinced that there would be no impact on women living and working in the area. It would, in fact, be betraying their legal obligation to uphold the gender equality duty.
Ø Lap dancing clubs have also been linked to an increase in sexual violence towards women in the surrounding area, sex trafficking, as well as prostitution and drugs.
In summary, if you are truly serious about regenerating Old Market, lets bring businesses there that don’t encourage sexual objectification, don’t leave women feeling vulnerable and afraid to walk down the street, don’t normalise the sex industry and don’t isolate 50% of the population. Lets see new bars, restaurants, youth projects, galleries, shops – places that are welcoming and open to all and will have a real impact on making Old Market a safer place for local residents and Bristolians.
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