Police will launch a nationwide crackdown on prostitution, referred to as a malignant tumor on society, until October.

In recent years, police have investigated approximately 140,000 cases of prostitution annually, according to data by the Ministry of Public Security. Nearly 250,000 peope, which include prostitutes and clients, are suspected to be involved annually. The ministry said it looks into about 383 cases each day.

The three-month crackdown by the Central Committee for Comprehensive Management of Public Security and the ministry started this past weekend and will continue until October, ahead of the 60th anniversary celebration of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The two agencies will clamp down on anyone who organizes and forces women into prostitution, the ministry said on its website.

Three kinds of violators will be targeted: individuals or groups who force, tempt, permit or introduce women to prostitution; operators of entertainment venues that permit or introduce prostitution; and anyone who conducts illegal activities with minors.

The security agencies also listed three kinds of locales as high-risk: entertainment venues such as dance halls and nightclubs; service businesses such as beauty salons and massage parlors; and public places such as hotels, restaurants and rental houses, according to a statement by the ministry.

Chen Jiping, vice-director of the security committee, said: Prostitution has become a severe social issue and tangible results should be achieved with this new crackdown. Prostitution has grown in recent years, according to the ministry.

He required the police departments in the country to call upon the public in helping them in the crackdowns.

The Rhode Island Senate has passed a bill outlawing indoor prostitution.

Lawmakers approved the measure saying it gives law enforcement the tools necessary to prosecute indoor prostitution because current law only prohibits soliciting sex outside.

The bill, which now goes to the House, would fine first-time offenders $250. Subsequent violations would carry more repessive penalties.

It would also be a misdemeanor for landlords and property owners to allow prostitution on their premises. That offense would carry a fine of up to $1,000.

Similar legislation passed the House in May by a 62-8 vote.

The Taiwanese Executive Yuan has stepped back from a Ministry of the Interior proposal to create red light districts with legalized prostitution due to conflicting public opinion.

It has been decided that legislation managing the sex trade needs to be mapped out before moving ahead with a study of accompanying measures.

The MOI proposed the decriminalization of the sex industry through authorizing city and county governments to set up red light districts in their respective jurisdictions during a meeting convened in recent days by the Executive Yuan’s Human Rights Protection and Promotion Committee to discuss five major human rights issues.

However, the proposal stirred controversy, with women’s groups divided between those supporting the rights of sex workers and those opposed to the sexual exploitation of women. Much opposition was also expressed by various city and county governments.

The ministry therefore proposed five major measures to be initiated in the near and mid term prior to proceeding with the establishment of red light districts.

Among the short-term measures proposed were the strengthening of the government’s clamp down on human trafficking, as well as the enhancing of health screening and care for sex industry workers, to name a few.

The mid-term measures include mapping out a set of regulations to manage the red light districts and establishing a public consensus on the issue. The regulations will cover fines and prohibitions on activities within and outside the districts, the amount of related fines for prostitutes, pimps and customers, as well as the delegation of authority to related agencies for managing the districts, among other matters.

A public conference held by experts and scholars commissioned by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission under the Executive Yuan came to the conclusion that prostitutes and their customers should not be punished.

The experts pointed to five advantages to legalizing the sex industry. First, doing so will allow the government to better monitor and regulate the industry. It will also allow for more accurate education on related issues, and facilitate better health care for sex industry workers to reduce related risks.

Morever, it will make possible the establishment of a compensation mechanism to handle disputes in the industry, as well as enable the government to levy taxes in order to enhance public hygiene, they said.

A defiant Silvio Berlusconi insisted that he had never paid a woman for sex, as pressure mounted on the Italian Prime Minister to explain his actions amid lurid allegations that he had entertained escorts and call-girls at his home.

The comments — the first since an inquiry into alleged prostitution was launched — came as an influential Catholic magazine attacked his behaviour as indefensible and accused him of causing a moral emergency in his nation.

In an interview with Chi magazine, which he owns, an unrepentant Berlusconi said he had nothing to apologise for in his private life. I have never paid a woman.

Referring to Patrizia D’Addario, the escort girl who spent a night at Palazzo Grazioli, his Rome residence, he insisted that he was the victim of a set-up. Someone sent her with a very precise aim ... if I suspected a person of anything of the kind I would keep them a thousand miles away.

Ms D’Addario denied Berlusconi’s account. She said: If he has the slightest proof to support his allegation he should hand it to the authorities.

The Prime Minister added that his estrangement from his wife, Veronica Lario, who has asked for a divorce, was a very painful wound.

His supporters fear a drop in Catholic support and yesterday Italy’s most popular Catholic magazine said that Berlusconi had passed the limits of decency. Father Antonio Sciortino, the magazine’s editor, said the Italian Church cannot ignore this moral emergency. One cannot pretend that nothing is happening.

Father Sciortino said Christians were bewildered by this climate of moral decadence and that Berlusconi had still not explained the contradictions in his accounts of how he knew Noemi Letizia, the aspiring model whose 18th birthday party he attended in a Naples suburb.

A federal judge has upheld Ohio laws banning strip club patrons from touching dancers and limiting hours for strip clubs that serve liquor.

A group of adult entertainment owners and the Buckeye Association of Club Executives, a trade group that represents cabarets and adult bookstores, had sued at U.S. District Court in October 2007 seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional.

Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. granted motions by local government attorneys to have the suit dismissed. Oliver found that the state law that bans exotic dancers and customers from touching each other does not violate 1st Amendment or other constitutional rights of the business owners. Oliver also upheld the state law that limits the hours of operation for adult clubs that serve liquor.

Oliver disagreed with claims from club owners that the no touch law violated freedom of speech guarantees, and also disagreed with arguments that the ban is overly broad and could be applied to ballet dancers or other mainstream theatrical performers.

The Vietnamese Government should invest more capital for prostitution prevention activities and impose stiff fines on men who pay for the service, ministry officials have said.

Tran Van Quang of the Crime Investigation Police Department (PC14) under the Ministry of Public Security said a new law should impose fines on men who seek services from prostitutes.

Higher fines should be imposed on serial violators, added Quang, who spoke recently at a conference on preventing prostitution held in Ho Chi Minh City.

Quang said the fight against prostitution was becoming more difficult, partly because many prostitutes no longer need a mediator to find customers. Many of them use the internet and cellphones to call customers and work day jobs in massage parlours, hairdresser shops or fake cafes to disguise their real jobs. Others work in discos, karaoke bars and hotels.

Authorities estimate that there are a total of 40,000 prostitutes nationwide, with most of them working in Ha Noi, HCM City and neighbouring provinces. According to PC14, last year 866 prostitution cases were uncovered in 54 out of Viet Nam’s 64 provinces. More than 4,000 people were apprehended and taken to rehabilitation centres.

The Detroit City Council is expected to consider a broad nutter inspired crackdown that would ban alcohol at clubs that offer topless dancing.

Strip club owners are vowing a fight. Rob Katzman, owner of the Toy Chest Bar and Grille, says the potential changes would put nearly all of the clubs out of business.

Detroit has about 30 topless bars. The crackdown stems from a court battle in which a federal judge in 2007 struck down Detroit's regulations on where clubs could open and ordered them rewritten.

City staffers have recast the laws in consultation with a Tennessee anti-strip club attorney.

A panel of City Council members got their first peek Wednesday at the proposals. The panel took no action, but a majority of members appeared to have issues with revised ordinances that would stop lap dancing, close VIP rooms and force dancers to wear opaque pasties -- even at dry clubs.

Members Martha Reeves, Kenneth Cockrel Jr., Sheila Cockrel, Monica Conyers and Alberta Tinsley-Talabi all expressed problems with the alcohol ban.

Several worried it would invite more lawsuits from the clubs. There are all kinds of people in this world, Reeves said: The first thing in my mind when I read this ... was it was written by a minister.

Pastors and nutter leaders have pushed for the changes. Despite the ban's chilly reception Wednesday, it appears some in the religious community will continue to push it. Richard Mack, a member of Perfecting Church who has been vocal on the issue, said what I see, I like.

OUTBREAK! 16 ADULT FILM STARS TEST POSITIVE FOR HAVING HIV! screamed the headline on MediaTakeOut.com — and its lead paragraph wasn't much better, claiming that, According to Los Angeles officials, 16 adult film performers have "recently" tested HIV positive

But unless you're speaking in geological terms, most people don't define "recently" as five years ago, and four of the cases included in that 16 are Darren James and the women he infected, Lara Roxx, Merisa Arroyo and Jessica Dee.

But scare headlines are what sell newspapers and move websites up in the Alexa ratings  when what's called for is objective, factual reporting.

So here are a few of the obvious factual errors and misleading statements contained in the recent news stories:

In all, 16 men and 5 women who worked as adult film industry performers contracted HIV between 2004 and 2008: As the L.A. Times notes, that number, which it says came from the County Department of Health includes both the cluster around Darren James, one transsexual performer who contracted the infection at roughly that same time ... and 10 ... cases involv[ing] men who had sex with other men.

But that "detail" simply raises more questions. It's well known that some men have sex with other men, including both gay and straight male porn stars, but the difference between them is that gay porn stars generally don't get tested for HIV on a regular basis, while the males in hetero movies do. And sadly, that lack of testing combined with the subgenre of "bareback" productions is a volatile combination.

So: Subtracting the four Darren James-related cases in 2004, the one transsexual case from that time, the 10 cases of men who had sex with other men, which may be related to the gay bareback industry — that too awaits confirmation — and the one case discovered last week, that leaves a total of seven cases possibly unaccounted for over that five-year period.

AVN's investigation continues, but it couldn't hurt for the mainstream press, and the adult industry at large, to heed Mitchell's admonition that, Rumor is rampant when the words 'HIV' and 'porn' are in the same sentence; the media is like a moth to a flame. We are finding that many clients, patients and companies are tempted to discuss this delicate matter with the world for whatever personal or professional gain. Fact is, that we are still awaiting final confirmation on the Patient Zero.

Call for Mandatory Condoms in Porn Production

Based on article from aidshealth.org

After the Los Angeles Times reported that as many as 16 actors and actresses in the adult entertainment industry recently tested positive for HIV, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will host a press conference, protest and rally Monday, June 15th at 9:00pm at porn impresario Larry Flynt’s Hustler/Hollywood Store on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood (8920 Sunset Blvd.) to call for the introduction of landmark California legislation that would require the use of condoms by actors performing in porn videos produced by California’s multi-billion dollar adult entertainment industry—a mainstay of the San Fernando Valley economy.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the US’ largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider, which operates the largest community-based alternative HIV testing program in California conducting more than 14,000 free HIV tests annually, believes the State of California should mandate the use condoms by actors performing in films produced by the California industry. AHF further believes a condoms in porn bill should be drafted as a worker safety provision of California’s Labor Code akin to how the Labor Code currently requires the use of hard hats and other garments and barriers as safely precautions on certain California work sites and locations.

Update: Reported cases are not currently active performers

17th June 2009. See article from pe.com

LA County public health officials backtracked on the number of previously unpublicized HIV cases in adult film performers Tuesday, saying they don't know if those who tested positive were actively working in the industry at the time. Officials also corrected the number of new cases adjusting the figure upward from 16 to 18.

On Tuesday, the department told the Times it does not know if any of the people who tested positive were actively performing in the adult film industry. County public health officials said they mislabeled all reports from the clinic as adult performers, when they had no information about their occupations.

The Adult Industry Medical Foundation, the San Fernando Valley clinic that serves the porn industry, said none of the people were actively performing when they were tested. Clinic co-founder Sharon Mitchell said each case involved either a non-performer or an aspiring actor or actress who tested positive, then dropped out of the business.

The female actress who tested positive for HIV at their clinic earlier this month remains the only case detected in a working performer since 2004, Mitchell said.

Taiwan's government is considering allowing red-light districts on the island, a minister has said, in a controversial bid to legalize prostitution.

We are currently researching this and the cabinet's human rights committee will make a decision, Vice-Interior Minister Lin Join-sane told reporters.

According to the ministry, sex workers may be licensed to work in special zones in a move aimed at better monitoring the sex trade and preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Predictably nutters are objecting. We have to be prudent as the trend is to phase out red-light districts. Our national image is very important, said lawmaker Lee Ching-hua of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT).

Under existing laws, prostitutes face detention of three days or a fine of up to 30,000 Taiwan dollars ($888) if they are caught providing sexual services. Their clients go unpunished.

While there is no official estimate of the scale of Taiwan's sex industry, it is estimated to involve up to 800,000 people. About 30 prostitutes are licensed nationwide under laws enacted in 1957. However, the government has since stopped issuing licenses, allowing these permits to be phased out.

Partly to allay the previous American administration’s concerns about trafficking, Cambodia in February 2008 outlawed prostitution. Three months later the State Department took Cambodia off its annual watch-list of human-trafficking countries. But the police read the law as entitling them to lock up all sex-workers, not help victims of trafficking.

Reports of abuses soon surfaced, at first denied by the government. But in August it halted the raids as the United Nations and NGOs expressed mounting concern. One worry was that they would endanger HIV/AIDS-prevention programmes. The prevalence of HIV in Cambodia had fallen to 0.8% of the population since the government adopted a campaign in 2001 for 100% condom use. Now, however, fearing the brothels where they worked would be raided, many sex-workers had started plying their trade on the streets or in karaoke bars, where health-care workers could not find them to distribute condoms.

Tony Lisle, of the UN’s AIDS organisation, says that since the raids stopped, HIV-prevention efforts have resumed with more success. Sex-workers in bars as well as brothels are to be covered, and the police to be encouraged to teach sex-workers about condom use. But those campaigning for sex-workers’ rights have objected, fearing that this might give the police a pretext to renew the raids.

The independent Irish Senator, Rónán Mullen, has called for the prosecution of men who pay for sex.

Mullen has moved a motion in the Seanad (Senate) calling for the criminalisation of the purchase of sex.

Currently, it is illegal to solicit or pay for sex in a public place. Under the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008, it is also an offence to solicit a trafficked person for the purpose of prostitution.

Mullen said Ireland should be a cold house for traffickers of women for prostitution, and stringent laws needed to be introduced to act as a deterrent. He claimed criminalisation would curtail demand for the sexual exploitation of vulnerable women and such measures have been introduced successfully in Scandinavia: In order to safeguard the welfare and dignity of sex industry victims, legislation must be robust. It is inconsistent to criminalise the activities of one set of abusers, the pimps and traffickers, without criminalising the actions of another set – the users.

The motion is supported by both Ruhama, an organisation which campaigns against prostitution, and by the Immigrant Council of Ireland.

In Patpong, one of Bangkok's most notorious red-light districts, go-go girls count their livelihood by the number of sex tourists they entertain.

Three inches, three minutes, 3,000 baht (£54), laughs Goy, a 25-year-old bargirl. Last summer, she and her fellow pole dancers at the Camelot Castle entertained scores of men every night — first in the bar, where they earn a monthly salary, then at the customer's hotel, where they negotiate their own rates.

But as cash-strapped tourists have turned their backs on Thailand — tourism officials say revenues will plunge 35% this year — the ranks of men cruising Patpong have thinned dramatically. On a recent Wednesday evening, just three tourists watched a visibly disgruntled Goy wiggle around her pole. My base salary was 8,000 baht (£144) a month, but now they are giving me 6,000 baht (£108), she says: I haven't had a customer in five nights, and I'm lucky if someone buys me a drink.

...Read full article

Tokyo’s Yoshiwara district is home to 40 establishments known as joho kissa (information coffee shops). Included in the 500-yen price of a beverage, the shops provide a plethora of information on the sex services supplied by the neighborhood’s soaplands.

On June 6, reports Nikkan Gendai, police raided one such shop, called the Kakuebi Haiso Center, and arrested its proprietor on the grounds that he was providing services outside the scope permitted by the Tokyo metropolitan ordinance.

This particular coffee shop steered customers to a pair of affiliated soaplands, Kakuebi Honten and Miuraya. The same day, police also raided two soaplands and arrested the owner and eight other people, on suspicion of violating the provision of the anti-prostitution law that bans brothels.

I was shocked, says a Yoshiwara denizen. A soapland is a place where you go to have sex with a masseuse. If the police were to enforce the law to the letter, they could slap the cuffs on every single soapland manager in the entire Yoshiwara area — because operating brothels is precisely what they do.

Police raids on soaplands are, in fact, infrequent occurrences. The cops had already issued several warnings to Kakuebi over the pimping activities of the coffee shop. It is hoped that other venues will be ok, and that this raid was a one off by a local upset of the police

The Government has accepted an amendment to its planned prostitution law.

Last month the Government announced it was changing the wording of the offence from controlled for gain to subjected to force, deception or threats.

Mean minded women’s groups said this was a watering-down of the offence.

Since then, the Government has accepted a clarifying amendment proposed by Fiona Mactaggart MP. Her explanatory clause reads: For the purposes of this section ‘force’ includes coercion by threats or other psychological means including exploitation of vulnerability.

During a House of Commons debate on the revised wording, Miss Mactaggart mentioned a meeting she had with Tim Brain, the Association of Chief Police Officers’ lead on prostitution and sex crimes. Having initially said that the new offence would be too complex to effectively police, he now feels, according to Miss Mactaggart, that the offence is enforceable, even in its initial wording.

The Government’s Policing and Crime Bill was introduced under former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. New Home Secretary Alan Johnson has yet to comment on the Bill’s provisions.

Policing & Crime Bill Part 2
Sexual offences and sex establishments
Prostitution

13 Paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force etc: England and Wales

Add Section 53A to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 

53A Paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force etc.

(1) A person (A) commits an offence if—

(a)  A makes or promises payment for the sexual services of a prostitute (B),

(b) a third person (C) has used force, deception or threats of a kind likely to induce or encourage B to provide the sexual services or which A has made or promised payment, and

(c) C acted for or in the expectation of gain for C or another person (apart from A or B).

(2) The following are irrelevant—

(a)  where in the world the sexual services are to be provided and whether those services are provided,

(b) whether A is, or ought to be, aware that C has used force, deception or threats.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(4) For the purposes of this section “force” includes coercion by threats orother psychological means including exploitation of vulnerability.

Lady boy "Ray" was enraged when a late-night customer on Toronto's downtown track offered him $5 for oral sex recently.

I didn't spend two hours getting my makeup on and all dressed up for that, says Ray, who usually charges $60 for the service.

These days, Ray is getting little more than callouses from standing all night as the economic slump delivers an unexpected hit to the sex trade.

Sex workers say their incomes began plummeting last fall, with johns pleading poverty and haggling over prices, and prostitutes bidding against each other.

The vices – smoking, drinking, sex – are usually bulletproof during a recession, says economist Perry Sadorsky, who teaches at York University's Schulich School of Business. So if the sex trade is hurting, we are in the most serious depression since the 1930s. This shows the magnitude of the decline. It is deep and it is problematic.

The recession has seen the street price of oral sex, the most common service, plummet from $60 last fall to $20 today. Full service involving intercourse has dropped from $150 to $80.

Sadorsky wonders if the economic crisis is forcing more people into sex work, thereby increasing competition on the street.

US spa culture is dominated by women. There are more than 14,000 spas in the U.S. bringing in around $10 billion in annual revenue, and their predominantly female clientele average more than 100 million visits per year. With all that time spent around low lighting, soft music, and heavy rubbing, it can be tough not to think of sex. But until recently, the female version of happy endings has remained doggedly taboo.

Luckily, any rules restricting female sexuality are dying as fast as Sex and the City repeats can slay them, and it was only a matter of time before women embraced the notion that quick releases aren't just for men. And with competition among spas getting ever more intense, customers are starting to demand more than just Enya and free herbal tea with their Shiatsu, according to massage therapists. It's such a well-known thing for guys, and women are finally getting more comfortable asking for it, said Anna, a self-described massage healer who has worked at several upscale spas and performed happy endings on female customers.Women are finally getting comfortable with the idea that it's ok to feel erotic in what's already a really erotic setting.

The bottom line: We like massages and we like orgasms, so why shouldn't the two sometimes, er, come hand in hand?

...Read full article

A Wikipedia for Porn has launched. Carnalpedia aims to be the definitive online resource for all things related to sex, including the porn industry.

Carnalpedia will remind visitors immediately of Wikipedia, the site that has become the web's favourite destination for finding facts on just about every imaginable topic. The layout is identical, as is navigation and organization of content within article pages. It also maintains the wiki convention of being free to access and open to anyone to create and/or edit submissions.

Although the site has only been online for a few weeks, it already contains more than 120,000 articles, including a growing list of adult movie titles, which currently sits at about 76,000.

When asked about why the web needs a Wikipedia for sex, Carnalpedia creator Jeremy Haddock said The fact that Wikipedia has a certain type of audience leaves a lot of information about sex and the adult industry either blocked or censored.

Haddock notes that all of Carnalpedia's article pages will be labeled with the Restricted To Adults (RTA) tag which will prevent them from being accessed on computers equipped with services like NetNanny which only allow age-appropriate content to be viewed.

The site is trying to avoid being a resource for people who simply want to swap adult material: only authorized individuals from approved sources are allowed to upload images.

At least one legal brothel in Nevada is trying to add men to its menu of services.

Business is down at the Shady Lady Ranch, where owner Bobbi Davis hopes to start hiring male prostitutes to add to the lineup at the small, roadside brothel to try to lure new female customers: We've had requests for men in the past, and there's nothing else like this out there.

Nevada Brothel Association lobbyist George Flint says others also have tried over the years, with little success. He argues that the business model for a brothel that caters to women just doesn't pencil out.

Seducing a woman and seducing a man in a brothel environment are different things completely. One can take a few minutes, the other can take hours. It wouldn't make money, he said.

Like Nevada's gambling, hotel and convention industries, the prostitution business has hit hard times. Flint estimates that bordellos have seen a roughly 50% drop in revenue since the economy turned sour.

At least for now, Davis plans to keep her current prices for services—$500 for two hours, $800 for three.

That may change. We're figuring that women may want a longer period of time, maybe a little more romance. They're not quite like men in that respect, she said.

Davis is drawing up her help wanted ad. She said she'll be looking for one or two men in good shape, in their mid-30s to 50s.

Ibraham, a 35-year-old Argentinean, isn't complaining. During the first five days of his Kyiv trip, he's already slept with three girls - quite an experience, he says: My friends back home told me girls here are beautiful and that you can have one for $50-100 per hour, which is good price for such beauties. And I found it all true; there's so many girls here that you could never have back home.

Meanwhile, a bunch of middle-aged guys crowd the club's two bars - Americans, Europeans, Turks, Asians, Some are sipping their drinks while scanning the crowd; the luckier ones are struggling to make themselves understood in pantomime conversations with long-legged Ukrainian blondes.

Arena's art director Vitaliy Lytvynenko says it's all normal for a club like Arena, which is centrally located and has a lot of beautiful girls.

Ukraine may be far behind Thailand on the list of sex tourists' favorite destinations, but it's moving up. One Internet sex-site administrator says interest in Ukraine has grown along with the country's international profile. It doesn't hurt that US and EU citizens no longer need visas to come here.

According to the State Border Service's statistics, a million more foreigners entered the country during June, July and August of this year that during the same span in 2004. Only a fraction of these are here as sex tourists, of course, but the increased numbers have their effect.

And statistics aside, posts in the Ukrainian sections of Web sites dedicated to sex tourism speak for themselves. I am now hooked up on these women, confesses a participant on the Web forum international - sexguide.com after his summer trip to Kyiv: The only problem is how to find excuses to spend every vacation in Ukraine.

Experienced sex tourists, like William, a 34-year-old Australian of Asian extraction and a member of the forum, rank the quality and prices of Ukraine's intimate services lower than those of Southeast Asia. But even though William's sex experience in Ukraine was not the best- the girls spoke little English, he said, the sex was mechanical, and there was some prejudice toward Asians: I have only visited Ukraine once, and the women are possibly the best-looking Caucasians in the world.

A 50-year-old American who has lived in Kyiv for three years and wished to remain anonymous says he contributes to the forum to help travelers get a true picture of the Ukrainian sex scene. There is such a concentration of prime stunning and beautiful talent here, all ready and willing, that you can meet most anywhere, from club and bar pick-up to prostitutes, for a night or week of pleasure, that massage parlors are just not on my radar screen, the ex-pat told the Web community.

The same ex-pat told that Ukraine is not yet a major destination for sex tourists because it's expensive to get here, sex providers don't usually speak good English, and the tourist infrastructure is still primitive.

As the credit crunch keeps away sight-seers and business travellers, the owners of Amsterdam's brothels, escort agencies and sex shops all grumble that those visitors who still do indulge in the pleasures of the flesh are increasingly tight-fisted.

Eva, a 25-year-old prostitute in the city's red-light district, gestures angrily in the direction of a rival who has slashed her rates as the economic crisis emboldens sex tourists to haggle.

Some of the girls are now doing it for 30 euros (£26 1,500 Baht). My price is still 50 euros (£44 2,400 Baht), but the men are playing us off against each other. Some want to pay only 20 euros (£17 1,000 Baht), she told AFP.

Eva is not the only one complaining.

Twenty-six-year-old Oxana, who shares Eva's window, says her income has halved in six months while her window rent went up 25% in January.

On a "good day", she sees six clients but sometimes only one -- at 50 euros per visitor not enough to cover her half of the 150 euro daily rent: But I can't do it for 20 or 30 euros like some of the others. That is not money.

Despite the fact that prostitution is illegal, China’s sex trade has become big business. For a country that often views the topic of sex as taboo, the sex trade in China is both prevalent and an open secret. It seems to have become so commercialized that it has even become part of the corporate scene.

The link between sex and business seems to be somewhat of an open secret. It exists, but few seem willing to discuss it openly, particularly when sex is used as part of business negotiations.

The number of women employed in China’s sex trade industry is estimated in the millions. In Beijing alone, there are 90,000 prostitutes and over 5,000 sex shops, which have opened up over the past decade. Research suggests that 50% of Beijing’s prostitutes still do not insist clients use condoms. Although China’s statistics on HIV/AIDS cases are hazy, the health risks are certainly alarming.

The common lingo for establishments where such services are available are well known to both locals and foreigners. Barbershop, massage parlour, KTV (karaoke bars); all are code words for places to go for a happy ending. A patron no longer needs to only look for the unscrupulous, rent-by-the-hour hotels, as these establishments are packaged much more professionally these days. Moreover, the extent of business travelers’ expectations for visits to sex trade workers has long since prompted mainstream hotels to incorporate the sex industry into their services (albeit in a hush-hush sort of way).

It is not printed in any hotel amenities publications, and it will never be found as part of the handy guest guide sitting on the desk in suites; but a solo male traveler may get a surreptitious knock on the door in the middle of the night by a young woman offering an in-room massage. Or for those less brazen hotels, they may opt for a more subtle midnight phone call. These tactics are so widely known that they are written about in guide books. Even the most upscale bars and clubs are frequented regularly by a steady stream of prostitutes looking for business.

The link between the sex trade industry and businesses is so pervasive that when it is required to entertain clients, that often includes bringing clients to establishments offering sexual services. And it is not as if only shady businesses or small companies would ever consider participating in such activities, because even large corporations that are household names do so as well. None will admit to doing so of course, but consider it part of the open secret.

A proposal to brand the buttocks of people suffering from HIV has caused outrage in a country ravaged by the disease.

Swaziland MP Timothy Myeni suggested making HIV tests compulsory for every person in the southern African state and then forcing those who were infected to be permanently marked with a warning logo.

Myeni claimed the scheme would help stop the spread of the killer disease by reducing sexual activity between HIV positive people and uninfected partners.

Speaking at a workshop for MPs on how to tackle the AIDS epidemic, he added: Before having sex with anyone, people will have to check their partners' buttocks before proceeding.

Swaziland Aids Support Organisation spokesman Vusi Matsebula added: His utterances represent the views of someone who is still sleeping around. Maybe the branding will help him know what kind of a person he is about to sleep with.

Swaziland has the highest HIV infection rate in the world, with around 43% of the population believed to be living with the disease.

Update: Branded as Apologetic

29th May 2009. See article from thescotsman.scotsman.com

Swaziland MP Timothy Myeni has now apologised after calling for HIV-positive people to be branded on the buttocks to stop the spread of the virus.

British justice still reduced to a lottery

The prostitution lottery clause has now been amended on 3rd Reading in the House of Commons.

There was quite a long debate about this clause with sufficient dissention about the nasty concept of strict liability to at least cause a vote.

The expenses milking Denis McShane (Labour), Fiona McTaggart (Labour) and John Gummer (Conservative) led the nasty brigade.

An amendment to limit the offence to those that know, or ought to know that the prostitute had been forced was unfortunately defeated by 285 to 201.

Some notable names for the amendment were-

• from the Shadow front bench-Hague, Letwin, Duncan, Grieve, Green, Fox, Pickles
• Shadow justice minister Garnier, as well as David Davis
• interestingly, Brazier and Richard Shepherd
• Ruffley (Tory) from the crime bill committee
• Lib dems like Heath, Howarth, Cable
• from Labour, the likes of Diane Abbott, Glenda Jackson, Clare Short, and Kate Hoey.

The next debate is at the 2nd Reading in the House of Lords on 3rd June 2009.

The current state of the paying for sex clause is:

Policing & Crime Bill Part 2
Sexual offences and sex establishments
Prostitution

13 Paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force etc: England and Wales

Add Section 53A to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 

53A Paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force etc.

(1) A person (A) commits an offence if—

(a)  A makes or promises payment for the sexual services of a prostitute (B),

(b) a third person (C) has used force, deception or threats of a kind likely to induce or encourage B to provide the sexual services or which A has made or promised payment, and

(c) C acted for or in the expectation of gain for C or another person (apart from A or B).

(2) The following are irrelevant—

(a)  where in the world the sexual services are to be provided and whether those services are provided,

(b) whether A is, or ought to be, aware that C has used force, deception or threats.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(4) For the purposes of this section “force” includes coercion by threats orother psychological means including exploitation of vulnerability.

The bill also contains the requirement that strip joints and lap dancing venues require a license from the local authority. This allows moral decisions to hide behind such justifications as being appropriate to an area. The clause excusing venues performances that are slightly less than monthly continues.

Swiss banking giant UBS is fighting plans for a strip club at its own Leisure World complex in Southampton.

The new lap-dancing club would offer pole dancing classes until 9pm when strippers will provide adult entertainment until 5am for up to 140 customers.

But UBS fears the families and young adults could be deterred from visiting its restaurants and cinema.

UBS wants councillors to throw out a licence application citing other councils who have experienced an increase in crime and disorder.

It warns the club could attract potential public nuisances to the area such as unlicensed taxis, pimps and prostitutes.

And UBS claims the proposal would harm the development of children through the overt promotion of sexual activities.

Male and female dancers are already being recruited for the lap and pole-dancing club which would create up to 29 local jobs.

Southampton councillors will decide whether to grant a licence on Thursday.

Update: Licence Granted

25th May 2009. See article from thisishampshire.net

Plans to open a strip club have been given the green light by council chiefs. Glamour lap-dancing club, which will feature fully nude dancing, could open its doors at Southampton’s Leisure World complex in as little as two weeks’ time.

Committee chairman Cllr Brian Parnell said there was no legal reason to refuse the club permission.

Italian authorities seized a collection of Big Teaze vibrating “duckies” from a local department store following customer complaint that the items were not properly labeled adults-only.

Big Teaze President Tony Levine told XBIZ the Paris vibrating duck and several other items were taken off display in the Coin Street Calzioni women’s lingerie department, and he and his team were alerted by its Italian distributor.

We were somewhat surprised as Europeans tend to be perceived as more open-minded, Levine said: However, I think we more astonished at the fact that it was Paris. We might expect this type of mischief from Red Devil Duckie, but come on now, Paris?

According to Italian news sources, the display of adult items was in violation of a new erotic sales regulation, which among other things prohibits the sale of adult products within 200 meters of a school, place of worship or similar location.

Upon responding to the customer’s initial complaint, authorities found the department store was located close to a church.

Nikkan Gendai is reporting that sex shops, which in these hard times are determined to economize on every extra yen, have begun recycling condoms.

We use condoms for blow-jobs or anal sex, says Akina, a worker at a Tokyo image club: Instead of discarding them, the manager recycles them.

First he’ll wash them in water, and then sterilize them in alcohol. Then he slips them onto a pestle (which resembles a sawed-off broom handle) and rolls them up neatly. You can’t tell them from new ones.

Since condoms cost about 100 yen each, the shop hopes to get five uses from each one before discarding.

Unfortunately, she tells Nikkan Gendai, the wear and tear of use takes a toll on the condoms, and she’s not very happy having to service customers wearing recaps: Other girls in the shop have told me that while customers were sodomizing them the latex tore and men ejaculated into their anus.

The shop’s girls have protested, but management has been insistent about using the recaps, telling female employees that recycled condoms are still an effective prevention against disease. And if the girls don’t like it, then tough titty — they can do the customers bareback.

A teenage student who sold her virginity for £8,800 on eBay could have to hand over half of her earnings to the taxman.

German inland revenue investigators are studying reports that Alina Percea, 18, was paid in cash for a weekend of sex with a middle-aged Italian businessman after auctioning her virginity online.

Prostitution is legal in Germany — where Alina studies — but sex workers are taxed at 50% of their earnings.

German immigration officials are also said to be checking Alina's visa status to see if she should even be working.

Alina has told how she had sex with her 45-year-old bidder at a luxury Venetian hotel. She said: I liked the man and got on with him well. He didn't look 45, and he seemed much younger. He paid me a lot of compliments throughout the day, and he was very funny and charming. We got on very well, and I was pleased he'd won. We kissed, then undressed each other. I'd never done that before, so I was nervous. He laid me on the bed and started kissing my body, then we had sex. I was attracted to him, so I enjoyed it.

He told me he'd like to see me again, and I agreed. I hope to see the man again - and next time I won't make him pay.

An Prostitution in Thailand is comparable to cricket in Australia. It attracts legions of fans and armies of detractors, while an ambivalent majority wonders what all the fuss is about. But the most ardent fans of Thai prostitution are foreigners.

About 10 per cent of visitors arrive to get their rocks off. In 2005 a British journalist used Thai Immigration Department statistics to show between 25 per cent and 30 per cent more men than women arrive as tourists, concluding almost a million single men travelled to Thailand for sex each year.

According to World Vision, Australians account for 9 per cent of sex tourists arriving in the region. This suggests that almost 100,000 Aussies descend every year on Thailand alone.

...Read full article

Comment: Love thy neighbour: Australia's shameful fetish

21st May 2009 thanks to Biker-UK

There's so much bollox in this article it's doubtful it's worth a reply

Prostitution in Thailand is comparable to cricket in Australia. It attracts legions of fans and armies of detractors, while an ambivalent majority wonders what all the fuss is about. But the most ardent fans of Thai prostitution are foreigners.

Fans include OTHER ASIANS, Also fans are holiday makers, couples or single women and yes they also take part...As do the disabled, the lonely, the unaccepted by society. I HAVE SEEN the tall, the short, the large, the famous, the challenged in many ways.

Not all males are sex tourists, some are love hungry, or lonely. Some just want a bloody beer in a relaxed atmosphere with maybe a scanty clad dancing babe-voyeurs check out a leggy unusually tall Asian ladyboy

Some are religious and there appetites would incur the death penalty in their own country.

...mmm paid for sex yippee skip - show me the marriage / relationship where its free

Viv had a number of theories about why Caucasian men are attracted to Asian females. First, there is the physical difference. "Perhaps it's the hairlessness of our bodies and the different feel of our skin due to the extremely healthy diet and the blackness and straightness of the hair," she said. "Everything is completely different."

Really please they're just pissed off with Caucasian women, blame law, blame food.

Hairlessness of our bodies...no clue Asian can buy razor 20p Baht. Personal grooming can not be blamed. Blackness and straightness hair, they wash it and it smells GOOD. It feels good. Long hair is a feminine trait which looks good - blame genetics {grow your hair long and wash it, only black, a bit negative but dye's cheap}

Cultural differences serve to heighten the attraction. Girls are taught to bring up a family and to know their place; to take all sorts of shit and still be courteous and long-suffering without a word of complaint

What the fuk? I am laughing so much. Get fair or argue better [Thai-Anxiety: Don't they know about sick buffalos and multiple sponsorships]

I hate this cheap shot writing, it winds me up. Pure waste of ink and world resources.

British justice still reduced to a lottery

Home Office ministers have made changes to legislation to criminalise men who pay for sex with women who are forced into prostitution.

Jacqui Smith, the expenses milking home­secretary, has backtracked little by narrowing the wording of the new offence so it covers women subjected to force, deception or threats rather than anyone controlled for gain by a third party.

A Home Office spokeswoman said it did not believe it would make the offence too narrow: Our amendments will ensure that they are and that the offence is much clearer, allowing it to operate more effectively to bring to justice those who exploit vulnerable women.

Ministers said they were responding to concerns raised by Liberal Democrats and Conservatives that the term controlled for gain could apply in wider circumstances than the new offence was aimed to cover.

The strict liability clause that men can be prosecuted even if there is no indication that a girl has been subjected to force remains. So the law is still a human rights abusing lottery. An amendment to remove the strict liability clause was defeated in a vote.

But even so the government assisted Poppy and Eaves had a good whinge in that the law doesn't cover so many transactions as they would like to see

China is building its first sexually explicit theme park, and the giant genitalia sculptures and suggestive exhibits are getting many people hot and bothered in a country where talking about sex is still taboo.

Love Land is set to open in October in the south-western metropolis of Chongqing and will feature exhibitions about sexual history and how to use condoms properly. It will also host sex technique workshops, the China Daily newspaper said.

The park's manager, Lu Xiaoqing, said Love Land would help people enjoy a harmonious sex life. We are building the park for the good of the public. Sex is a taboo subject in China but people really need to have more access to information about it.

The newspaper said that the park was inspired by a similar attraction on South Korea's Jeju island, which is also called Loveland.

Comes Too Quickly

Based on article from reuters.com

China's first sexually explicit theme park was torn down before it even started, after an outcry from officials, a Chinese newspaper has reported.

The plans for Love Land left Chongqing officials red-faced. They ordered the park torn down over the weekend, the China Daily reported. Officials called the planned park vulgar, ill-minded and misleading.

The Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee have approved a bill to criminalize prostitution that occurs indoors, with a full vote on the House floor expected  soon.

The bill, which the committee approved in an 8-to-4 vote,  seeks to rewrite a nearly 30-year-old law that outlaws streetwalkers and soliciting for prostitution outdoors, but has no prohibition against prostitution that occurs indoors.

Rhode Island is the only state, except for certain counties in Nevada, that has no prohibition against indoor prostitution.

Supporters of the bill include state and local police, who claim that it’s needed to investigate and prosecute cases where prostitutes may be coerced or forced into prostitution, generally defined as human trafficking.

Opponents of the bill generally fall into two categories: those such as the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes what it views as an intrusion into peoples’ privacy, and those such as members of Brown University Students Against Human Trafficking, who say that criminalizing indoor prostitution will mean prosecuting prostitutes, who they view as victims.

The amended version of the prostitution bill (H-5044 Sub A) includes exemptions for women who were “forced” into prostitution. Under the bill approved last night, anyone found guilty of prostitution or of procuring the services of a prostitute (both misdemeanors) would face imprisonment of up to six months, and a fine of $250 to $1,000. For a subsequent offense, they could face up to a year in prison and a fine of $500 to $1,000.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Donald J. Lally Jr said: I’m very confident we’ll pass it on the floor of the House.

Update: Mean Minded Representatives

17th May 2009. See article from boston.com

Rhode Island House lawmakers have voted 62-8 to criminalize the solicitation of sexual acts behind closed doors. It now heads for a vote in the Senate, where identical legislation is pending.

The push comes in response to years of whinges by police that Rhode Island's law essentially permitted brothels to operate in plain sight.

It's a black eye for Rhode Island, and I believe it's time we close the loophole, said Rep. Joanne Giannini who sponsored the bill ending the distinction between indoor and outdoor prostitution.

If it becomes law, prostitutes could be punished by a prison term of up to six months in prison and a maximum $1,000 fine for a first offense. Subsequent convictions would carry a prison term of up to one year and similar fines.

Those convicted of hiring a prostitute would face the same penalties.

Should adult prostitution be decriminalised totally or not?

This is one of the questions being posed by the South African Law Reform Commission in a discussion paper which has been released for public comment.

Other options contained in the document include the partial criminalisation of some forms of adult prostitution or the regulation of adult prostitution and prostitution-related acts.

Under current legislation, voluntary selling and buying of adult sex and related acts are all criminal offences.

All the proposed options presuppose the criminalisation of under-aged and coerced prostitution and trafficking of people for the purpose of prostitution, says the statement.

The release of the discussion paper will be followed by a report on adult prostitution which will contain the final recommendations of the commission. It will also include legislative proposals relating to adult prostitution.

Copies of the summary on adult prostitution are available free of charge from the offices of the Law Reform Commission. The closing date for public comment is June 30.

A recent round of staff reductions at Disneyland could result in the return of a bit of fun and public nudity at the Disney theme park.

Way back in 1997, a front-page story in the Los Angeles Times chronicled a scintillating phenomenon involving the theme park’s Splash Mountain log ride: Photos of women flashing their breasts at an automatic camera that snapped souvenir photographs during the final 50-foot drop were flashing their way around cyberspace, earning the ride the nickname Flash Mountain.

At the time, Disneyland officials blamed a rogue employee for leaking the obscene pictures of topless women onto the Web and instituted tighter photo censorsing procedures to prevent further breaches.

Over the ensuing decade, objectionable pictures of breast-baring women were washed away by Splash Mountain photo editors before they were projected on preview screens at the end of the ride, according to David Koenig, author of More Mouse Tales: A Closer Peek Backstage at Disneyland.

Now in May 2009, the Splash Mountain photo editor positions will be eliminated as part of cost-cutting measures at Disneyland, according to MiceAge columnist Al Lutz.

Admittedly the numbers of young ladies (term used loosely in this case) who lift their tops for the cameras for their shot at Flash Mountain infamy has lessened over the years, wrote Lutz, who reports that the photo editing positions were eliminated months ago at the Splash Mountain ride in Florida.

Disneyland officials confirmed that Splash Mountain photo screeners would be redeployed to other positions as of May 3. A Disneyland spokesperson said: Ride photos will continue to be monitored by cast members at the point of sale. In addition, the current screening system will remain intact to provide the option for management to initiate image monitoring if necessary.

The number of brothels in northern Jutland is increasing after Norway has banned buying sexual services.

Itchy Norwegians may be one of the reasons why the Northern Jutland police have registered an unusual increase in the number of brothels in the northernmost reaches of Denmark.

Norway banned the purchase of sexual services from January 1 this year and police believe this may have caused an increasing number of Norwegians to take ferries from Norway to Hirtshals and Frederikshavn in Denmark.

We have observed that eight new brothels have opened in the northernmost part of the region after Norway’s ban on January 1. That is a lot up here. We don’t know for certain whether it’s because of more Norwegian customers, but we assume that the Norwegian ban is playing its part, says Dep. Chief Sup. Frank Olsen of the North Jutland Police Force.

Apart from the increase in the number of brothels, there has also been an increase in the number of foreign prostitutes in the region.

But we don’t know whether they’ve moved their sex business from Norway as, to be honest, they’re not very talkative, Olsen says.

The National Comissioner’s Office says other police regions have not noted any major change in the prostitution market elsewhere in the country following the Norwegian ban.

A German court has said it would not ban a brothel set up in an apartment in a posh district in western Berlin on moral grounds after judges inspected the premises and found they were discreet.

In the first ruling of its kind, the German capital's administrative court said that it would not decide on moral or social grounds because the law authorising prostitution was not based on these considerations.

Judges visited the Salon Prestige club, just off the city's main shopping street Kurfürstendamm, and said its existence was only noticeable by an inconspicuous name plate. Opening hours were limited and the club didn't serve alcohol

The court looked into the matter after a local town councillor complained that brothels should not be opened in residential areas.

Moscow police decline to estimate how many prostitutes work in the city but media reports and rights groups say it houses more than 100 000 - roughly 10 times higher than estimates for London and New York.

Police often turn a blind eye to prostitution or ask girls for either a bribe up to 6 000 roubles or free oral sex, several prostitutes said.

Moscow police declined to comment on bribe-taking but said the fine for women selling sex is 2 000 roubles, and much higher for pimps who organise them.

With the jobless rate currently at an eight-year high and salaries shrinking across the board, prostitutes are also cutting prices.

Pay levels for Moscow's prostitutes vary widely, but many say they can eke out a decent living, earning at least $2 000 a month dealing with several men a night. A small elite charges thousands of dollars per session. Marina, 26, who offers sex through her own website, said she is now offering an all-night special at 6 000 roubles, a 30% discount on pre-crisis prices.

But with some of Moscow's wealthiest men still in the market, elite prostitutes appear to be surviving the crisis unscathed.

When sex and politics collide, it is usually no more than an excuse for some good old-fashioned crudity, along with a hefty dose of journalistic double standards and, more often than not, ministerial embarrassment. How else to deconstruct the serious but essentially misguided furore over expenses-gate, in which it was revealed that Jacqui Smith had signed off expenses for home entertainment (serious breach) that also happened to feature some smuttiness (mostly trivial)?

However, recent developments in Australia, coupled with a serious Labour obsession with sex – quite distinct from gender – raise the question of whether the issue might not eventually find its way on to the UK political agenda as a vote-winner (or loser) in its own right.

...Read full article

SP Star, Owners of Little Tokyo Showgirls, have every right to free speech but not to sell alcohol, a California appeal court has ruled.

Little Tokyo Showgirls in downtown Los Angeles in a heavily industrial area. At one point the club was a Penthouse-branded gentlemen’s club.

But the club has been road-blocked by the city Planning Commission over the issue of not being able to obtain a liquor license, which was the reason SP Star decided to sue the city. Without a liquor license, SP Star said, business partner Penthouse bailed from the deal.

But the state Court of Appeal affirmed a Los Angeles Superior Court order that denied a conditional use permit allowing liquor sales at the club. In the suit, SP Star said out that if it would sell liquor, it would be required by Alcoholic Beverage Control regulations to limit its entertainment to topless dancing on a stage at least six feet from the nearest patron.

The city zoning administrator agreed to grant the permit for one year. But later, the Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple and the operators of the Fukui mortuary appealed the zoning administrator’s decision.

Fukui voiced 'fears' that sale of liquor 'so close' to the mortuary would lead to mourners being disturbed. Fukui is three blocks from the club.

City Council members also opposed the permit claiming that that disaster follows if you combined alcohol, testosterone and late hours.

A Planning Commission official also predicted the facility would become a magnet for inmates being released from the Twin Towers county jail a few blocks away, and for denizens of the nearby Skid Row area.

American burlesque artist Dita Von Teese has urged her fellow performers to defy a new law banning nightclubs from having stripper shows without a licence, saying it is what makes risqué dance routines exciting.

The artist is adamant that strippers should always strive to bend the rules, as it is a tradition in the saucy trade.

It’s not unusual for burlesque to be regulated because it always has been, and the stars of burlesque from the past had to deal with it, Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

The challenges of getting around the laws and the risque element were always a part of what made burlesque exciting. Perhaps these clubs will install the historic `red light, green light` that they had in burlesque clubs to tell the performers whether the cops were in the house or not, she added.

Major music venues in central London face having their licences revoked if they continue staging burlesque events.

Camden council has warned that any establishment putting on burlesque will be treated as a strip club and have to pass repressive licensing procedures.

The move jeopardises the future of shows at some of the biggest venues in the capital, such as the Roundhouse, KoKo and the Proud Gallery.

Burlesque - which features partial nudity and striptease - is considered art by its advocates and distinct from the activities of lap-dancing clubs.

Performers such as Dita Von Teese have led a resurgence in burlesque which has attracted a celebrity following including the likes of George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

But Camden has deemed burlesque too risqué for normal pubs and clubs and has told venues they must reapply for adult entertainment licences as officials insist it should be classed as adult entertainment of a sexual nature.

The council said: Camden's licensing policy states that any premises in the borough that wishes to offer entertainment involving nudity, striptease or other entertainment of an adult nature will need approval from the licensing authority - burlesque falls within this criteria.

Comment: Spokespillock

30th April 2009, thanks to Alan

You cite a spokespillock from Camden saying: burlesque falls within this criteria

Shouldn't a sanctimonious twat who wants to use posh foreign words at least master grammar? THIS CRITERIA????? Singular: criterion; plural: criteria.
This criterion or these criteria! Gottit?

No sex please, we're in recession.

Like many other industries, German sex workers are feeling the pain of the economic crisis, with many turning to the streets to earn some extra cash.

...Read full article

The government's law to make the buying of sex a lottery where customers could be guilty of an offence without any reasonable chance of being able to ascertain whether the girl has been pimped or trafficked or not.

Now parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights said the offence is extremely broadly drafted and noted that it applies whether or not the person alleged to have committed the offence knew or ought to have known that any of the prostitute's activities were controlled for gain.

The report said the proposed offence raises issues about whether the interference with the right to respect for private life, which includes sexual conduct, is sufficiently certain to satisfy the European Court of Human Rights requirement that such interferences be 'prescribed by law'.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker has insisted that the proposal is the most effective way of ensuring that those who pay for sex consider the circumstances of the prostitute who will be providing the sexual services. This is because it places the risk on the sex buyer of paying for sex with someone who is being controlled for gain.

But the committee said it was disappointed the government had not published any evidence to demonstrates the need for the new offence.

We conclude that the fact that the offence is one of strict liability will make it difficult for an individual to know how to regulate his conduct given that his knowledge is not an element of the offence, said the report.

We have concerns about the breadth of the new offence and its potential impact beyond the group that the government seeks to target.

In our view, the proposed offence has the potential to put women into more exploitative or unsafe situations, may not address the problem which the offence aims to target (namely exploitative prostitution) and may discourage reporting of such prostitution.

The report added that an absence of sufficient clarity about the circumstances which would be caught by the offence makes it difficult for an individual to know how to regulate his conduct so as to avoid criminality and, as such, the offence in its current form is overbroad and lacks certainty.

It welcomed a government agreement to consider a free hotline to report concerns about trafficked women, but questioned if those who used the services of the prostitutes would call the hotline if they would inevitably be admitting a criminal offence.

102 women and girls were identified as having been trafficked into Ireland for the sex industry in a 21-month period, new research has found.

Authors of the report, Globalisation, Sex Trafficking and Prostitution – The Experiences of Migrant Women In Ireland, said of the 102, identified by 10 welfare groups and service-providers between January 2007 and September 2008, 11 were children when trafficked.

The report was commissioned by the Immigrant Council of Ireland and  written by policy analysts Monica O’Connor and Jane Pillinger, uses the UN definition of trafficking. This is: The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, [or] the abuse of power of a position of vulnerability . . . to achieve the consent of a person for the purpose of exploitation.

Consent is irrelevant, according to the UN, as the vast majority of people trafficked for prostitution see little or no viable alternative at the time.

The report inevitably calls for the criminalisation of men who buy sex, as Sweden has done and as Norway is about to.

The Irish prostitution industry is worth €180 million, with one in 15 Irish men who are buying sex, according to the report.

Drawing on surveys by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and by escort agencies, it finds the men who buy sex tend to be highly educated, on middle incomes and in professional occupations. Some 61% of them are married or in relationships. A significant proportion are buying sex at lunchtime or straight after work. They are paying between €150 for half an hour and €250 for an hour.

Forbidding dancing at karaoke bars is a new point in the draft regulations on cultural activities in Vietnam.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the regulations help: prevent and roll back the use of ecstasy and many social evils in cultural activities and public cultural services.

The ministry said that it is inconvenient for tourists that discotheques and karaoke bars are not allowed to stay open after 12 at night. The new rules permit karaoke bars and discotheques of five-star hotels in Hanoi and HCM City and of four-star hotels in other provinces to open until 2 in the morning. Dancing, erotic acts, prostitution, and drug us are banned at karaoke bars.

The new decree will take effect on September 1, 2009. The draft decree has been sent to local authorities, ministries and posted on the website of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the online version of the Culture Newspaper for comment until April 30, 2009.

Marilyn Chambers, adult star of such golden age classics as Behind the Green Door and Insatiable, was found dead Sunday in the mobile home where she had been living for the past several months. She was 56, but would have celebrated her next birthday on April 22. Chambers was found by her daughter, McKenna. No cause of death is yet known, and an autopsy will be performed.

Chambers' first movie was Behind the Green Door, a landmark for its time both because it featured the 99 and 44/100 percent pure girl - Chambers had appeared recently as the cover girl on boxes of Ivory Snow detergent - and because it featured her in a scorching interracial scene with popular performer Johnnie Keyes.

In 1983, she starred in the sexy spy thriller Angel of H.E.A.T., and in '77, snagged the starring role in David Cronenberg's horror film Rabid. She also created several sexy titles for cable TV, including Party Girls, New York Nights, Bedtime Fantasies and Sextrospective.

In all, Chambers appeared in just 23 hardcore films, including Behind the Green Door, The Resurrection of Eve, Inside Marilyn Chambers, Beyond DeSade, Never a Tender Moment, Insatiable 1 & 2, Charli, Up 'n Coming, Marilyn Chambers' Private Fantasies 1-6, Still Insatiable, Dark Chambers, Edge Play, Marilyn Chambers' Guide to Dirty Dancing, Nantucket Housewives, Marilyn Chambers' Guide to Anal Sex, Marilyn Chambers' Guide to Masturbation and Marilyn Chambers' Guide to Oral Sex.

Taiwan Legislator Cheng Li-wen has announced a plan to push for revising the existing rules to decriminalize the sex trade for adults in order to eradicate sexual discrimination and protect workers' rights.

Cheng, a female lawmaker of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), said her plan has won endorsement from more than 10 colleagues of the same party, meaning the proposal of changing the rules has passed the threshold for becoming a bill that would be discussed on the parliament floor.

The proposal aims to delete Article 80 of the existing Social Order Maintenance Law, under which prostitutes are punished. Prostitutes face detention of three days or a fine of up to NT$30,000 if they are caught providing sex services. They are also required to attend training courses to learn vocational skills for a period of six to 12 months if they were convicted three times in the same year.

Cheng said scrapping the rule will legalize the legitimate rights of sex workers who provide the service between two mutually consenting adults.

Since prostitution is illegal under the current rules, sex workers are often abused. When this happens, they dare not turn to police for help, she said. Cheng said at least 5,000 sex workers are victimized by the backward rules each year, affecting the livelihood of a same number of families.

All of the 18 people representing the women's groups, housewives, sex workers, and scholars, unanimously agreed that the sex trade should not be penalized, when they attended a series of four-day public hearings on the issue held by the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) last November, pointed out Cheng.

Update: Official Promises

12th May 2009. See article from chinapost.com.tw

An organization representing sex workers once again protested for the legalization of prostitution yesterday at the Ministry of the Interior, resulting in an official promising to announce the ministry's stance by the 18th.

Four months since its last appeal, the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COWAS) returned to the ministry in demand of an official timeline.

An official from the ministry met with the collective and said that the ministry is ready to publish its directives on the issue by the 18th.

Beate Uhse, the German sex empire that is now largely in Dutch hands, says a publicity campaign is needed to attract more foreign tourists to Amsterdam's Red Light District'.

The company, that sells sex toys, lingerie, clothing and pornography, claims Project 1012 has severely damaged its business. Project 1012, named after the postal code of the Red Light District, is an attempt by the Amsterdam authorities to curb prostitution in the area. It involves the closing of dozens of window brothels.

Beate Uhse owns ten shops in Amsterdam, most of which are located in the sex district. CEO Serge van der Hooft said that the area has been a major tourist attraction: But these days many foreign tourists seem to think that the Red Light District is no more.

The Dutch government does not plan to raise the minimum prostitution age from 18 to 21, the Telegraaf has reported.

Reliable sources have told the paper that justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has decided that there would be too much opposition to an increase and it would drive younger prostitutes into the illegal circuit.

Meanwhile, the AD reports that the recession is beginning to have an affect on Amsterdam's red light district, with prostitutes reporting a sharp fall in clients and demands for cheaper prices.

The Good: Little evidence of widespread trafficking

Agencies have identified 79 alleged victims of human trafficking in Scotland between April 2007 and March 2008, most of whom were women said to be forced into prostitution.

But the only Scottish human trafficking case brought to the courts collapsed in 2007 due to a lack of evidence.

The government-published report pointed out there had been some successful human trafficking prosecutions in England and Wales, resulting in some of the largest sentences in Europe.

The Bad: Lack of evidence isn't going stop politicians claiming a widespread problem

See article from dailyrecord.co.uk

Foreign police could be drafted in to help Scots forces bring human traffickers to justice, a report said today. The Scottish Government report suggested police from victims' countries could be seconded to help local officers in a bid to tackle the problem.

Injustice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: This new research shows the scale of the problem and highlights the importance of genuine multi-agency working to ensure that victims of trafficking are given the support they need and those exploiting them are brought to justice.

And The Bollox: There are 32,000 Trafficked Women in Britain

See article from guardian.co.uk

Rahila Gupta, author of  Enslaved, The New British Slavery, claims in the Guardian today that there are at least 32,000 trafficked women in Britain. She writes:

"In Britain, it is estimated that 80% of the 80,000 women in prostitution are foreign nationals, most of whom have been trafficked".

Comment: Illiberal Liberals

3rd April 2009. Thanks to Alan

I never cease to be amazed by the way in which victim feminism makes this purportedly liberal newspaper so highly illiberal.

Gupta's piece is pretty typical. We have the "foreign = trafficked" myth. Then there's the inflated stats - 32,000 - or is it 80,000? - "trafficked" women.

Some time ago, Professor Julia O'Connell Davidson, who (a) is a real feminist and (b) knows what's she's talking about, exploded this bollox in a letter to the Guardian itself. O'Connell Davidson pointed out even the lower of these figures would amount to a number of traffickees larger than the entire workforce of Debenham's throughout the UK. Additionally, when she looked at the actual number of women found in raided brothels who said they had been trafficked as a proportion of all prostitutes in the establishments, she worked out that to arrive at the claimed figure of trafficked women there would pretty well have to be a knocking shop in every street.

Offsite: Red mist obscures red light statistics

5th April 2009. See article from guardian.co.uk by Belinda Brooks-Gordon

Campaigners too readily accept inflated figures for trafficked women, but we must base our policy on evidence, not emotion.

To argue there is a universal truth about trafficking does science, policy and trafficked people a disservice. The figure of 80,000 sex workers (which included women, men and transsexuals) in the UK was first suggested in 1999 in a Europap-UK briefing paper. Despite its speculative nature and the author Hilary Kinnell's refusal to make claims beyond her data, the estimate of 80,000 has been widely reported as a firm figure, often applying only to women and often in the context of claims that the sex industry is expanding rapidly (which cannot be the case if the figure of 80,000 has remained the same for 10 years).

Herein lies the difference between Rahila Gupta, the legion of no doubt well-intentioned commentators on this subject, and serious academics. The academic body of work takes time, has to be reviewed and scrutinised and as a result the media often loses interest by the time a piece is published. The work will be debated in conferences and seminars and flaws are ironed out. Whereas the truth so confidently exhibited by Gupta, like Nick Davies's flat earth news stories, go from press release to press agency to newsroom to Home Office to press release and so on. The result of such hyper-inflation is policy that spreads resources too thinly sometimes missing the really needy; and over-zealous campaigning that criminalises clients, friends, maids and receptionists makes women less safe. When looking for a needle in haystack, it doesn't make sense to keep making the haystack bigger. We have reached a crisis of sorts. And at a time of crisis, when there is a desperation to find the right policy, then a return to the slow, steady grind of the academe is necessary.

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