News

SEPTEMBER 2004

SCREEN DEBATES/ USEFUL WEBSITES ON ISSUES AROUND PROSTITUTION/ LAP DANCING REPORT/ SCOTTISH COALITION AGAINST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION/ LEGAL SEMINAR REPORT COMING SOON

SCREEN DEBATES: FILM & DISCUSSION AS PART OF SEPTEMBER MONTH OF ACTION ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

The Women’s Support Project, in Glasgow , and the Glasgow Film Theatre are holding their annual film and discussion event on September 21, as part of the September Month of Action on Child Sexual Abuse.

Aileen: The Life & Death of a Serial Killer

Glasgow Film Theatre - Cinema 2, TUES, 21st SEPTEMBER 2004

5.45 pm - 8.30 pm

SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION WILL BE AVAILABLE. WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE

Aileen Wuornos was executed on 9th October 2002 for killing seven men. Nick Broomfield’s film documentary portrays the horrific circumstances that led Aileen to become a highway prostitute and murder seven men. As well as interviews with Aileen, he speaks with estranged family members and former friends who reveal a childhood of violence and abuse, continuing for years. The film provides an insight into the mind of a deeply paranoid yet sympathetic person. Questions are raised about the impact of violence and abuse on women, American justice and the death penalty.

The documentary film will be followed by an audience/panel discussion. The panel will include award winning director, Nick Broomfield, Julie Bindel, founder member of Justice for Women, trustee of Emma Humphreys Memorial prize, and co-author of a book based on Emma’s life and Audrey Stewart of the Young Women’s Project, Glasgow .

Full information on the Women’s Support Project website at:

www.womenssupportproject.co.uk/files/pdf/gft.pdf

Please book in advance and soon to avoid disappointment. Likely to be fully booked early.

TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM THE GLASGOW FILM THEATRE, 12 ROSE STREET , GLASGOW £4/£3 tel. 0141 332 8128

SOME USEFUL LINKS ON ISSUES AROUND PROSTITUTION

1. The Women’s Support Project has excellent information about the harm caused through prostitution with a list of links and contact information, including bulletins of the Routes Out of Prostitution network in Glasgow .

www.womenssupportproject.co.uk/prostitution.php

2. The October issue of the journal Violence Against Women has a number of papers arguing against the legalisation of prostitution.

These are available free online until the end of October on the Sage Publications website. Sage Journals Online is offering free access to all journals it has in electronic format until the end of October.

www.sagepub.com/home.aspx

The current issue of Violence Against Women is at:

http://vaw.sagepub.com/current.dtl

The papers are:

Janice G. Raymond

Guest Editor’s Introduction
Violence Against Women 2004 10: 1083-1086.

Melissa Farley

"Bad for the Body, Bad for the Heart": Prostitution Harms Women Even if Legalized or Decriminalized
Violence Against Women 2004 10: 1087-1125.

Esohe Aghatise

Trafficking for Prostitution in Italy : Possible Effects of Government Proposals for Legalization of Brothels
Violence Against Women 2004 10: 1126-1155

Janice G. Raymond

Prostitution on Demand: Legalizing the Buyers as Sexual Consumers
Violence Against Women 2004 10: 1156-1186.

Gunilla Ekberg

The Swedish Law that Prohibits the Purchase of Sexual Services: Best Practices for Prevention of Prostitution and Trafficking in Human Beings
Violence Against Women 2004 10: 1187-1218.

3. There is an ongoing government consultation in England and Wales on prostitution. Information about it is available at:

www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/paying_the_price.html

From the website:

“Paying the Price, a consultation paper on prostitution, has been published to prompt a public debate on how to deal with the issues raised by prostitution in England and Wales . Views on policy and practice will pave the way for the development of a coordinated strategy for prostitution – aimed at reducing the harms associated with prostitution, experienced by those involved and by those communities in which it takes place. Views are welcome from everyone with an interest in this area of public policy, but particularly from those with experience of involvement in prostitution, those with experience of the impact of prostitution in their neighbourhood, and from those agencies - both voluntary and statutory - working in this field.”

LAP DANCING REPORT

Rape Crisis Scotland welcomes the August 2004 report on lap dancing, commissioned by Glasgow City Council. This recommended that lap dancing clubs should be licensed as sex shops.

The research, by Julie Bindel, of London Metropolitan University’s Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, recommended that: the clubs be licensed as sex shops, with restricted numbers of licenses and specific licensing conditions covering working conditions for the dancers; dancers’ ‘rent’ payments should be abolished, along with VIP suites and curtained areas; CCTV should be used, including in seating areas; central governments should fund research on the social consequences of commercial sexual exploitation, including lap dancing.

The report is available at:

www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/News/lapdancingreportaug04.htm

In October last year Rape Crisis Scotland and the Women’s Support Project launched the Scottish Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation.

Below is the launch statement again and a membership form is available on the October 03 newspage www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk/OctoberNews.htm

The Scottish Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation:

works to raise awareness of the harm caused to women through prostitution and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation, including stripping, lap dancing, pornography, sex tourism, mail order brides, and trafficking for the purposes of prostitution.

campaigns for legislative change necessary to: reduce the harm caused through prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation; remove current gender inequality in the law; challenge the behaviour of men who buy sexual services.

The Coalition takes the view that prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation are part of a spectrum of men’s violence against women and children, which includes incest, rape, sexual harassment and domestic violence. There are clear links between issues such as childhood experience of abuse and neglect, domestic violence, poverty, homelessness, addiction, and women’s involvement in prostitution, pornography and the sex industry as a whole.

We oppose efforts to categorise prostitution as ‘sex work’. Legalising or legitimising the activity will not remove the harm caused but would simply legitimise that harm. We do not view prostitution as a choice for women, irrespective of age, and believe that it is contradictory to condemn child prostitution whilst condoning or ignoring adult prostitution. Neither do we recognise the false distinctions between forced and so-called ‘free’ prostitution. All prostitution is exploitative of the person prostituted, regardless of the context, or of whether that person is said to have consented to the prostitution. Sexual exploitation eroticizes women's inequality and is a vehicle for racism; Black women, minority ethnic women and indigenous women suffer disproportionately.

LEGAL SEMINAR REPORT - coming soon

The legal seminar organised by Rape Crisis Scotland and the Women’s Support Project in August was very successful, with around 100 people attending. A report of the event, including presentations by the speakers, will be posted on the website in late September.