Victory in Sunderland (and our first meeting!)

Well, if I’m completely honest, I didn’t expect to be bringing you this news so soon. BUT I received news last week that, following a discussion of the lap dancing issue, they’d voted to adopt the legislation. Soooo, I am pleased to announce that on the 24th November 2010 Sunderland will have Schedule 3 as part of its constitution. Just to milk this for slightly longer I quote from Independent Councillor Derrick Smith’s letter to me:

“ After I received your letter dated 11. August 2010 and noted your concerns I spoke to the Councils Legal Department.

I can inform you that the Council passed last night at full Council its intention to adopt Schedule 3 into its Constitution.

The proposal is Item 6  2.1.c in the  Meeting Agenda.

I am sure you will be pleased at the outcome. I feel that it is right that these matters should be under the control of the Council to allow residents and Councillors to exert a controlling influence over these controversial matters.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself….. So big thanks to Cllr Smith, Bridget Philipson MP and Claire Philipson (Director of Wearside Women in Need) for their support and a big pat on the back for us too.

But, and it’s a big but, this is a teeny victory in a huge war and it seems to me that it would be crazy to stop here. Not a single other council in the region has adopted the legislation as yet (Hartlepool are considering it) and so there is clearly a long way to go to ensure that lap dancing clubs become better regulated and less accepted as “the norm”. Onward and upward we thought and onto the big one-Newcastle. Now, we think that Newcastle may well be pretty tough- lap dancing/ stripping/ topless bars seem hard wired into the geordie consciousness- and there’s at least nine clubs in the city. Further than this though and A wee wander around the city centre and you won’t fail to notice the almost-porn on the phone boxes or, on match day, the girls in suspenders handing out leaflets. In short, its a big challenge.

So, to combat the big problem we’ve decided we need a more coordinated approach to this and therefore have organsied our INAUGURAL MEETING. Eek. So come along to The Bridge Hotel in Newcastle on 21st October 2010 at 7pm.  We’re hoping everyone interested or curious will come along. The idea is to have a talk about how to take the campaign forward in Newcastle (we need lots of Newcastle residents to send letters to the council) and then discuss other issues and actions.

See you there. xx

New Developments

Apologies for the lack of campaign news on this blog but I’ve been on my hols in Germany. However, although I’ve been away, the lap dancing campaign has been going for strength to strength. Indeed, I’ve been quite surprised by the speed and (largely) positivity of the responses I’ve received so far. I fired off a whole raft of letters before I went away- to my councillors (St Peter’s ward), to the Echo and to ALL 12 members of the council’s licensing committee- and also a number of wonderful people wrote to their councillors too. Oh and I dropped in on my (rather embarrassed) councillors ward surgery. Quite an enterprise, considering the campaign only started on Tuesday 9th…

So, what have we had back? Well, two letters from Cllr. Derrick Smith (licescing comittee) and Cllr. Lillian Walton and a phone call from Cllr Bob Francis. Although all the messages have been slightly garbled and contradictary, the tenor of the responses are very encouraging- both expressing their support and  promising further action (i.e letters written, resolutions drafted etc.) Cllr Stephen Bonallie, who I dropped in on, also promised to follow it up (once he’s figured out how to propose a resolution…).  Most interestingly, however, is the news that “[Sunderland’s] legal people are in the process of considering the new licensing regulations with regard to lap dancing clubs”. This is potentially very good news; it means that, if its already on the Council’s radar, we might just need a good show of support to get it through. This means your support is very important.

On this note, I’ve started to contact high profile people (not celebs, people who actually know about this stuff!) in Sunderland to alert them to the campaign and to ask them to lend their support. I began with Clare Phillipson, Director of Wearside Women in Need (the pioneering Sunderland organisation which helps victims of Domestic Violence) and received a response which really gladdened my heart:

“I’d be delighted to support your campaign….Please name me as a supporter, I’d be upset if you didn’t”.

So that’s a brilliant endorsement and one which will help us make some of the links between violence toward women and lap dancing clubs. Nice also to get some unequivocal support; I’ve been having lots of conversations with people that seem to equate regulating lap dancing with “telling women what to do with their bodies” and I’m getting a bit tired by it. It seems to me that lap dancing doesn’t have much to do with either free choice or expressing women’s sexuality.

Clare also suggested contacting MPs Women’s Officers from Constituency Labour Party’s to ask for their support and to get some official resolutions passed. Letters have now been written, so we’ll see what we get back. The Echo will also be appealed to once again.

So, the campaign marches on. Please, please get in touch; all support is welcome and we’d be interested to know any responses you get from any letters you write. More news soon.

First things first….

On the 13th August 2010 ANOTHER lap dancing bar is opening in Sunderland and we are not happy about it. We guess that lots of other residents of the city wont be either.

However, short of standing outside and shouting (which we may also do), we can’t do much about it. This is because Sunderland City Council has not yet passed the government resolution, introduced in April 2010, which modifies lap dancing licensing laws. This means that lap dancing clubs in Sunderland are currently licensed in the same way as cafes: no special license is needed and local residents don’t have any right to object. If the new legislation was adopted they would have be licensed as “Sexual Entertainment”. The licensing of lap dancing clubs would therefore be subject to public consultation and their activities would be more tightly regulated.

We think that buying a lap dance is not the same as buying a cup of tea. Legislation should reflect this.

And why are we so bothered about this? We believe lap dancing clubs encourage customers and wider society to view women as objects. They reinforce the idea that women are always sexually available, as long as you’ve got a bit of cash to spare. When seen in the context of a society in which men still dominate the positions of power and where violence against women is endemic (a quarter of women will face rape in her lifetime and half will face some form of sexual harassment, stalking or domestic violence), we believe that the mainstreaming of the sex industry solidifies the power imbalance between men and women. We do not believe lap dancing is empowering to women or has anything to do with expressing female sexuality.

Join the campaign: write to your councillor, the newspaper or your MP and ask them to support a council resolution to adopt Schedule 3 to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (LGMPA) 1982, as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2009. Or ask us and we’ll send you a template letter. Contact us and we’ll meet up.

Tell your friends about the campaign and talk to/ argue with EVERYONE about it. This is important.