Geez... the Scottish guys just want to get laid

Based on an article from The Times

MSPs considering new anti-prostitution laws believe the threat of losing their vehicles and heavy fines will act as a powerful deterrent to men on the streets looking for sex.

The proposals have been drawn up by Holyrood’s local government and transport committee following pressure to curb the sex industry in Scottish cities.

In future, police will have the power to seize the cars of persistent offenders and auction or sell them, a tactic which Scottish councils already use to deal with joyriders. Police would also be allowed to keep vehicles for their own use.

MSPs also want to fine kerb crawlers up to £5,000 because they believe the current maximum penalty of £500 for loitering or soliciting for sex is not a sufficient deterrent.

The Scottish executive has produced draft legislation to provide mean minded repression to deal with nuisance.

Ministers plan to create a specific offence of kerb crawling, which already exists south of the border. They believe that tackling those who solicit for sex is the most effective way of reducing demand. In Glasgow, more than 90% of prostitutes are approached by men in cars.

The Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill will make it an offence to cause “alarm, offence or nuisance” through soliciting or loitering to buy or sell sex.

It is being considered by the local government and transport committee, which will recommend a range of amendments next month.

   
Korean government pay cash for abstinence pledge

From International Herald Tribune
From The Korea Times

South Korea has launched a campaign offering cash to men if they promise not to buy sex from prostitutes after year-end office parties, government officials said.

The move is aimed at changing the party culture in this male-dominated society by winning commitments from male employees to abstain from hiring prostitutes after their parties finish.

A total 4.6 million won (US$5,000; €3,700) will be paid to companies based on the largest number of volunteers who sign a written pledge, said the official. Some 1,300 companies have so far participated in the campaign.

A government-funded study showed that South Korea's sex industry generated 4.1% of the country's gross domestic product in 2002 and employed 330,000 women. Some experts say the figures are grossly underestimated.

The government is also planning sterner punishment for job brokers involved in sex trade next year, setting up a maximum prison term of seven years and a fine of up to 30 million won ($32,150).

The new rules, which will go in effect in July next year will focus on those arranging prostitutes for hostess bars, hotels and other establishments, the Labor Ministry said.

The ministry said it will also provide cash rewards for people reporting on unlawful job brokerage activities, such as trafficking, fraud and other illegalities.

   
Explicit content spotted in A Girl's Guide to 21st Century Sex

From Wikipedia

A Girl's Guide to 21st Century Sex is an 8-part UK TV show about sex, billed as a documentary and running on the British broadcast station Channel 5. The moderator is Dr. Catherine Hood. The series started in October 2006.

The first few episodes of the series were extremely explicit, showing erect penises, closeups of a vulva, as well as detailed footage of sexual intercourse including penetration and ejaculation (filmed with a tiny camera from within the vagina). In subsequent episodes, however, most such footage has been heavily and seemingly hastily censored through blurring (although the programme remains perhaps the most explicit ever to be broadcast on mainstream UK television).

However, towards the end of the series, footage of ejaculation shot from within the vagina was again being shown, making it unlikely that self or enforced censorship was taking place.

After one of the most explicit scenes was uploaded to Google Video, it was discussed on the Internet[1] before being quickly removed from the site.

From Salvor on The Melon Farmers Forum

Ofcon complaints spotted in Issue 75 of the complaints bulletin

A Girl’s Guide to 21st Century Sex 06/11/2006 Five Commercial References 1
A Girl’s Guide to 21st Century Sex 06/11/2006 Five Inaccuracy/Misleading General Acceptance 1

Nothing about explicit content! & both not-in-breach or out-of-remit

   
Canadian laws said to endanger sex workers

From 570 News

A leading advocacy group for decriminalizing prostitution in Canada is planning to take the federal government to court over laws that it says endanger the lives of sex workers across the country.

Valerie Scott, executive director of Sex Professionals of Canada, says the legal action will go ahead in January: The communicating and bawdy house laws are arbitrary. They do more harm than good, and we'll be filing in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. We're hoping to get a judgement from them within two years. Then we'll go to the Supreme Court of Canada with it.

The common bawdy house laws can evict women from their homes, since landlords receive a notice of their alleged activities, said Wendy Babcock, spokeswoman for the Sex Professionals of Canada.

Scott, who expects to be one of the plaintiffs in the court case, says the group will challenge the country's solicitation laws on constitutional grounds.

The sex trade in Canada falls into a legal grey area because, while prostitution itself is not illegal, activities related to it are. Individuals who communicate for the purpose of prostitution or who sell sexual services can be charged under the Criminal Code.

It's really unfortunate that our profession is one of the few professions that doesn't have any legal protection to it, Babcock said. Making it illegal is just forcing women into dangerous situations.

   
Malaysian calls for flogging of prostitutes

From Asian Sex Gazette

Malaysian lawmakers have called for foreign prostitutes to be flogged as a deterrent to others considering coming here to work in the sex industry, a report said this week.

Mohamed Aziz, from the ruling National Front coalition said: If we can impose whipping for drug addicts, why can't we do the same for prostitutes, he said in a proposal that was supported by at least one other lawmaker.

Malaysia's government is considering introducing tougher laws against prostitution amid concerns over an influx of foreign sex workers who are using tourist visas to enter the country.

Deputy internal security minister Johari Baharum has said that over 15,500 foreign women were arrested for prostitution from 2004 to July 2006, including more than 6,000 from China, 4,596 from Indonesia, 2,613 from Thailand and 1,316 from the Philippines.

Prostitution is illegal in the predominantly Muslim nation.

   
Scottish knees jerk straight to the balls

From The Scotsman

The Scottish Executive is considering radical changes to its proposed new law on prostitution following concerns raised by MSPs.

Deputy finance and public services minister George Lyon today wrote to the Scottish Parliament's local government committee, setting out a possible switch in strategy.

The bill currently going through the parliament proposes to scrap the existing law on soliciting and introduce a new offence - which would apply to both prostitutes and their customers - of causing nuisance, alarm or offence by loitering or soliciting.

But Lyon said the Executive would now consider keeping the existing law on soliciting and amending the bill to focus solely on the men buying sex.

He told the committee: Such an approach could provide a clearer focus on challenging the behaviour of those seeking to purchase sex in public places, which, in turn, may assist in tackling the demand for street prostitution - a key component if we are to deliver our long-term objective of eradicating street prostitution.

The committee was meeting in private this afternoon, where it planned to discuss its forthcoming report to the parliament on the bill.

   
Criminalising those who just want to get laid

A policy of denying sex simply screws people up...
You only have to look at the Catholic Church for an example.

Never trust a politician who claims justification in 'organised crime', 'money laundering' & 'national security'

From the BBC

The UK government should look at prosecuting men who pay for sex, Minister for Constitutional Affairs Harriet Harman has said.

While kerb crawling and procuring a prostitute for sex are illegal, paying for sex is not currently an offence. Harman said the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich showed more should be done to end vice in the UK. It would be better to target the men who paid for sex rather than criminalising women, she said.

I think we should be saying we don't want this sort of organised crime in this country, she said.

She suggested the UK look at the case of Sweden, where they support young women who have drug problems and who are vulnerable for other reasons, but they actually have a criminal offence of buying sex - they make prostitution illegal, by taking on the issue of the punters rather than the young women.

Harman's call comes as the government has been accused of dragging its feet over legislation that would protect prostitutes from attack. Former home office minister Fiona Mactaggart has urged ministers to carry out a plan to legalise small brothels. The idea was included in January's prostitution strategy for England, but it has yet to be implemented.

Mactaggart told BBC News the murder of five women in Suffolk showed the need for urgent changes in the law to protect prostitutes: What we have a responsibility to do as a government is to make sure that women who are involved in prostitution are safe and one of the ways of doing that is making sure that where two women are working together from a flat they don't face a 14 year sentence. It has not been an urgent policy for this government.

This terrible series of murders has pushed it up everyone's agenda and made us realise that we need to have a policy which helps to reduce the extent of street prostitution, yes, but at the same time, make sure that the women who are involved, who are selling themselves - who have very chaotic lives - are safe.

   
Making porn a hate crime

Based on an article from Sunday Mail

A women's nutter group have petitioned MSPs to make porn a hate crime in Scotland, like the race and sectarian laws.

The parliament will hold a porn summit with [no doubt a biased selection of] Scotland's leading experts.

Scottish Women Against Pornography (SWAP), who believe there is a direct link between top shelf magazines and violence and abuse, have called for the repression.

The group's Catherine Harper said: The message of all pornography is that women secretly wish to be raped and abused and enjoy the treatment they receive. We view pornography as sexual hatred in the same way racist material is regarded as incitement to racial hatred. There needs to be a change in legislation and an awareness campaign informing and educating people that it is not about taking their fun away. It is about providing a more equal society and a safer place for women and children."

The petition was heard by the equal opportunities committee, who will hold the summit on February 6. They will hear from academics and sex abuse speakers such as Ray Wyre.

Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, said: We need to hear from academics who work in this field about whether they think pornography is harmful and how serious a problem it might be. We don't expect any of them to say it is a good thing so the next question will be what we can do about it. There are those who say it should be banned completely.

MSPs and selected experts will also look at restricting the sale of porn in newsagents and corner shops.

Catherine Harper, of Scottish Women Against Pornography, said: The law does not allow racial hatred and it should not allow sexual hatred against women either. I am encouraged by the political support our campaign is receiving and hopeful this might lead to change. Legislation will take time but parliament needs to hear the wealth of evidence of the links between pornography and violence. I have very high hopes that this problem is going to be tackled.

Avedon Carol, of Feminists Against Censorship, said: Aside from the explicit civil liberties dangers, a ban won't achieve anything. It is actually going to create more crime and violence - what is the purpose of making people criminals? Researchers have tried to prove there is a link between pornography and sexual violence but none of them have really achieved that. All of the studies are flawed in some way - there really isn't any scientific evidence to justify a ban.

   
Cologne's pleasure tax take increases

From Hemel Hempstead Today

Cologne in Germany will earn a record 828,000 euros (555,000 pounds) in "sex tax" revenues this year, a figure well above expectations when the levy was first introduced in 2004.

Cologne officials said that the sex tax component of the "pleasure tax" had jumped from 790,000 euros in 2005 to about 828,000 this year.

Cologne has been charging prostitutes a flat 150-euro per month tax since 2004, replacing a voluntary reporting scheme.

In 2006, the city introduced a new 6-euro per day fee for "part-time" prostitutes who had claimed the 150-euro monthly fee was unfair. Authorities said many prostitutes had documents proving they were only working a few days each month.

Prostitution is legal in Germany and sex workers are required to pay tax on their income and a value-added tax.

   
Blair blocked safety measures out of fear of headlines

From The Observer

Downing Street blocked moves that would in effect have legalised prostitution because the Prime Minister was so concerned that 'hostile headlines' would wreck plans to make sex workers' lives safer.

In a passionate article in today's Observer, Katharine Raymond, a senior adviser to the former Home Secretary David Blunkett, reveals that he wanted to liberalise the law, allowing 'managed areas' for prostitutes similar to those in mainland Europe. Experts say that such areas would mean that sex workers, such as the five women killed around Ipswich over the past month, would be at less risk of attack.

Today Raymond, who was one of Blunkett's trusted special advisers overseeing prostitution policy for more than three years, calls for the legalisation of prostitution and argues that current policy is 'a disgrace' caused by 'political cowardice' and public indifference.

The uncomfortable reality is that, while these pitiful girls and women cater to an eternal consumer demand, their lives are being put at greater risk by the lamentable failings of both government and law enforcement, she says.

Raymond's attack is significant because it is the first account from inside the Home Office of how attempts at liberalisation foundered. She worked closely with ministers in drawing up a consultation paper called 'Paying the Price', which she said was designed to trigger a 'serious debate' about legalised brothels and red-light zones managed by local councils.

Raymond says there was 'opposition from Number 10, which was terrified of a hostile media response'. The paper eventually surfaced only because Blunkett wanted what he called a 'grown-up debate'. However, a few months later he resigned and the issue passed to his successor, Charles Clarke. The result, says Raymond, was a 'watered-down series of proposals' that has still not been implemented.

Blunkett insisted yesterday there was no pressure from Downing Street and blamed the previous reticence of many commentators now advocating reform for the fact that it came to nought. A spokesman for Blunkett said: His only regret is that insufficient contributions were forthcoming from so many of those now commenting on the circumstances surrounding the tragic murders in Suffolk and, had they done so at the time, it may have been possible to have had a sensible debate about the issues then.

When the paper was eventually published in July 2004, it duly triggered hostile comments from media and, more crucially, the police. After consultation the then minister, Fiona Mactaggart, published proposals in January this year offering only a minor change, allowing a maximum of two prostitutes to work together for safety from a flat. Tolerance zones were ruled out.

Home Office sources last week declined to say when the law might be changed to allow even this limited reform: John Reid, the Home Secretary, is said to be reluctant to debate the issues while the murder hunt continues.

Raymond, however, argues that the 'useless' laws governing prostitution should be scrapped and brothels legalised, with pilot experiments to show whether managed zones can work, too. Liverpool council had been poised to start such a pilot in the wake of the Home Office's initial consultation, but needed a go-ahead from ministers that it did not get.

   
Murders remind of the dangers of forcing sex workers into the cold

Comment from Paul

Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull said British police chiefs were "emotionally overwhelmed" after learning five prostitutes had been found dead. He said there was "stunned silence" when a meeting of police commanders was given the news.

These tragic events have clearly overwhelmed us... emotionally, said Mr Gull, who is leading the hunt for the serial killer targeting women in the Ipswich red light area.

Maybe they'll think of that when they are persecuting sex workers in future

Comment from The Times, by Alice Miles

How we let Gemma and Tania down

The case for legalised prostitution is clear

What a shame that all the prostitutes murdered in Ipswich were not the product of broken homes. It would have made a solution so much simpler, at least to propose if not to enforce: marriage for all, home by nine, in bed by ten. Unfortunately one of the girls at least appears to come from precisely the kind of nice middle class two-parent happy family background that is supposed by many jumping on the Conservative Party’s new-old bandwagon to preclude drug taking, poverty and misery.

One thing I can predict with utter certainty: neither the Conservative nor Labour parties will propose the sort of steps that would have protected Gemma and Tania and Anneli and, as looks grimly inevitable, Paula and Annette. The solutions are too unpalatable for polite politics, which relies on middle-class votes in “nice” areas like Suffolk for election.

First, brothels: proper, clean, large-as-you-like, licensed knocking shops, with medical checks and protection for the girls. And tax credits too. Not all prostitutes would want to join one, but at least they would have a choice. At the beginning of this year Labour launched a “prostitution strategy”, after the most thorough review of the law in half a century. It abandoned ideas for managed zones in non-residential areas and instead prescribed a crackdown on kerb crawling, early intervention, efforts to tackle demand and new attempts to help women to escape from the lifestyle. It would be laughable if it weren’t so serious and so sad: a pathetic range of tried and failed “policies”. The only promising proposal was to allow up to three women to operate from the same premises in sort of mini-brothels without facing prosecution; but there has been no sign since of the legislation needed to implement it.

What there has been in a concerted focus on kerb crawling, with zero-tolerance zones and the increased use of ASBOs — recently introduced against women working as prostitutes in Ipswich — which have forced the women into ever darker corners and more quickly into strange men’s cars in order to evade arrest. And that, according to prostitutes in Ipswich and elsewhere, has left them more vulnerable than ever. Funny how silent Home Office ministers have been this week; it normally takes but a headline or two for John Reid to pop up flashing a stiffer sentence or a fundamental review.

And that would be easy compared with addressing the drug issue: Gemma Adams, like many of the prostitutes on the streets of Ipswich, was a heroin addict. How much evidence does the Government need before it concludes that heroin should be prescribed on the NHS for addicts to short circuit the personal and public chaos an addicted life generates? It doesn’t mean that society condones heroin use, any more than it condones or condemns the use of Prozac or benzodiazepams; but it does mean recognising addiction as a physical condition and not just a moral failure.

We can only hope that Mr Cameron heard the London prostitute interviewed on the Today programme (with a sort of “we don’t do this very often” apology from the presenter by way of introduction for listeners of a moralistic bent). She explained eloquently how she turned to prostitution because she needed money to raise her children, and didn’t want to work long hours in a supermarket never seeing them. Money, Mr Cameron: it is the basis of general wellbeing if you haven’t got enough of it, and any family in a low-income bracket needs it, married or not.

It didn’t require the deaths of five women to tell us any of this. Nor is there a society on earth that can prevent the violence of the occasional serial killer. What we have done is offered up the street girls as easy prey while turning up our noses at them and their way of life and turning our backs. Despite the rest of the country talking about the murders in Ipswich, the Prime Minister had nothing to say about them at his press conference yesterday.

If these deaths have helped to shine a light on the desperate world that exists outside our front doors and under our eyes, well at least that is something. Not much of a consolation to their families and friends, is it?

From The Independent

Plans to get prostitutes off the streets by allowing two or three to work in "mini-brothels" are still being considered by ministers almost a year after they were first floated by the Government.

The Home Office said it was still "consulting with stakeholders" and hoped to announce its conclusions shortly. But a spokeswoman said last night: "We haven't got a date."

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, demanded urgent action. While the Government has seen fit to legislate endlessly in the areas of criminal justice and counter-terrorism, it has failed to put forward serious proposals for the reform of prostitution.

Fiona Mactaggart, the former Home Office Minister, who drew up the proposals, said: It's shocking it takes a tragedy like this to realise this is really urgent. But the best we can do is to make sure we take the steps we have already identified. It's what we owe those poor women who have been murdered by this evil individual or individuals.

The Home Office this year abandoned plans, put forward by David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, for "licensed red light districts" where vice girls can operate legally.

Blair's official spokesman said: There's no real evidence we can find that formal managed areas can actually deliver in terms of improving the safety of those involved in prostitution." Allowing up to three prostitutes to work together was an "active consideration".

5.5 million Brits live abroad

From The Telegraph

One in 10 British nationals now lives abroad, with Australia and Spain the two favourite destinations. Last year, nearly 200,000 moved overseas to settle bringing the total number to more than 5.5 million.

Another one million are set to pack their bags for good over the next five years and a further 500,000 live abroad for part of the year, either because they work in other countries or have second homes.

The research from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) shows that the British are the most footloose people in the world. Not only do more British live abroad than any other nationality, they are also more spread out.

There are 41 countries with more than 10,000 British living there and another 71 countries with more than 1,000.

The latest research shows that far from being pensioners looking for a retirement in the sun, many leaving today are young and highly skilled. Four in 10 emigrating in 2004 were in managerial or professional occupations.

The second largest group, particularly in Europe, are the middle-aged, retired or semi-retired, who are investing in foreign property.

As Spain and France become more expensive, the British are moving eastwards. There are 10,000 living part-time in Bulgaria.

The current emigration is more than balanced by the record numbers of foreigners arriving in Britain, with net immigration running at around 200,000 — easily the highest in the country's history.

Official figures show that the non-white British population grew by more than half a million between 2001 and 2003 while the white British population fell by more than 100,000, largely because of emigration and a low birth rate.

Norwegian court rules that striptease is art

From the BBC

A Norwegian appeals court has ruled that striptease is an art form and should therefore be exempt from value-added tax (VAT).

The owners of the Diamond Go Go Bar in Oslo had refused to pay VAT of 25% on entry fees as tax authorities demanded.

The local authority had taken the club to court over its refusal to pay tax.

The lawyer for the club's owners argued that striptease dancers were stage artists just like sword-swallowers and comedians and deserved the same status: One can suspect there were moral scruples behind the tax authorities' claim since all forms of stage dance are free of value-added tax,

Striptease, in the way it is practised in this case, is a form of dance combined with acting, the judges ruled. The court's ruling upholds an earlier verdict of May 2005.

The court ordered the state to cover the court costs of the owners of the bar.

Woman seeking to prevent the 'import' of Thai wives

From Capitol Hill Blue by US TV host & columnist Bonnie Erbe

Let's not just make it tougher for American men to hook up with "mail order brides" over the Internet and import them, let's ban the practice altogether.

In one of the more laudable acts of his tenure in the White House, President Bush earlier this year signed into law the "International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005" or IMBRA. The law imposes some tough restrictions on men seeking to import wives.

But I say the mere act of deciding to marry someone from a foreign country who is just about guaranteed to be less well educated and a lot less well off financially, creates such an incurably unhealthy imbalance of power in the union, even horrifically burdensome regulation won't suffice.

The law requires before any foreign woman's contact information is sold (by an Internet marriage broker) to an American man, he must disclose his criminal and marital background. It also requires the agency brokering such relationships to obtain the man's record from the National Sex Offenders Public Registry database, translate it into the woman's native language and give her a copy.

An Internet search for the words, "mail order brides abuses" brings up articles entitled, "A license to Abuse" and "Mail Order Misery" among many others. Tales of brutalized and murdered women are legion. The situation is not new, although the Internet is clearly increasing opportunities for men to find developing nation wives (very few so-called mail order marriages if any are between American men and women from other developed nations.)

The New York Times reports, In 1998, fewer than 2,500 foreign women applied to become permanent residents under the Violence Against Women Act (of which IMBRA is a part) which allows abused wives to apply for residence without the support of their husbands. In the fiscal year that ended in September, 9,500 applied. That's a 400% increase in six years. The paper quotes the INS saying some 37,500 women entered the country last year on fiancee visas or temporary visas for spouses of American citizens, up 50% from three years before.

Who pays these women's health care bills when their husbands beat and abandon them? Most likely, the American taxpayer.

I don't assume all such marriages end badly. Perhaps many last long and end blissfully "until death doth them part." That aside, it still seems a bizarre and unappealing choice for an American man to set out to marry a woman on the basis of a preconceived notion that she emanates from a submissive culture. And submissiveness is key, as the men portrayed in the Times article make clear.

It all started with women's lib', said Sam Smith, a former salesman of insurance and mutual funds, who founded I Love Latins in Houston six years ago. 'Guys are sick and tired of the North American me, me, me attitude.'

Two thoughts in closing. We are already a nation divided on mass immigration with polls showing more and more Americans want limits to the number of foreigners granted citizenship. Do we really want another 40,000 plus people entering the United States per year to satisfy men who cannot seem to find suitable mates among America's already copious supply? And, if the mail order marriage industry is so great for women, then why aren't American women flocking to the Internet to find foreign husbands?

From The Guardian

A parade of prostitutes by police aimed at naming and shaming sex workers in southern China has sparked a backlash by an unusual coalition of lawyers, academics and the All-China Women's Federation.

As part of a two-month crackdown on vice in the booming city of Shenzhen, public security officers hauled about 100 women and some of their male customers through the streets on November 29.

Handcuffed and wearing bright yellow prison tunics, people in the parade attracted large crowds of curious onlookers. Although the women tried to cover their faces with surgical masks, it was not enough to hide their identities because police revealed their names, hometowns and dates of birth while publicly sentencing them all to 15 days in prison.

In a sign of the increased consciousness of individual v social rights, police were criticised for going too far. I think the parade is a violation of human rights, said Ai Xiaoming, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong. The public humiliation may frighten people, but it is not a good way to resolve problems. And it is not fair. Why are only sex criminals paraded in public? What about people guilty of graft and corruption?

The All-China Women's Federation filed a formal protest to the ministry of public security, saying the parade was "old-fashioned", "damaging to social harmony", and "an insult to all the women in China". Legal questions were also raised by Yao Jianguo of the Shanghai Promise law firm, who has written a letter of complaint to the national people's congress in which he accused the police of acting illegally and violating human dignity.

A third of Amsterdam's red light windows to go dark

From the BBC

Authorities in Amsterdam have ordered 33 sex clubs in the Dutch city's famed red light district to close by the end of the year.

The clubs, 20% of those operating in Amsterdam, have lost their licences or had an application for one turned down. The move affects a third of the windows where scantily-clad women are on show.

It follows a police investigation which revealed that a number of sex clubs were involved in illegal activities such as money laundering.

We're not knights on a morality crusade, and this is intended to target financial crime, not prostitution per se, city spokesman Martien Maten said: But we do think it will change the face of the red light district.

The owners of the affected clubs are able to appeal against the decision in court.

From The Telegraph

The land of the free has become the home of the rude thanks to the "arrogant" and "unpredictable" immigration officials who police its borders, according to a survey of travellers.

The nation that once welcomed all, is now considered the world's most unfriendly.

Visitors are staying away, costing the country billions of dollars in lost revenue, and the situation threatens America's already battered image, according to the group behind the survey.

The Discover America Partnership, a group of travel industry leaders, found that two thirds of the 2,011 foreign visitors it questioned found America "the worst country in the world" in the way they were treated.

Visiting the United States and interacting with the American people can have a powerful, positive effect on how non-US residents see our country, Geoff Freeman, executive director of the DAP, said. Unfortunately, perceptions of a 'rude' and 'arrogant' entry process are turning away travellers and harming America's image.

The survey of visitors from 16 countries showed that the US was ranked "the worst" in terms of visas and immigration procedures by 39%, twice as many as the next destination considered unfriendly, the Middle East and the Asian subcontinent. More than half of those surveyed said US immigration officials were rude and two thirds said they feared they would be detained on arrival for benign mistakes in paperwork or for saying the wrong thing to Customs and Border Protection staff. The DAP said travel to the US from countries other than Mexico and Canada was down 17% from its high in 2000.

Earlier this year Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, promised to speed up what is for many a lengthy and expensive visa process and make the US a friendlier place to visit. But critics say they have yet to see evidence of improvements.

The UK Government have announced a new Criminal Injustice Bill in the Queen's Speech.

This will make it a criminal offence to view images of rape and sexual torture. Offenders would be liable to be jailed for up to three years, even if the images actually featured actors who had given their consent.

From AVN

Those who like their Las Vegas lap dances with some fondling and caressing will have to go elsewhere after the Nevada Supreme Court banned dancers from getting too hands-on with their customers.

In a 5-2 decision Thursday, the high court upheld a Las Vegas ordinance that bans exotic dancers from fondling or caressing patrons to sexually arouse them.

Although a lawyer for some dancers said the measure effectively bans lap dancing, the city says strippers can continue to grind on their customers but must keep their hands to themselves.

Las Vegas police had cited 14 dancers for violating the ordinance for such activities as rubbing their breasts on customers’ faces and grinding their buttocks on customers’ groins.

A number of Las Vegas dancers challenged the law and a lower court agreed, saying the measure was too broad and unconstitutional, prompting the high court to step in and adjudicate the matter.

The ruling, however, would not affect a Clark County ordinance on clubs which allows erotic dancers’ clothed pubic region and anus to make contact with a patron’s legs during performances. Las Vegas is located in Clark County.

The dancers said they are weighing their options about on whether to proceed further with their case.

Based on an article from Mainichi

Tobita Shinchi is a distric standing on the site of the its predecessor, the old Tobita Yukaku (licensed brothel quarters), which was founded in 1918. After the Anti-prostitution Law went into force in April 1958, the old two-story establishments therein officially became "restaurants." But young women still sit by the ground floor windows waiting to escort male customers to rooms upstairs, assisted by businesslike crones who handle the negotiations.

At the 80 to 90 establishments currently operating in Tobita, rates begin at 11,000 yen (£50) for 15 minutes, rising to 16,000 yen (£75) for 20 minutes and 22,000 yen (£100) for 30 minutes; but discounts can be negotiated, especially with some of the older gals or when business is slow. Once inside the room, time is of the essence, and the standard method of getting clean prior to performing the act is a few quick swipes with a pre-moistened towelette.

After absence of five years, the first thing that struck Asahi Geino's reporter is how the quality of women working at Tobita had considerably improved. Some gals were even outstanding -- as cute, he said, as the "idols" that appear on TV.

What's the explanation for the sudden appearance of these lovelies?, wonders Asagei's reporter.

The quality has definitely improved over the past three years, says the editor at a magazine covering Osaka's "pink" trade. One theory is that a major police crackdown of 'fashion health' massage parlors at Daikokucho, which had the city's biggest pink area, drove the girls to work at Tobita.

Apparently Tobita gets away with things that would bring down the authorities elsewhere.

In the past, Tobita's workers featured a high percentage of women from Okinawa or Kyushu, who came to the big city in search of work. But recently, writes Asahi Geino's reporter, a surprising number of local Osaka girls can be found working there. The reason is simple economics. A gal's cut of the house take is 60 percent. By servicing 10 Johns a day, she clears about 100,000 yen -- an income no massage parlor or soapland can match.

More girls at Tobita are making efforts to cater to customer fantasies, such as by adorning themselves in maid costumes or wearing glasses to give them a more "intellectual" appearance.

Asahi Geino's survey of Kansai red light districts doesn't stop at Tobita. A map of the region identifies now fewer than nine locales where houses of prostitution operate openly. Osaka proper boasts two other red-light areas: Matsushima Shinchi in Nishi Ward (70 shops) and Imazato Shinchi in Ikuno Ward (30 shops), bringing the city's total to nearly 200. And other red-light areas can be found around Kannami Shinchi in Amagasaki City (30 to 40 establishments); Shintaizan Shinchi in Izumi City (30 establishments); Gojo Rakuen in Kyoto (15); Ikoma City (10); Takii Shinchi in Moriguchi City (10) and Tenno Shinchi in Wakayama City (5).

Based on an article from The Irish Independent

Prostitutes working in Dublin are now making significantly more money than they can earn in most other European cities, and a senior garda says our law-makers should consider legalising the business.

Gardai say that Eastern European girls are charging punters up to €400 an hour. Average half-hour rates are now running at €130 which compares to just €50 for the same period in cities like Hamburg and Amsterdam.

A major investigation into the brothel bosses has resulted in four facing charges for brothel-keeping and organising prostitution and files on the other two are set for the DPP.

Detective Superintendent John McKeown, who heads Operation Quest at Store St Station, says that there is no evidence that any of the girls are being forced into prostitution, none is underage and most pocket 50% of their earnings.

He says the oldest profession in the world is experiencing similar benefits of our booming economy as other industries and Dublin is now a highly sought after place to work. And he believes that politicians should considering legalising prostitution in a bid to monitor it properly and offer more protection to girls.

We have carried out an in-depth investigation into organised prostitution over the past 18 months and we have found no evidence of exploitation or trafficking. There are no gangs involved and there is little violence.

The youngest girls appear to be 19 and most are in their 20s and early 30s. We have found no evidence of underage girls working - the pimps don't want to bring that kind of attention on themselves. The girls are working because they want to make money and Dublin is somewhere that they can earn a lot of money," Detective Superintendent McKeown said.

I was very surprised when we started this investigation to find that a lot of the old myths regarding prostitution have gone out the window. It is a service that is in demand and there is a lot of money about nowadays. To put it simply, there is room for everyone and plenty of work. The pimps know one another and work side by side. They don't want trouble and there are rarely disputes."

Polish, Slovenian and Lithuanian girls make up the vast majority of foreign prostitutes working here. They work in six to twelve months stints, then return to their homelands with money to invest or save. According to gardai, they work in small brothel units in many major apartment complexes around the city centre and can vacate the flats within minutes if required.

They usually operate for a few weeks before we start getting complaints about the comings and goings. Then they will close up and rent out a new apartment within days. They are very resilient and just keep coming back.

Operation Quest have also investigated a number of lap dancing clubs but say they have found no breaches of the law within that industry and no exploitation.

Again the girls are here willingly and it is their choice to work in the business: they are earning a lot of money. They seem to be very happy doing what they are doing. They are not breaking any criminal laws. Obviously prostitution is morally wrong but there are no laws being broken because the girls aren't soliciting sex on the streets, said McKeown.

We do not go after the girls - we wouldn't even consider doing that. It is the organisers that we are interested in, But the fact is that prostitution is here to stay and perhaps it is time that our legislators started to consider making it legal and getting a proper handle on it. Of course that would mean that taxes would have to be paid and maybe Dublin wouldn't be as lucrative a place to work.

Hopefully the clever lads at the local copy shop can work round this worrying development.

From X Biz

The new Vista operating system will employ harsh anti-piracy measures, including the ability to cripple computers found to be running unlicensed copies, Microsoft officials said.

Microsoft said users with unauthorized copies would be denied access to several of the operating system’s new features, including Windows Aero, an improved graphic technology.

If a user with a pirated copy does not purchase a legitimate copy within 30 days, the system will end functionality by restricting Internet browser access to one hour at a time, Microsoft product manager Thomas Lindeman said.

According to Lindeman, users on restricted access would be able to go online, access hard drive documents and web-based email. But the user would be barred from directly opening documents on the desktop and would not be able to run other programs such as Outlook.

Lindeman said the new Vista system would be able to perform some piracy checks without having to contact Microsoft.

Endpoint Technologies Associates analyst Roger Kay said Microsoft has a legal right to institute the harsh anti-piracy protections, but added the company would likely face some level of consumer backlash.

Based on an article from News.com.au

The Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) chairman Robert Needham has released findings from a recent inquiry into escort services, rejecting calls for them all to be legalised supposedly in a bid to stamp out illegal and dangerous trade.

The CMC has recommended combating illegal prostitution through further cracking down on advertising, disabling telephone numbers used to advertise illegal prostitution services and creating new offences targeting illegal escort agencies.

In Queensland it is only legal for sole prostitution operators to provide in-house services and visits to a client's home, and for licensed brothels to provide in-house services.

All other prostitution services, such as independent "escort agencies" and call outs from licensed brothels, are illegal.

Needham has said a previous CMC probe into prostitution found large-scale organised crime "virtually non-existent" in the industry. However legalising escort prostitution would lead to "just too many risks", he said: This could include an expansion of the industry which could lead to more organised crime and sex trafficking, as the industry attempted to meet the increased demand for sex workers and the illegal industry competed with the legal industry.

Nor are we persuaded that legalising escort services would actually encourage illegal operators to move across into the legal industry - an argument frequently put forward for legalising outcall services. Instead, he has said, the existing legal industry should be supported through attacking illegal trade.

The CMC's recommendations include requiring ads for social escorts to include the prominently displayed words "non-sexual" or "sexual services are not provided".

A few lost customers for Walking Street then

From Asian Sex Gazette

South Korean "sex tourists" could lose their passports under new proposals to crack down on prostitution at home and abroad.

The proposals and others directed at the Korean market were announced by the ministry of gender equality and family to mark the second anniversary of an anti-prostitution law.

Since then, the number of brothels has fallen and more sex workers are training for new jobs, vice-minister Kim Chang-Soon was quoted by the Korea Times as saying: However, there are also new kinds of problems to deal with, such as the sex trade going underground at hotels, massage parlours and bars, and the growing number of people going overseas to buy sex.

Kim said the government would form a special team to monitor Koreans buying sex overseas and investigate Internet dating services which were sometimes a front for the trade.

Under a new law being drafted, authorities will be empowered to shut down hotels, massage parlours, karaoke bars and other establishments found to be offering sex. Building owners could be punished for knowingly renting space to sex operations.

While the number of brothels has fallen since the 2004 law took effect, other establishments are filling the gap by providing what were described as "male resting rooms".

Better than being PC whoozies like the Aussies

From The Telegraph

Australian cricket fans will be asked to perform an apparently impossible act of mental gymnastics in the forthcoming Ashes series.

Cricket Australia, the sport's governing body Down Under, has ruled that visiting English fans can be called "Poms" or "Pommies" without fear of breaching the country's strict racism laws.

However, even in the heat of their desire to win back the famous urn, Australian barrackers must avoid linking the Pom-word with anything hurtful. . . racist, offensive or humiliating.

The last time an Englishman inside an Australian cricket ground was called a "Pom" without the addition of a hurtful, racist, offensive or humiliating epithet is lost in the mists of time.

Asked whether a fan who used the word "Pom" in concert with anything hurtful etc would be evicted from the ground, a Cricket Australia spokesman, described the scenario as "hypothetical".

The board's stance is based on a ruling by the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commissioner in a 1997 case, Bryant v Queensland Newspapers. It said that calling someone a Pom by itself was not racial harassment, unless said in such a way, or in combination with other acts or comments, that make it so. Phrases such as "filthy Poms" are definitely out, although the position of "whinging" is unclear.

Based on an article from the Trinidad Express

Many stops in the Caribbean island chain have become attractive and accessible options for young women whose mainstream qualifications fetch little more than minimum wage in their own countries who are finding a lucrative market for their flesh in neighbouring nations.

Our leaders know they must confront the issue. And in the run-up to Cricket World Cup 2007, there has been debate about the handling of commercial sex workers' off-field fielding.

At a two-day meeting in August, Antiguan Health Minister Winston Williams pitched the idea of legalising prostitution during the 51-day tournament. He pointed to the likely influx of sex workers in the eight Caribbean countries that will host games. By registering and regulating the women, he said, the spread of HIV can be curtailed.

Barbados and St Kitts and Nevis have said "no". While admitting it was time for Caribbean people to discuss the decriminalisation of prostitution, Kittitian PM Dr Denzil Douglas last week confirmed that sex workers won't be welcome to his shores. Days before, Barbadian Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Rev Joseph Atherley declared that his government would not allow prostitution.

Neither gentleman addressed the reality that there is already a booming trade within his shores. Nor did they speak to their strategies for preventing would-be ladies of the World Cup from getting past immigration. While warning that anyone found soliciting would be arrested, Atherley added that police and security forces "have far more sinister issues" to handle.

Maybe not. At a Caribbean Conference on HIV/AIDS hosted by the Barbados government in 2000, experts noted that mobility is linked to an increased risk of HIV infection.

A key feature of heavily touristed areas and highly mobile populations is the increased presence of a commercial sex industry, notes Dr Peggy McEnvoy in Caribbean Crossroads. McEnvoy adds that given the illegal nature of both their work and residence, sex workers are invisible to social, health and protective services.

There is hardly another organisation working with sex workers out there, noted counselling and outreach programme director Estwick Padmore. The only time you hear anything is when police raid a brothel and the next day you see four pictures on the front page and they say there were two from Columbia and three Guyanese. The majority of sex workers are frighteningly vulnerable: A large percentage of them only have very basic ideas about HIV and condom use. They don't even know how to use a condom correctly. Some men are willing to pay you not to use one... $150 or $250 more. People will go that far, so it's up to the girl to say no.

The occasional suggestion that a girl should exit the trade is usually answered with an unlikely condition: Only If I get an eight-to-four job paying adequate money.

Based on an article from The Independent

George Vos, a one-time transvestite prostitute turned entrepreneur is now the manager of Villa Tinto, the designer-finished, state of the art, super-brothel in the centre of Antwerp's red-light district intended to revolutionise the image of prostitution in Belgium.

The business, set up by a well-known Belgian businessman, Franky De Coninck, is ground-breaking in its design and in the ideas behind it. Not only was the building designed by the architect Arne Quinze - who has advised Brad Pitt on his interior décor - but it also has a host of features aimed at making life safer for prostitutes and clients.

Each room in the brothel has panic buttons in case clients turn violent. A doctor is just around the corner and, because of a biometric keypad, there is no sub-letting of any of the 51 rooms to unauthorised prostitutes.

No one here is a victim of people-traffickers and only women with EU passports can work from Villa Tinto.

It's safer, it's more open, said. Vos. There is no exploitation because the girls are free to come and work when they want. Everything is controlled.

Yet the creation of such brothels has polarised the debate in Europe over how to deal with prostitution: should it be gentrified or should those who seek to buy sex be criminalised? In Paris, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe discussed the continent's different approaches to the sex trade. Women's groups have stepped up their opposition to new experiments in tolerance.

But in Antwerp itself, Villa Tinto is deemed such a success that it features in the political campaign for forthcoming municipal elections. For several centuries, prostitution has been centred in the port district of Antwerp but, over the past few years, it has been concentrated into just three streets.

Antwerp is increasingly a model for Belgian cities and, potentially, for others in Europe. Delegations have visited from Brussels, Charleroi and Liege. Villa Tinto is trying to open another brothel in Barcelona.

With its designer credentials and reputation as a super-brothel, Villa Tinto attracts a mix of tourists and punters from across the social spectrum. Vos said: It has all types of clients, ranging from 'the normal guy working in the street' to lawyers and doctors.

From the BBC

To save its culture from supposed "pernicious modern influences", official action is currently being taken against everything from adultery to video phone calls in Cambodia.

At the turn of the year, a hapless young singer-cum-presenter was forced to make a grovelling apology on live TV after the prime minister announced that she had insulted Cambodian culture.

Her crime? Wearing a backless dress. That incident set the tone for the rest of the year.

Things which have been declared "against the culture" have included mini-skirts, dyed hair, dating agencies, beauty contests and third generation mobile phones (the kind that allow high-speed internet access).

Of course, a lot of people are wondering why on earth all this is happening now. Conspiracy theories abound, but one thing that cannot be discounted is the influence of Prime Minister Hun Sen's wife, Bun Rany. She was certainly instrumental in the rebuke to the TV presenter with the offending dress. And she was the driving force behind a petition against third generation mobile phones.

Along with other powerful Cambodian women, Bun Rany decided that these cutting-edge phones would allow would-be mistresses to bombard rich and influential men with suggestive material, leading them into temptation. We are all very concerned that bad people will use modern communication and information technology in the wrong way, and this will have a serious negative effect on morality and social welfare, said the petition from the group some have called the "Phnom Penh Wives".

Soon after, the prime minister ordered the phone operators to postpone their upgrade plans. He said it might be 10 years before Cambodian society would be sophisticated enough to use the new technology responsibly.

The authorities told Phnom Penh's first and only dating agency that its radical concept of helping women find partners was 50 years ahead of its time. And then the Miss Cambodia pageant got the thumbs down. Not only was the contest offensive to Cambodian culture, the prime minister said, it was also wrong to hold such an event while the country was still recovering from three decades of war.

To top it all off, a couple of weeks ago the National Assembly voted to make adultery a criminal offence. Unfaithful husbands or wives now face up to 12 months in jail.

In fact, many of the people I talk to think there are political reasons for the apparent moral crackdown. A friend who promotes safe sex said that if the government really were on a crusade, they would have shut down the brothels and karaoke joints where sex is sold. In fact those establishments remain in staggering numbers.

Maybe something to do with why Pattaya is popular with Korean tourists

Based on an article from Korea Herald

Two years have passed since the Special Law on the Punishment of Sex Trade was put into force, strengthening crackdown on sex businesses. Implementation of the special law that replaced the old Anti-Prostitution Law proved that a statute cannot effectively suppress trading sex as a commodity as long as there are demands for it, but it has reduce the number of women who were forced into the job as a last choice for a living.

The new law took the basic position of regarding the women as victims of social absurdities. The law exempts them from punishment when coercion by their employers is involved while operators of brothels face harsher punishment of up to 10 years in jail with forfeiture of profits from their sex trade business.

Male clients who could expect the generous "release after admonition" if caught in occasional police crackdowns in the past should now risk punishment of up to one year in prison and 3 million won in fines. The strange reality is that a considerable number of brothels still remain "in business," according to police report, although they are suffering from sharply reduced number of visitors.

What is evident is the "balloon effect" which transfers the sex trade from the traditional brothels to such legitimate establishments as massage parlors, barber shops and body care houses where lewd services are offered behind the curtain. Internet is widely used between independent prostitutes and male surfers.

In police enforcement campaigns this year, 85% of those booked were male customers, 7% were pimps and only 8% were the service women, a clear reversal from cases before the legislation.

From News.com.au

WA Attorney-General and Health Minister Jim McGinty said a working group would study the detail of current prostitution laws in other Australian states and New Zealand as part of a move towards decriminalisation.

Prostitution in WA is not currently an offence, but activities related to prostitution are illegal, including keeping or managing a brothel and living off the earnings of prostitution.

McGinty said the laws were ambiguous and did not provide a clear framework for police: Brothels in WA have been operating without any proper checks and balances for too long now, so it is time we looked at laws to properly deal with the sex industry. We want to look at the possibility of decriminalising brothels while ensuring the practice of streetwalking remains illegal.

Perth madam Mary-Anne Kenworthy said she was “rather amused” by McGinty's announcement. She said the state's sex trade laws had been reviewed several times, and no changes had ever resulted.

Police welcomed the announcement, saying the current prostitution laws were unclear and inadequate.

The working group will consult with representatives from the sex industry, local government and public health groups and report back to the Attorney-General by the end of the year.

McGinty said the Government wanted to develop laws which would be acceptable to all sides of parliament after a 2003 prostitution Bill failed to get majority support in the Upper House.

From the Daily Mail

A campaign is underway in China to find and exile a British man whose blog about his sexual antics with Shanghai women is causing rage throughout the country.

The self-confessed British bounder, who calls himself Chinabounder on his Sex and Shanghai blog, is being hunted by furious Chinese men who have threatened castration, among other things.

In his blog, the author, who claims to be an English language teacher at a university, describes himself as a "wastrel, lacking in moral fibre, but coping with the situation".

The blog's audience has swelled from 500 hits to 17,000 in recent weeks.

The blog has sparked outrage among China's men, one of whom, Zhang Jiehai, has launched a campaign to find the bounder and kick him out of the country. Jiehai, a professor of psychology at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, wrote under a post entitled The Internet Hunt for an Immoral Foreigner: I have something to tell Chinese men: please think about how these foreign trash have dallied with your sisters and made fun of your impotence. This piece of garbage must be found and kicked out of China!

Chinabounder has defended his blog and condemned the campaign to oust him by arguing that a goodly number of local men were no different to him.

The UK Home Office has published: Consultation on the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material Summary of responses and next steps

Respondents answered the question “Do you think the challenge posed by the
Internet in this area requires the law to be strengthened?” as follows:

Based on an article from the BBC

Under new laws announced on Wednesday by Home Office minister Vernon Coaker MP, anyone caught with images "featuring violence that is, or appears to be, life-threatening or is likely to result in serious and disabling injury", could be jailed for up to three years.

Groups representing adults who engage in more extreme but consensual sexual activities say the legislation represents a grey area.

Derek Cohen, secretary of The Spanner Trust, which defends the rights of sadomasochists of all sexual orientations, said the proposed legislation was more of a "knee-jerk reaction":The difficulty is that you have people who are in consensual activities and people engaged in more violent activities.

Cohen said that unlike child pornography or bestial pornography, which was easily recognisable as illegal, sadomasochists will find it difficult to know what side of the law their pictures fell: Violence is not consensual but injuries can be received in all forms of activities. People will not know whether their pictures are illegal or not. It's a very difficult area, I think the burden of proof has to be very high. If this goes through I hope it receives a lot more scrutiny."

The government move follows a consultation process after a campaign led by Reading mother Liz Longhurst. Her daughter Jane was strangled during what music teacher Graham Coutts claimed was consensual sex.

The new law will penalise possession of violent and extreme pornography both on- and offline. The government claims the new law will not target those who accidentally come into contact with obscene pornography, nor would it target the mainstream entertainment industry.

Liberal Democrat MP and campaign supporter Sandra Gidley, say the government should have acted sooner: You cannot look at this sort of material and not be affected.

Labour's Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper added: I'm delighted that our campaign has been so successful and that the government has agreed to plug these loopholes in the law.

But Shaun Gabb, director of the anti-censorship organisation the Libertarian Alliance opposes the legislation on the grounds that people should be able to look at whatever they wish: If you are criminalising possession then you are giving police inquisitorial powers to come into your house and see what you've got, now we didn't have this in the past.

From Web Host Directory

From ABC Asia Pacific

From The Telegraph

Paris chic

A threat to impose spot fines on women who sunbathe topless or in thongs on Paris Plage, a summer beach on the banks of the Seine, has left the city's mayor struggling to maintain his carefully nurtured image as a modern civic chief.

In a country where going topless on real beaches is almost de rigueur, incredulity has greeted news that city hall officials and police have been moving among sunbathers, warning them of the ban on "indecent" dress.

What is especially embarrassing for Bertrand Delanoë, Paris's openly homosexual mayor, is that Paris Plage, now in its fifth year, is intended to reproduce the ambience of a Mediterranean beach.

But the order forbidding the exposure of flesh declares: Behaviour must conform to good morals, tranquillity, safety and public order.

The penalty for going nude, topless or in a thong is 38 euros (£26). No fines have yet been imposed but the beach does not close until Aug 20. City officials insist that the rule dates from Paris Plage's origins in 2002.

From CRN
See also PornoTube

Based on an article from The Sun

UK's Channel 4 has caused a storm of protest from nutters over plans to screen a programme about public masturbation.

Wank-a-thon will follow hundreds of men and women as they pleasure themselves in a hall in central London on August 5. It will be screened in the autumn as one of three programmes on the subject in what has been dubbed 'Wank Week'.

The plan has been predictably condemned by MediaWatch UK, which has called on the Government to intervene and for advertisers to boycott C4.

MediaWatch UK director John Beyer told the Sun: We call on the Secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport Tessa Jowell to intervene to make Channel 4 scrap this tasteless idea

C4 is a public service broadcaster though it is funded by adverts and I think it could be breaking its licence agreement with the Government. Advertisers should withdraw their funding and force C4 to drop the programme.

I'm lost for words. It's a terrible idea, C4 is capable of doing superb programmes but this isn't one of them. It's bringing TV standards down once again.

The August 5 event has been organised by the San Francisco-based Centre for Sex and Culture, which has run similar public masturbation gatherings since 2001.

It is likely to raise money for safe sex charities and prizes will be on offer for those who achieve the most orgasms and break masturbation records.

C4 today defended the show. Executive Andrew MacKenzie said: "It follows on from Penis Week which was extremely successful. It's provocative, mischievous programming, exactly the sort of thing that C4 should be screening at 11pm. Masturbation is something many people do but not many talk about.