Adult World News

A business selling sex dolls has been fined over its try before you buy scheme. Lovedoll UK, was allowing potential customers a first hand experience of their product using a bedroom on its premises. The dolls cost up to £2,000 and the try before you buy option is £50.

The company's owner was fined £10,000 at Gateshead Magistrates' Court. A massive fine for a victimless crime that is many times more than for some violent crimes that have hit the headlines this week

Gateshead Council workers visited the company's premises after claims that it was a sex doll brothel. They claimed that such a use would require a sex establishment licence, which had neither been sought nor granted.

How divers would you like?

Germany is considering making state-funded feminist porn and broadcasting it to the public to combat porn stereotypes.

The material, which would include fat, skinny, young and old people will be available on the websites of public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, if the idea goes ahead.

The proposal was voted on by Angela Merkel's social-democratic SDP coalition partners at a general assembly in Berlin. The delegates accepted a proposal from their youth wing to adopt the idea of government-funded feminist pornography for educational purposes as part of their party programme.

In the proposal, the SPD wrote: Mainstream porn generally shows sexist and racial stereotypes in which consent is not a theme and certain "optimal" body types are made as standard. In these films, sex seems more like a performance or competitive sport: everything seems to work right away, there is no communication between the performers, no trying out, failure and trying out new things.

The SPD also proposes that German broadcasters ARD and ZDF buy some of those movies and offer them on their online media libraries.

Peter Stringfellow, noted lap dancing club owner, has died aged 77 of lung cancer.

He started his career is nightclub management in 1962 in Sheffield. He started by renting St. Aidan's Church Hall in Sheffield every Friday night, operating the Black Cat Club, booking some notable bands at the time. He worked his way upwards with ever bigger nightclubs featuring ever more famous bands.

n 1986, he opened Stringfellow's New York which was frequented by New York celebrities. In 1989, he opened Stringfellow's Miami, and then Stringfellow's  Los Angeles in 1990.

In 1990, Stringfellow introduced table dancing to his New York club with a licensing deal with Michael J. Peters. This became Stringfellow's Presents Pure Platinum. In 1996, Cabaret of Angels, a table-side dancing club was opened for three nights a week at Stringfellow's Covent Garden.

In 2006, Stringfellow opened his second adult entertainment club named Angels in Wardour Street, Soho. He was the first club owner to gain a fully nude licence from Westminster City Council. In 2009, he criticised the Policing and Crime Act 2009, saying the licensing changes with regards to lap dancing were unnecessary and he would be appealing to the European Court of Human Rights if his current licences were not renewed.

In 2012, he was granted the necessary Sexual entertainment venues (SEV) Licence for Stringfellow's Covent Garden and Angels Soho, and was able to successfully market Angels as providing rooms for the entertainment in privacy of young women in lingerie.

Stringfellow's Covent Garden is still operating and will continue to feature table side dancing.

A new Gallop poll has been published surveying the opinions of Americans on the subject of pornography.

For the first time, a majority of Democrats do not have moral qualms about pornography. The poll found that 53%t of Democrats see pornography as morally acceptable, an 11 point spike from last year and the biggest jump since Gallup began taking the survey in 2011.

Across a number of issues related to sexuality and sex, Americans have been adopting a more permissive viewpoint.

The percentage of all Americans who view pornography as morally acceptable jumped 7% this year to 43%. Previously the supportive fraction has risen only one or two percentage points each year.

Republican acceptance of pornographic material has also increased but remains relatively low at 27%.

A bit of local propaganda seems to give the wrong impression of the local police.

A self-appointed group of MPs, that got together for the sole purpose of lobbying for the criminalisation of sex workers' clients, conduct Inquiry and recommend the criminalisation of clients! No surprise there then.

Cari Mitchell, spokeswoman for the English Collective of Prostitutes, commented:

Criminalisation, whether of sex workers or clients, drives prostitution further underground, increasing stigma, discrimination and the risk of violence.

In Ireland, reported incidences of violent crime against sex workers have risen by almost 50%. In France, a two-year evaluation of the law found 42% of sex workers are more exposed to violence and 38% have found it increasingly hard to demand use of condom. In Norway, despite claims that sex workers have been decriminalised, forced evictions, prosecutions and increased stigma are prevalent with migrant workers particularly targeted. One sex worker explained:

Before we did not go far with the customer: we would go to a car park nearby. But now the customer wants to go somewhere isolated because they are afraid. I don't like it. There is more risk that something bad happens.

As for Sweden, the poster child for laws criminalising clients: 63% of sex workers said the law has created more prejudice; plus, there is no convincing empirical evidence that the law has resulted in a decline in sex work in Sweden, which was the law's principal ambition.

The other "revelation" from the APPG is that there has been an increase in prostitution. Ms Mitchell commented:

Blaming the internet for a prostitution "boom" puts the APPG in the same camp as Ian Duncan Smith, who notably attributed the increase in people going to food banks on growing " awareness " of food banks.

If the APPG is truly interested in reducing prostitution why isn't their headline recommendation the abolition of benefit sanctions, directly linked with the rise in prostitution, especially on the street? It seems the APPG is more taken with the sensationalised, sexed-up story of pop-up brothels. Sex workers feel exploited and not by prostitution.

If well-meaning MPs want to save women from sex work then take action against zero-hour contracts, low wages and exploitative bosses in the jobs that are the alternatives to prostitution. Support sex workers like we hope you support other workers fighting to improve pay and conditions.

As for the proposal to clamp down on online advertising, evidence from the US shows that such laws (SESTA and FOSTA) make it harder for the police to identify violence.

Why did this Inquiry even need to happen? The prestigious cross-party Home Affairs Committee did a comprehensive Inquiry and recommended that sex workers on the street and working together in premises be decriminalised.

Decriminalisation isn't perfect -- we are all going to have to put our shoulder to the wheel if we want to win a fairer and more humane society, but it removes a grave injustice suffered daily by sex workers. Thousands of cis and trans women a year are arrested, given prostitute cautions, are victims of criminal charges or civil orders and are suffering other grievous abuse and being denied protection. Decriminalisation as introduced in New Zealand has improved sex workers' working conditions and made it easier for those who want to get out, to do so. Over 90% of sex workers said they had additional employment, legal, health and safety rights (including 64.8% who said they found it easier to refuse clients -- a key marker of exploitation).

Finally, on trafficking. Until there is a public apology for the fabricated statistics  that claimed that 80% of sex workers are victims of trafficking, why should anyone believe this APPG's figures? Research from the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women found that criminalising sex workers' clients does not reduce sex work or trafficking. Instead, it infringes on sex workers' rights and obstructs anti-trafficking efforts.

Offsite Comment: Wrong to suggest criminalising the buying of sex

22nd May 2018. See article from metro.co.uk by Miranda Kane

Good to see a supportive opinion piece in the Metro:

Another day, another flurry of media and morality where the world is convinced sex trafficking is around every corner.

This time it's courtesy of a group of self appointed MPs who make up the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade.

Spoilers 203 none of them are, or ever have been, actual sex workers. (As far as I know.)

...Read the full article from metro.co.uk

Comment: Agency deniers

24th May 2018. From Alan

Great article by the Metro journalist.

What baffles me is the way this shower of politicians, many of whom self-define as feminists, want to deny agency to women, as do many feminist journalists e.g. Bennett, Ellen, Moore, Bindel (who’s so rabid a rad fem that when I first encountered her I thought the piece was a satirical parody). Zoe Williams in the Graun, to her credit, did collaborate with Pandora Blake, but in the main they seem quite oblivious to reason. Confront them with, say, Max M’s lady friend who continued to work as a pro submissive, and occasional dome, after getting her Ph.D. and the silly buggers just ignore the evidence.

Las Vegas is playing host to a swingers' event hoping to claim a listing in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's largest orgy..

Sin City 8 is a complete takeover of the Embassy Suites hotel in Las Vegas turning it into a weekend of sex romps with different themes, contests and parties. One of the main events is an attempt at breaking the world record for the biggest orgy, which is currently claimed by Japan when 500 people all did the deed at once.

The event on June 2 has 1,000 people confirmed and expects more than 600 participants to show up and get it on.

To help facilitate the fun, a bunch of amenities are provided:

• 22 queen size beds
• designated areas for cuddle pillow piles
• yoga mats available for use
• over 2,000 condoms
• lube, baby wipes, tissues, towels
• bottled water
• breath fresheners
• roaming supply carts

There will also be multiple orgy monitors and an orgy concierge that will patrol in the thick of it and make sure that all participants are comfortable and consensual.

The theme of the party is masquerade masks and an Eyes Wide Shut type atmosphere.

Update: Moved on

23rd May  2018. See  article from lasvegasweekly.com

The scheduled attempt to break the world's record for largest orgy will move from Embassy Suites on Swenson Street to the Erotic Heritage Museum.

We're guessing the reason was was that Hilton, the corporate owner of Embassy Suites, ultimately balked at having one of its properties host a Caligula-blushing assemblage of swinging couples.

According to today's news release, Erotic Heritage Museum Executive Director Dr. Victoria Hartmann will conduct a qualitative research project during the orgy to help fill holes in the study of the evolution of group sex.

The remainder of the Sin City 8 program, featuring seminars and pool parties, will still be held at Embassy Suites.

Anti-sex work campaigners in Nye County in Nevada are attempting to get legal brothels banned. The campaigners have joined with the the moralist campaign group, No Little Girl, and have announced that they have filed for a local referendum about brothels being banned in the county:

On 17th April 2018, a referendum was filed with the Nye County Clerk by citizens wishing to repeal the county ordinance which allows for legal brothels to operate within the county borders. Nye County, Nevada is home to five legal brothels, including three owned by self-described pimp and Republican State Assembly candidate, Dennis Hof.

Citizens of Lyon County, Nevada filed an identical referendum earlier this month with the help of No Little Girl, a campaign funded and administered by End Trafficking and Prostitution Political Action Committee (ETAP, PAC).

Comment: Proposed brothel ban unjust, won't end exploitation'

18th May 2018. Russell Greer a proud disable brothel customer comments:

With a delirious, misplaced drive that rivals the Nazi Blitzkrieg of World War II, a frivolous group known as No Little Girl (NLG) seeks to abolish the Nevada brothels once and for all. And in doing so, everything will be all heavenly, and these oppressed women will finally be freed from the shackles that hold them back in society and they will be placed into more dignified jobs -- like working at McDonald's.

Ironically, not only does this group lack any sort of standing to bring this bizarre petition, they harm innocent people with their quest for moral cleansing. Specifically, their petition harms me.

...Read the full comment from rgj.com

Britain's Daily Mail and Mirror newspapers have picked up on a story from Thailand about police and army raid humiliating victims in a Pattaya swingers resort. The Daily Mail wrote:

Dramatic footage shows the moment police raided an illegal orgy at a hotel in Thailand catching middle aged British men with young Thai women.

Images from the raid in Pattaya, often referred to as the sex capital of the world, show the middle-aged Brits sweating heavily and rushing to cover themselves up.

Police burst in on the illegal sex party on Saturday night after getting a tip off guests had paid 1,500 baht (£35) to take part in an orgy.

They stormed the Tulip Hotel (not the real name) at 11.30pm lsparking chaotic scenes.

Dramatic footage shows the moment police raided an illegal orgy at a hotel in Thailand catching sweating middle aged British men with young Thai women+6

Video from a local news report captured the moment 18 men were rounded up with their female partners clutching them to hide their faces.

The British men were also accompanied by Americans, Germans, Canadians, Australians, Russians, Malaysians and Chinese party-goers, who were all questioned and released.

The Chinese hotel owner was arrested for running a hotel illegally and hosting sex parties.

Commenters went to town on the story, eg:

What a charming article for a Monday morning! Could they not try and lose weight, how these girls could touch these filthy fat old men is beyond me but sadly I guess it's 'business' for them.

Meanwhile the Sun had carried a story about an innovative swingers club in Derby that has introduced an indoor dogging zone. Suddenly swingers clubs are all naughty and fun. The Sun writes:

A sex club has created an indoor dogging site with a car to romp in.

It offers randy exhibitionists car park-style thrills with the comfort and safety of being inside.

The Attic club has built the dogging zone with an actual motor to offer punters legal countryside-style sex thrills in the comfort and safety of being inside .

They've got an old Fiat car -- complete with dogging reg plate -- so exhibitionists can show off to leering club-goers.

Punters can also put on a show in a spacious tent -- with a mattress inside -- pitched nearby.

As well as performing under canvas, a picnic table has been placed next to the tent so members can feast their eyes on revellers having sex on the wooden bench.

President Donald Trump has signed the internet censorship FOSTA/SESTA bill into law, paving the way for more law enforcement actions against websites that facilitate prostitution.

Websites started shutting down sex-work forums even before Trump signed the bill. Craigslist removed its Personals section, Reddit removed some sex-related subreddits, and the Erotic Review blocked any user who appears to be visiting the website from the United States.

The bill becoming law will likely lead to more voluntary site shutdowns or law enforcement actions against sites that continue to be used for prostitution.

The SESTA and FOSTA acronyms (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) suggest that the new law is aimed at cracking down on sex trafficking. But the law barely distinguishes between trafficking and consensual sex work.

Operators of websites that let sex workers interact with clients could face 25 years in prison under the new law.

The US authorities have taken control of a classified adverts website used by sex workers to advertise their services.

A notice was posted on Backpage.com's various international front pages late last week to inform visitors.

The site had previously shut down the adult section of its US site, but critics had alleged that prostitution ads had simply moved to other pages.

The authorities claim that some of the adverts were for trafficked sex workers, but such claims are generally hyped up by those campaigning to prohibit adult consensual sex work and rarely amount to any more than a few cases when properly investigated.

The US media has also reported that Backpage's co-founder Michael Lacey was arrested last week and his home raided.

The Californian authorities had previously attempted to close Dallas-based Backpage.com in 2016, when the state prosecuted the business's chief executive and two ex-owners - including Mr Lacey - over claims they had committed pimping offences and generated millions of dollars by hosting sex trade ads. However, the case was dismissed on the grounds that the US's Communications Decency Act said that publishers should not be held responsible for content created solely by their users.

But last month, Congress passed a new law, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (Fosta). It states that websites that facilitate traffickers in advertising the sale of unlawful sex acts should no longer be granted the same protection.

It has been reported that President Trump will sign a Senate-approved version of the act into law this week.

The US has passed laws FOSTA/SESTA that make internet websites responsible for any user content related to sex trafficking. Websites can't distinguish sex trafficking from adult consensual sex work information so have respponded in the only way they can be banning all sex work related content, just in case.

• Cityvibe shut down completely,
• the Erotic Review, the Yelp of the sex trade where men rate their experiences with sex workers, shut down advertisement boards in the United States,
• NightShift shut down to review policies,
• VerifyHim shut down its newsreel,
• Craigslist personals section was shut down,
• Reddit's prostitution-related subreddits were marked private and the site instituted new policies banning the sale of sex acts and drugs,
• Google reportedly deleted its publicly shared commercial sex-related advertising,
• WordPress.com reportedly removed its commercial sex-related advertising sites,
• Paypal reportedly disabled advertised accounts for commercial sex-related payment,
• Rubmaps, Erotic Monkey, and USA Sex Guide had extended maintenance periods over the weekend, suggesting upcoming changes due to the new law,
• Microsoft is issuing new Terms of Service effective May 1st covering all of its platforms, including Skype and Xbox, to urge users not to use the services to share pornography or criminal activity.

The sex trafficking sites Cityxguide and Backpage were reportedly seeing a surge in use by sex workers as the other sites shut down.

Perhaps there's an opportunity for European companies to get a look in and offer replacement services to the US.

Gardai have only initiated 2 prosecutions under a law passed last year to criminalise the purchase of sex. The 2017 Sexual Offences Act -- which introduced the so-called Nordic model criminalises the customers of sex workers.

Under the law, women must be willing to participate in court proceedings against their clients. This contrasts with Scandinavia where the law lets police officers testify about the paid for sex.

The Times say Garda sources claim some women are often frightened to face a punter in court, as they may be linked to organised crime gangs who can threaten the women's family and friends. But in reality the women aren't going to do very well in business if they don't look after their customers.

Gardai sources also claim the force is missing out on valuable tip-offs from punters about trafficked women, because men are unsurprisingly unwilling to get involved when they themselves would be prosecuted.