Feminists lobby over lap dancing clubs

Sep 30 2008 By Emma McKinney

FEMINISTS from Birmingham are to travel to London next month to lobby the Government in a bid to regulate the licencing of lap dancing clubs.

Members of Birmingham Fems will join women’s rights campaigners Object and the Fawcett Society in a public rally outside Parliament on November 4.

A spokeswoman for the group said: “A legal loophole means that since the introduction of the Licensing Act in 2003, lap dancing clubs currently only require a licence for the sale of alcohol to operate, despite being part of the commercial sex industry.

“It means that local authorities are compelled to license lap dance clubs like cafés, despite having a very different social impact. “Lap dance clubs fuel a sexist culture of treating women as sex objects and areas surrounding lap dance clubs can become no-go areas for women.”

She said that since the Act was introduced, the number of lap dancing clubs had doubled across the UK.

“We are calling on the Home Office to introduce legislation that would allow local authorities to license lap dancing clubs using the same licensing powers that apply to sex shops and cinemas, including vital powers to regulate where, when and on what terms lap dancing clubs may be established,” she added.

“We call on the Government to restore democracy to the licensing process and send out a powerful message that buying a lap dance is not the same as buying a cappuccino.”

The news comes after the Birmingham Fems lobbied Tory MPs about the same issue during a protest outside the Conservative Conference at the ICC on Sunday.

The women were left furious when the Conservatives had been offered a £10 voucher off the entrance price to the Rocket Club, a lap dancing venue in Broad Street.

For more information about the protest, visit www.object.org.uk or www.fawcettsociety.org.uk