UK Sex Sells News

The UKs Internet Video censor, ATVOD wants to convince banks to withhold card payment services to hardcore websites that don't follow the overcautious restrictions on access to hardcore material by under 18s. ATVOD demand that only credit card holders, (not debit card holders) should be allowed to access hardcore material.

ATVOD claims to have powers to fine British companies for making unrestricted hardcore material available but this unilateral approach is suffocating British business. The ATVOD approach to the card companies is an attempt to penalise foreign companies outside of British control.

Financial organisations and the video censor will meet next month to discuss ATVOD's requests.

The Daily Telegraph reports that it is hoped a voluntary deal will be agreed with credit card firms, perhaps heeding the warning that: Government sources have made it clear that ministers would be prepared to consider legislation, if necessary.

Atvod is expected to announce details of action it has taken against British businesses next week.

A summit will be held with the UK Cards Association, the British Bankers Association, the Payments Council and the leading credit card companies early next month, the paper reported.

Johnson said that the financial services firms had given a very positive response to the proposal. But surely the card companies will be a bit aware that if they agree to ATVOD's requests, they will get an endless stream of moralists calling for the same treatment of their pet prohibitions.

The Radisson Hotel is set to host the XBIZ porn conference in London on September 22-25th.

US nutters from Morality in Media, as well as casting libellous aspersions about attendees, are calling in supporters to write to the Radisson asking managers to end the conference. Morality in Media claim on the Porn Harms website:

We are outraged that they will provide space to an industry that is based on making a profit from brutalizing women.

Email Radisson and let them know your opposition. The hotel is not only supporting the sexual exploitation of women but also putting female employees at risk because men who sexually abuse women for profit will be staying there and in close proximity to female employees.

Pornography puts all women at risk by teaching men that women only have value as sexual objects, are always available as willing participants, and are thus legitimate targets of sexual harassment, abuse and rape.

The group offer a template letter for supporters to send to the hotel:

Dear Radisson Board Members,

I am writing to protest your hotel hosting the XBIZ porn conference in London on 22-25th September. I am outraged that you would provide space to an industry that is based on making a profit from brutalizing women.

Moreover, pornography puts all women at risk by teaching men that women only have value as sexual objects, are always available as willing participants, and are thus legitimate targets of sexual harassment, abuse and rape.

You are [especially] putting at risk all the female employees who work at your hotel during the XBIZ conference because men who sexually abuse women for profit will be staying in your hotel, eating in your hotel, and will be in close proximity to women employees who work at your hotel so they can feed themselves and their families.

Please take this letter as a warning notice regarding these risks. Should a female employee be the victim of sexual harassment or assault, then your knowledge of these risks will increase your negligence and liability. Should you ignore this letter, our campaign could cause serious damage to your reputation and revenue.

Please consider this before you provide a venue to an industry that does serious damage to the health and well-being of women and children.

The Nordic Choice hotel chain is in the process of converting to Bring Your Own Porn (BYOP). It is in the process of replacing in room porn channels with contemporary art.

The chain's owner, Petter Stordalen has made ludicrous and defamatory claims that the porn industry contributes to trafficking. He said:

The porn industry contributes to trafficking, so I see it as a natural part of having a social responsibility to send out a clear signal that Nordic Hotels doesn't support or condone this.

Starting with his flagship hotel in Norway's capital, Stordalen has now replaced porn with interactive TVs in each room offering "art on demand" with a choice of nine works of contemporary video art, including Sam Taylor-Wood's Still Life from 2001" -- a film showing a bowl of fruit slowly decomposing.

Stordalen plans to roll out video art to other hotels, with Copenhagen next on the list.

Managers at Club Rouge in Edinburgh has said that efforts are under way to create an independent dance censor which would cooperate with licensing officers and police to ensure elf 'n' safety in strip clubs and adult entertainment venues across the Capital and Scotland.

They said the body would issue certificates of good practice to businesses only after they introduced measures to clamp down on abusive customers, unhygienic working environments and unfair charges imposed on dancers when clubs are busy or when they phone in sick.

Day-to-day monitoring and enforcement would still be carried out by police and licensing officers though.

Alex Smith, manager of Club Rouge, said:

This is an opportunity for the clubs to say that from now on, they're going to work together for a better environment.

He said meetings would soon take place with senior councillors to move the process forward, with the new dance censor on a voluntary basis and financed through a mixture of public money and contributions from the industry.

Licensing staff said they were receptive to the idea. A spokeswoman said:

The council would welcome any initiative to encourage industry good practice, however we would need more information on this specific proposal to be able to comment further.

Miserable Westminster Council is trying to hide Soho's colourful heritage after ordering a restaurant to remove neon signs harking back to its former glory as London's red light district.

The signs, which read peep show and adult video , were installed outside the fashionable restaurant, La Bodega Negra, early last year as a homage to the area's history.

But after a nine-month fight with Westminster City Council, the restaurant, in Old Compton Street, has been issued with a discontinuance notice to remove the signs, claiming they cause substantial injury to the area. The council noted that Soho is a conservation area.

Westminster council claims:

The continued display of the neon advertisement is considered to constitute a substantial injury to the amenity of the area.

The restaurant argues that the signs, designed by Serge Becker, the creative director of La Esquina in New York and The Box in London, are a work of art and have become a landmark in their own right. Restaurant owner Will Ricker vowed to fight council bosses by keeping the signs in place. He said:

They have completely failed to mention that it was the centre of the capital's sex industry, which made Soho famous globally and a tourist attraction.

And now as it slowly changes away from that, we wanted to make a statement that paid homage to the cultural importance of that epoch. Particularly as its remnants are being eradicated by landlords, the council and technology, the neons are a remnant of a vanishing, golden era that should be celebrated, not forgotten.