The plans have been met with disdain by many and, ironically, by women’s rights groups, who initially celebrated the proposed legislation as a victory. The two leading gender equality groups in the UK, Object and the Fawcett Society, believe the proposed plans will give local authorities far too much freedom and many councils may even choose to ignore the new legislation. The women’s rights groups are also arguing that a diminishment in strip clubs could lead to an increase in the number of ‘strip nights’ being held in local pubs.

Under current legislation, which was inaugurated in 2003, lap dancing venues in the UK are equivalent to a pub or a café and only require a Premise License in order to be opened. The so-called ‘soft-touch’ law saw the number of strip joints in Britain soar from approximately 150 to 300 in the last six years. Treating lap dancing clubs in the same way as everyday cafes predictably led to widespread disapproval. Object’s Sandrine Levequet is amongst those, asserting,

“Buying a lap dance has a far greater social impact than buying a cappuccino.”

The arguments for enforcing stricter rules on lap dancing venues remain fairly obvious and obsolete. The Fawcett Society and Object insist that strip clubs increase crime against women. Harriet Harman, the UK’s minister for women and equality recently commented that the widespread use of strip clubs by bankers and corporate businessmen in London contributed to a sexist environment in the City. She labeled the practice of taking clients to for a lap dance as “bizarre”.

Coun Anita Lower, a member of the community safety and regulation in Newcastle, a city where the rise in lap dancing clubs has been particularly prominent and has subsequently led to controversy and debate, echoed Harriet Harman’s contestations stating,

“We aren’t saying lap dancing clubs should be banned, only that there should be more control over their numbers and where they are located. At present it can be harder to get permission for a slot machine than a lap dancing bar.”

Whilst it could be argued, that containing ‘sexual gratification’ within venues that are both legal and monitored, keeps paying for sexual satisfaction off the streets where it is illegal and dangerous. A judge in London recently ruled that a brothel in Soho that had been shut down for anti-social behavior could reopen for business. The sex workers from the club said that if the closure had been confirmed they would have been forced to work on the streets.

Like the dancers in Britain’s strip club, women working in brothels are earning a living and with today’s economic woes where jobs are scarce and rapidly becoming sparser any work should not be considered lightly or taken for granted, regardless of the type of ‘sexual gratification’ they are offering. As Stella, one of the prostitutes working at the Soho brothel said,

“I’m relieved at the judge’s decision. Now I can return to work although things have been very quiet in Soho since Christmas because of the credit crunch.”

Rowena Davis, a columnist in The Guardian spoke of her aversion to lap dancing and tried to identify the reasons girls choose to lap dance being through lack of ‘choice’.

“Choice is an ambiguous issue. Do you choose to lap dance if you have a drug habit to feed? Are you working off your own free will if you don’t have the qualifications to get another job, or lack the self-esteem to try?” said Davis

Rebecca Pickford has been a ‘weekend’ lap dancer in London for the past eight years and although she has a more ‘respectable’ day job, she feels reluctant to give up lap dancing as she has become so used to the high earnings made by a weekend’s work. When asked about Rowena Davis’s comments, Ms Pickford was amazed and angry at the columnist’s “narrow-mindedness in thinking all lap dancers were uneducated and socially inept!”

According to the lap dancer, changing the classification of lap dancing clubs to ‘sexual encounter clubs’ is just a lame attempt by the government to look like they are executing change. She is also doubtful that the changes would deter clients from using the clubs and asserted greater suspicion to the proposed legislation that by giving councils the ‘choice’ will only create confusion and inconsistency. Ms Pickford commented,

“The kind of men that come into our club would not be put off just because it is now classified as a ‘sexual encounter club’. If the government wants to employ changes, they should assert their efforts into making sure all lap dancing venues meet certain standards, this would diminish the amount of abuse and ‘sleaze’ that some venues unfortunately are plagued with.”

Rebecca Pickford also contested Harriet Harman’s views on lap dancing venues leading to a sexist environment in the City.

“On the contrary”, she said, “I find lap dancing empowering, and if anyone is belittled by it, it is the suckers paying for it!”

The main argument for enforcing stricter rules on lap dancing venues seems to be because of the ‘inappropriate’ places where some clubs are opened. Whilst some people see the tighter regulations as another example of Puritanism growing stronger in the UK, it was ironic and even quite comical, that more than three centuries after the puritan pioneers left Plymouth aboard the Mayflower, a strip club has been opened in the place the puritans set sail from – a ‘family friendly’ and extremely historical part of Plymouth city. This led to outrage and saw lawyers take the unethical step appealing against the license decision. Plymouth’s councilor, Lynda Bowyer commented,

“We should have the power to control lap dancing clubs and to legislate for them to be kept away from unsuitable places.”

Understandably there is a moral issue surrounding lap dancing which has been highlighted by the Church. On one occasion the government received over 1,000 applications from a campaign initiated by a church in north London fighting for the closure of a lap dancing venue, which has recently opened near to a school. According to Reverend Michael Branningham:

“Whilst nobody wants to impose censorship, situating a lap dancing venue near to a primary school is blatantly inappropriate.”

And it is the imposing of censorship many people are objecting to. Working libertarian Matt Davies believes the government’s proposals regarding lap dancing is another example of pure puritan fascist ideals being foisted upon Britain. In complete reproach of the government’s urges to tighten up license laws so that councils are no longer ‘powerless’, Davies announced,

“I am glad when councils are powerless to be fascist little Nazis, like they so often are. Once again we have a bunch of jumped up little control freaks demanding their own morality be forced upon others, even when it is in their own private establishments.”

Chris Cowens, a retired councilor in the UK, is appalled at the current government’s attempts to moralize what is primarily only another form of entertainment. The ex-councilor believes that the changes would mean Britain, instead of moving forward, is reverting back to Victorian times.

“Is it unfortunate that Great Britain is in the realms of some form of neo-Puritanism,” asserted Cowens, “Tighter licensing laws will inevitably drive lap-dancing underground and everyone involved would lose the protection that proper licensed clubs offer.”

Not everybody is so unfavorable to the government’s plans. Paradoxically the ‘king’ of lap dancing nightclub owners Peter Stringfellow recognizes the need for a change in the current legislation.

“Just as there are top-line restaurants, and restaurants that give you food poisoning, it’s the same in our business. There are certain clubs that shouldn’t be operating,” explained the strip club tycoon.

Erotic dance and strip clubs appear to have begun in Canada in 1980 and soon spread to the US. In Britain the first lap dancing club did not open until 1995 and since quickly became popular and were soon etched into British and also European culture. The recent drive towards a ‘purer’ existence seems to be evident throughout Europe, and the process of wiping out “sleaze” from culture is not refined to the UK. Amsterdam’s famous red light district is the world’s most famous home of sexual permissiveness since the 15th century, and the government is showing little nostalgia in their plans to close it. Like the lap dancing debate in the UK, the closure of Amsterdam’s red light district has also been met with contempt.

In order to stop being accused of being both prudish and contradictory, perhaps the British government should implement a set of standards consistent throughout all 300 strip venues in the UK that gives women working in these clubs the same rights and respect as women working in so-called ‘normal’ jobs have.

Whilst the current regulations that equal a lap dance to a cappuccino may be a little blasé, diminishing the number of respectable lap dancing clubs, in which the owners, workers and users are reasonably happy, will not do a country, where unemployment is spiraling out of control and street crime is increasing, any favors whatsoever. Like John Major in the early 1990s bleating on about family values, whilst at the same time having it off with Edwina Curry, the government’s ‘do as we say and not as we do’ tendency, in their attempt to clean up society, is strongly evident in their drive to destroy a form of entertainment where there is obviously huge demand, and that is part of the nation’s culture.

Gabrielle Pickard for RT