Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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impracticably vague (particularly in the lack of clarification of the term ‘extreme’; a judge
presiding over a case in 2012 said in his directions to the jury: “I don’t pretend for a moment
that these parts of the legislation are easily understandable” 52 ) and is missing a gendered
analysis. We believe there is a need for greater consistency in the regulation of and approach
to pornographic and sexist images based on the principles of women’s equality and child
protection. Sadly the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 53 fails to do this.
Lap dancing licensing
The introduction of the Sexual Entertainment Venue (SEV) licensing regime, as part of the
Policing and Crime Act 2009, has provided councils with the tools to regulate lap dancing clubs
as part of the sex industry and to set conditions to control them opening. This is important
because of the ways in which lap dancing clubs market women as sexual objects and promote
working practices that implicitly encourage men to expect and seek sexual services. 54 As well as
the commercial sexual exploitation which often takes place within the clubs, lap dancing clubs
normalise what would in any other context be considered sexual harassment, and they create
‘no go zones’ for women and girls who often feel threatened to walk past them at night. 55
It is for these reasons that organisations which work to end VAWG have welcomed the SEV
licensing regime, which facilitates the views of local residents to be taken into account in the
licensing process, and allows for gender impact assessments to be carried out in relation to the
impact that clubs have on women and girls in the surrounding areas. 56 It is noticeable that this is
not mentioned in the Government’s report.
The SEV licensing regime gives councils the powers to control the advertising of lap dancing
clubs on the establishment itself. Indeed standard conditions require that the nature of the
business should not be apparent to anybody who walks past a venue unless they are over 18 and
actively choose to pay to enter. What is less clear is the issue of billboard advertising for SEVs.
Experts have suggested that to protect children and non-users, conditions of licenses should
include controls on billboard advertising as well as controls on exterior advertising and signage,
and on leafleting and solicitation. 57 However, from work with councils, and also from meetings
with the Advertising Association, 58 Credos 59 and women’s NGO OBJECT, 60 it is clear that the
guidelines and scope for councils is not entirely clear in relation to restricting the advertising of
lap dancing clubs. We therefore call on the Department of Communities and Local Government
for greater clarification and guidance on the matter.
A loophole also exists in the current legislation which means that venues which host lap dancing
events less than 12 times in a year can do so without an SEV licence. Venues hosting infrequent
lap dancing events are even less likely to have in place the necessary facilities and security
measures to safeguard performers. This is why women’s organisations strongly opposed
52. Dymock, A. (2012) ‘Extreme porn trial: well, thank you for that interesting anatomical lesson’, The Guardian, 9th August 2012 http://www.
guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/09/extreme-porn-trial-anatomical-lesson
53. Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/4/contents
54. See report of testimonies OBJECT (2011) Stripping the Illusion – Lap Dancing Exposing the reality of the lap dancing industry http://www.
object.org.uk/files/OBJECT%20Lap%20Dancing%20Report%202011(1).pdf
55. See OBJECT (2011) Fact sheet on lap dancing: Why strong regulation is needed http://www.object.org.uk/files/Fact%20Sheet%20on%20
Lap%20Dancing(1).pdf
56. OBJECT (2010) Joint statement of support for councils to set a nil limit on SEVs http://www.object.org.uk/files/Joint%20Statement%20
of%20support%20for%20councils%20to%20set%20a%20nil%20limit%20on%20SEVs(9).pdf
57. Kolvin, P. (2010) Sex Licensing. The Institute of Licensing http://www.instituteoflicensing.org/content.aspx?page=PUBLICATIONS%20
SEX%20LICENSING
58. Advertising Association http://www.adassoc.org.uk/Home Accessed: 21/03/13
59. Credos http://www.credos.org.uk/Home Accessed: 21/03/13
60. OBJECT http://www.object.org.uk/ Accessed: 21/03/13
58 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013