And We Are Off On a Quick Tour

Sorry for a delay in writing anything got a few bits and pieces going on and having to juggle what time I am putting into things.

Firstly an IMPORTANT message to all clubs, people are now using template letters to object to renewal of licenses. Be very sure when you are renewing that you get details of any objections prior to to the ruling so you are prepared. I am looking to produce a fairly standard letter as a template clubs can use for their customers to send in. Should be up in a week or so. I know the Lap Dancing Association had its issues and not everyone wanted to join but if clubs don't start working together we are going to see more closed and very little chance of new ones opening. I want to get something started in this area so I would ask people to get club managers/owners to contact me at tonyprince@acdcfan.com as the time to act is now really.

And speaking of time to act we have had two consultations recently where the results should be out soon. And both are second consultations being Leeds and Tower Hamlets. To be honest I am surprised nothing has come out yet as both closed over a month ago and if it had of went the way of the councils I would have thought they would be shouting from the highest points of each borough.

And off to Central Bedfordshire.... where the council did a consultation over the phone of around 1,000 people, and surprise surprise the result is a Nil Policy as 63% of people were against the clubs. Now I may have to put silver foil on my head but I am wondering how these people were selected? However it seems that if a club did set up in the area it would have to be 500m away from schools etc including historic buildings. So wondering what the existing clubs will do but the first thing would be to validate the selection process of the consultation to see if it was fair and equitable.

The Honeytrap in Hull has got it's license renewed, 25 objections but none from the police. Also there is an application for a new club in Manchester, obviously some people are objecting and the consultation is on till 20th June so anyone in Manchester near Portland street who want a new club suggest you contact your council.

Would like to thank SEV licensing blog as I have put out some of the info they had due to me being buried in Local Government Guidelines which see to all start out the same and then just meander off according to the whims of licensing officers/councillors. Had a question raised about physical contact and this brings up the fact that as far as I know all pubs and clubs do NOT allow physical contact. There is a point within the schedule that you can ask for exceptions but the only one I have heard of was at Cheltenham. Certainly the owner of Angels in Plymouth got his wrist slapped when a former manager turned a blind eye to contact. Councils are sending out secret shoppers so venues would be well advised to make sure all dancers know the regulations the club operates under or you could see more £20,000 fines.

Finally would like to thank Dr Brooke Magnanti for her piece in the telegraph about burlesque and striptease (herel). We face strange attitudes nowadays where women exercising their right to choose how to earn a living is being attacked not by the patriarchy but christians and feminists who seem to be working for the patriarchy by wanting to deny women autonomy. Something I have commented on before is the various aspects of objectification which is constantly thown up about how men would view women in the clubs and yet by denying the dancers autonomy and silencing their opinions we see two clearly defined aspects of objectification. Sort of its okay if we objectify to try and stop people objectifying (ouch my brain hurts with that sort of logic). I have been in and out of clubs over 20 years and the more I have been the less I objectify and the more I view women as wonderful, warm individuals that I want as friends, my exes would be surprised certainly.

Edit The beds situation is that a consultation is going now till August and you can have your say here

A Little Bit and Nottingham

Okay first this is TonyN here and today I want to start with a big thank you to Chasmal for all the hard work he has put in. Things have conspired in his life to set major hurdles in his way and we probably won't see him post anytime soon so I will do my best Chasmal impersonation and try to blind you with my wit and charm.

Now Manhattan in Crewe has lost it's license even though it was licensed under the 2003 act. But I will not be shouting about how this was anything other than poor management. The paperwork which is suppose to be a safeguard from underage dancers was not kept up to date amongst 15 points that were raised from the clubs conditions and although the manager had 5 weeks to rectify things the club hadn't done this. So although I hate to see a club closing it is important that dancers and customers be protected and any club that fails to do so has no right to expect to stay open. Properly run licensed venues are what we need to see.

We also lost the Harp near Tonbridge. 43 Objections were received, now clubs and pubs are always going to face some objections so it is worth venues making sure people know that positive messages are needed. If clubs let me know at tonyprince@acdcfan.com about upcoming license renewals we can at least let people know so if anyone uses the venue they can comment.

And finally the result of the Consultation in Nottingham is in (drum roll please) and 61% of people who took part in the survey are against a complete ban. This is from a total of 1395 people who took part in the consultation. Interesting to read that only 35% were for a ban and yet the report claims things are about even in opinion. Seem that they are trying to ignore the people who say things are about right. And remember this was after the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner made claims about crimes that she based on Lilith (okay when you have stopped laughing). Even after all this just under two thirds of people don't want a ban (yes I can play with the statistics). Wonder what all the councillors will make of the figures.

The figures mirror the numbers and percentage of Hackney pretty closely which is suggestive in itself. Obviously those people who took part were those that felt most strongly but considering the misleading information from a senior police official published in a local paper this result, in my very humble opinion, is a victory for common sense. Of course the council and police are playing up the figures and going to try and use churches and schools that aren't open when the club is as back door to close anything they don't like. However once again the general population react against the moral minority. And was interesting reading the report the number of people who felt it should be banned on moral grounds. Of course in a consultation that doesn't matter much but does highlight the fact that clubs will need to check any objections to license renewals for it being a moral standpoint.

Male Strippers A Parody and a Few Real Points

Well after watching the Channel 4 programme about the Dreamboys I have realised that so much is wrong with this and we need to rise up and demand that women change their attitudes

Lets firstly talk about the objectification of men even the manager of the Dreamboys views members of his own sex as meat and this can only occur because of a reflection of the views of the matriarchy. Young boys are growing up believing that they have to look like this strippers and anything less is to be mocked and laughed at. And when men say they do it because they enjoy it or want to make money out of it obviously they are gender traitors who have no idea what they are doing to men everywhere.

Now lets think about how these women come out of venues all excited and stimulated and just grabbing the nearest man to them I mean obviously women cannot control themselves after seeing naked male flesh. Pity the poor man going pass a venue after it closes, they with be objectified and feel unsafe with all the sexual taunts these sex crazy women come out with.

And I wonder just how many men are trafficked into these strip venues and forced to work for money.

Men I suggest we march around these venues late at night and take photos of women going into the clubs. Also we should write a book and get on the speaking circuit particularly about the impossible image these men are setting for the rest of us.


Actually really after watching the show I want to talk about the difference between male and female stripping and the two faced approach of some feminists claiming that stripping by women is somehow worse than stripping by men. There is the no contact rule in strip clubs yet if dreamboys or the like strip then women consider it okay to grab, scratch or squeeze . The clubs have audiences and all I can say about the male strippers it seemed to be a baying mob. It is just complete double standards, but the one thing that is a constant is the people working have made choices good or bad. Not everyone is going to be able to handle the pressure stripping but to close industries down because of a minority being against it and a tiny proportion of dancers having bad experiences is in my mind just a tiny bit stupid.

Realistically if striptease is shut down then that would mean no kissograms, no male strippers as well as closing the strip clubs. Unfortunately a tiny rad fem organisations have got column inches because of idiotic campaigns that haven't been thought out and have no popular backing. If you tell all the women that go out on Friday and Saturday nights that willy waggling is off the menu there would be an uproar. The fact that the behaviour at these performances is worse than any strip venue I have seen in the last 10 years just shows how two faced attitudes are.

So perhaps those campaigners against striptease should realise that adults make choices to perform and to watch the performances and it applies to both male and female. As always the female stripping for males is the target for everything in law and yet it misses men stripping for men, men stripping for women and women stripping for women. I would love to know why only performances for men are so heavily regulated and yet performances for women are at the level of the old stag do's.

There is so much I could write about this but the one thing that I will always harp on about is choice. Even to the fact the male dancers use a penis pump before going on stage it is about a visual performance and entertainment.

A Few Tidbits, a Brainwave and OMG literally

Well the weekend is here and the time is right for my fingers to get busy.

Firstly want to pick up on the Urban Tiger Lap Dancing Club, Wellingborough Road, Northampton NN1 4AA. The SEV is up for renewal and Object have been tweeting a link to a page on facebook urging people to e-mail to licensing@northampton.gov.uk with objections so can I ask those who are against closing clubs to forget who runs the place and e-mail in with support. So far 9 likes for the object facebook snippet and it has been up over 24 hours so lets get busy and tell the council there to leave the Tiger alone.

Secondly want to pick up on a discussion on Moronwatch about the fabulous Tuppy Owens. This may out myself to a few people but as a disabled wheelchair user this woman has done so much to earn the respect of those of us who have been let down by our bodies or minds. This piece is well worth a read here and yes I have contributed to the discussions.

Thirdly just want to remind people that the blog is here to discuss legal striptease in venues that have licenses. Whatever people's individual's view this blog does not endorse unlicensed parties. The priority is to keep the industry operating and protecting the dancers, customers and owners. From religious hatred to unsubstantiated opinions pretending to be empirical data this blog is here to mock the foolish, educate the unenlightened and give an opinion that as honest as I can make it.

Fourthly good to see Legs 11 in Birmingham is having a ladies night, this is for Ladies, by Ladies. Now one question why have object not said anything about this being wrong? Surely all the arguments would hold true, the objectification of women by women (which we have seen in other types of objectification). The exploitation of the dancers?  Yet we hear nothing from Object even though the event is this weekend. Ohhh forgot double standards are fine.

I was thinking about the numbers game and reading various articles about the size of the anti striptease movement. Sort of hits home though that the average person really just wants to enjoy life as much as possible. Here we have an industry that employs over 10,000 women and by my rough calculations sees people visit clubs over 2,500,000 times a year. Sort of emphasises the fact that those against striptease are such a small minority but they are just so vocal. If I am honest when I see how the average person just wants to get on with life and a relatively small number of people are causing such an upset. If we look at the whole no more page 3 campaign I find it amazing that people assume that when a petition has signatures that amount to less that 2% of the readership we still find them filling pages and the social media like they are 50 times more important than everyone else. Should 100,000 signatures really be more important than 7m readers? If they are then democracy is dead. If the issue was something that people really worried about the paper would not have the popularity it does. Not here to defend page 3 as much as show the mentality of those who want to chose how people live their lives and what should and shouldn't be allowed in them.

Finally, and this may expand into a whole piece of its own, God TV is planning to move into a derelict cinema in Plymouth next to the club Angels. The problem as I see it is that they will try to close Angels down. Having read they revival alert, mission statement I am seriously worried about what these people plan. Lets just take one line describing why they are coming "Following the celebration the Lord spoke clearly to Rory & Wendy Alec and impressed upon them to develop a revival centre in the Plymouth area." this was after winter celebrations and personally I wonder just what they were drinking/smoking. Also there is a rumour that a Mosque is planning to set up in the area as well, remembering that some people are against clubs near religious centres the council will need to remember who was there first. Certain there will be more to come on this.

Okay that is a lot of not a lot for now. Don't forget anything you want to discuss away from the boards tonyprince@acdcfan.com alos any articles or contributions would be welcome especially from dancers.

TonyN

A Big Thank You to Object

You know this has to be the first time but here I have to raise a big, BIG thank you to Object as I had missed a piece in the Evening Standard here that emphasises some key issues and points towards what a ban could mean to the striptease industry. This was reported back in April but I hadn't got a google alert and I only check Object every 3 or 4 weeks.

The article is about crime in the City of London around pubs and clubs, it talks about violence and drugs and the issues that occured at Charlie's Bar. Obviously the violence and drugs are separate issues to the lap dancing but nothing like a bit of sex and drugs and rock n roll as a story.

So why did I thank Object? Well the City of London Corporation has no suitable locations for striptease so to meet demand an underground event was taking place. Because it was underground you run the risk of who would be running it. So take away controls and protection by driving striptease underground and you run all sorts of risks. This is the risk of blanket bans, there will be a demand and rather than helping or protecting dancers these could put dancers at risk.

So blanket ban produces events without control, yet Object see this story as a positive rather than realising they have highlighted that rather than closing venues well run clubs would minimise the risk of events being driven underground with all the associated risks. Charlie's Bar used to be licensed and there wasn't any issues as such. Yet no clubs and straight away there is an underground demand even though Hackney and Tower Hamlets are a cab ride away. However people are lazy and if something is on their doorstep of course they would attend.

Well here I am after writing about how I support regulations with the perfect example of why and why clubs should not be banned. And there I was think of watching catch up tv on a Sunday morning, instead I get inspired by Object to put finger to keyboard. There will always be demand, lets be sure that the dancers and customers are protected and remember banning doesn't stop striptease it just drives it underground.

TonyN

Is this Blog against Regualations?

So being reading around and a lot of people are saying we do not support regulation. So wanted to make things clear we have no issues with regulations providing they are they to protect the dancers and the customers. What are against is the banning of venues based on moralistic judgements by small minorities. If we go back to Prof Hubbard recent work only 3% of people said there was no place for Lap Dancing and remember that the survey invited people in certain towns to join in which would suggest at least some bias from those taking part or at least a percentage. And comments on and from certain websites about us shows how little they know, they judge without knowledge, moralise without understanding and make statements without establishing facts.

So regulations, not worried about these if they provide protection to the dancers. I come from the era when dancers were paid to dance and with the change so that dancers need to pay to work I would love to see standardised house fees, a single consistent set of fines and an external arbitration process for disputes. Just my personal opinion and having been friends with club owners/managers I understand that in this climate fines are sometimes the only way to ensure that dancers do not abuse the system. But their need to be fair and not just random based on someone's mood. I know of one dancer that in all the time I knew her she never made a single shift on time unless it was her first one of the day and she would work two venues regularly to boost earnings as she was supporting her sister as well as herself. But even with the fine and the house fee she was making enough to make it worth to work even with the two financial disincentives in place.

So do we need all the regulations currently in place? As I said I am old school so I would prefer things as what I see is the old gold days. However to be honest any regulations should be set in conjunction with dancers, they are the ones affected so rather than just some random politician making judgements they should engage and work with dancers to find the best options for the people who have to work within the regulations. Now that Equity and GMB are involved perhaps eventually we will get a standard set of T&Cs around clubs and pubs and how they work.

Someone buried a new comment on an old piece on the blog making accusations without even linking to any proof, the random thought that dancers dance for the money as though it was some revelation that no one had ever thought this before and customers assumed that the dancers danced for them because of their wonderful personalities. Striptease is a performance, 3 or 4 minutes of escapism the same as film, theatre and music. People may argue about the fact dancers are nude but we see nudity in all forms of performance including naked ballets. Okay I will say so far I haven't found an opera that is performed without clothes but if there is an Opera writer out there perhaps you want to change this. If you look at when Daniel Radcliffe was in Equus there wasn't any major outrage just lots of ladies talking about seeing his magic wand. Nudity but no issues, the film magic mike no one worried about that.

So yes we see people judging the men who see striptease as harmless, branding them as people who disrespect, dislike and objectify women throughout the day, every day, day after day. Yet many men are married, with daughters and are as far away from the woman hating, wife beating, rapists that feminist label us as can be. I have no issues being judged and would happily debate with those who want to bring down the striptease industry. Yes label us, accuse us, belittle us as none of these things hurt us unless we let them. You cannot make claims about me without knowing me, but it seems that many people will judge without facts and without at least discussing points of view.

Just one quick point I don't hate feminism, I do strongly dislike radical feminists with their labelling etc especially those that have made comments about dancers without knowing anything about those dancers except the fact that they dance.

TonyN

A Quick Tour of the UK?

Well a few things have come to my attention, as usual rather than create three small entries thought it would be easier to bring up all on the one post.

So first lets take a run up to Inverness where a club has been granted a license. Nice to see that although a few moral objections have been brought up common sense prevailed. Of course the usual comment about how it would increase violence against women, however no reference was made about Lilith. The police had no issues and the venue applying already has met the requirements that would be expected. The bid has been backed by the owners of clubs in Aberdeen and Dundee that have had no trouble in 15 years of business. There was the usual claims also of crime but considering the clubs supporting the bids this seems unlikely. However crime figures for Scotland are not available through the Police.UK site so I haven't tested the theory for Scotland.

So secondly I wanted to pick up on some digging I have done on the use of the freedom of information by people trying to find out about SEV consultations. First no surprise that Tower Hamlets was asked over a year ago about their consultation and even under the FoI no response was given. The was also a request for details about Camden from a Madeleine about consultees. The documents included a statement from the police who summed up with "There is no statistical evidence for a specific crime problem around lap-dancing clubs in Camden." I am sure many people have seen this before but I thought it was a good time to remind readers that as in Scotland where 2 well run clubs have had no problems in 15 years of trading the same seems to be true in London that no excessive crime takes place around striptease venues.

Finally word is out that the Olde Northwood is planning on not renewing its license due to the cost of said process. Although having seen the fees that doesn't ring true. So some more digging maybe required.