New bill to ban stripping in Iceland

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New bill to ban stripping in Iceland

Postby StuartM » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:44 am

After the bill last year to ban strip clubs was narrowly defeated (while there was still a right-wing majority in parliament which there isn't any more) feminists continued the fight and have again succeeded in getting a new bill debated today. I'm not sure if there's any outcome yet or when the vote will be. This is from Iceland Review:

Bill Banning Striptease Debated in Iceland’s Parliament

A bill proposing a ban on striptease in Iceland as of July 1 will be discussed in Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, today.

An evaluation by the Capital Region Police states that around hundred foreign women come to Iceland annually to dance at strip clubs and that it has proven difficult to determine whether they are being forced into such practices, ruv.is reports.

The evaluation concludes that clubs should not be permitted to organize striptease on the grounds of human rights, the public’s interest and policing.

European investigations show that women who work at strip clubs are often victims of various abuse because of poverty, alcohol or drug addiction. In many cases they are victims of human trafficking and other crimes.

The parliament’s General Committee concludes that in light of the information from police authorities it is highly likely that some of the women working in strip clubs in Iceland don’t enjoy full personal rights and are possibly victims of human trafficking or other abuse.

The bill therefore proposes the abolishment of a legal exemption which permits clubs to stage striptease for profit. An unequivocal ban on striptease and profiting from the nudity of employees or other attendees of clubs is recommended.

Ásgeir Thór Davídsson, the owner of the strip club Goldfinger in Kópavogur, said in a radio interview on Rás 2 this morning that he is dissatisfied with plans to abolish the exemption for striptease.

Davídsson said he doesn’t understand why people are confusing stripping with human trafficking. He stated that human trafficking does not take place at his club, pointing out that some of the women working there have been there for five to ten years or even longer.

Half of his employees are Icelandic, Davídsson added. Others travel the world and come back, which they wouldn’t do if there was something criminal going on, he argued. He said he is absolutely certain that his employees are content with their work.
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Re: New bill to ban stripping in Iceland

Postby StuartM » Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:35 pm

And it's passed - with not a single vote in opposition!!! :D :D :D

Legislation Bans Stripping in Iceland

Legislation banning striptease in Iceland and barring clubs from making profit from the nudity of employees of will take effect on July 1, 2010. The legislation was passed with 31 votes. Two MPs of the Independence Party abstained but no one voted against it.

“It is pleasing how fresh the breeze of equality is at Althingi [the Icelandic parliament] these days,” said Siv Fridleifsdótttir of the Progressive Party, the bill’s first presenter, Fréttabladid reports.

She also said a step had been taken towards increased democracy, considering a legislation which was presented by a member of the opposition was passed.

Stripping had generally been banned in Iceland before yesterday’s legislation was passed, but a few clubs were operating on a legal exemption. Now they will no longer be able to do so.

Ásgeir Davídsson who runs the strip club Goldfinger in Kópavogur is looking into whether he can sue the Icelandic state for compensation.

“I have reached the age where I’m not sure whether I want to bother with this hassle anymore,” he said. “I would be relieved if they just paid me compensation and I would quit.”

Davídsson said yesterday’s legislation reminds him of regulations in countries where hardly any part of a woman’s body can be seen in public. He claimed Iceland is the first European country to ban stripping.

Fridleifsdóttir said she doesn’t know whether it is true that Iceland is the first country in Europe to pass such a legislation.

“But we showed consideration while passing the legislation by allowing the clubs a long time to adjust,” she said, adding that the parliament’s General Committee does not believe strip clubs are entitled to compensation.

(From Iceland Review - http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/ ... _id=359882)
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Re: New bill to ban stripping in Iceland

Postby delphyne » Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:48 pm

Terrific. Thanks for keeping us posted Stuart.
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Re: New bill to ban stripping in Iceland

Postby sam » Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:28 pm

Skål!
"Your orgasm can no longer dictate my oppression"

Trisha Baptie
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Re: New bill to ban stripping in Iceland

Postby sam » Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:41 pm

Here's how it's being reported over international press.

Iceland gives stripping the cold shoulder with ban
AP foreign, Wednesday March 24 2010
JILL LAWLESS

Associated Press Writers= REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — In a break with liberal European practice, Iceland has voted to ban striptease shows, making it an offense for any business to profit from the nudity of its employees.

Iceland's legislature, the Althingi, passed the ban Tuesday night, with just two abstentions and no votes against, although almost half the country's 63 lawmakers were absent.

Both opponents and supporters of the bill said Wednesday it was a European first. With the exception of the Vatican and tiny principalities like Andorra, strip clubs operate across the continent.

"I am quite happy about Iceland being the first European country to take this step," said Steinunn Valdis Oskarsdottir, a Social Democrat lawmaker who supported the ban.

"Women who work at strip clubs are in many cases the victims of human trafficking and other kinds of abuse," she said. "I have been working in this field for almost 15 years and not yet have I met one woman who dances at strip clubs because she wants to."

Nude dancing was already heavily regulated in Iceland, a volcanic North Atlantic island nation of just 320,000 people, and only a handful of clubs feature stripping.

Kolbrun Halldorsdottir, a former lawmaker who was the first to propose the bill, said the law made it clear "that society does not accept that access to a woman's body is sold."

Club operators dispute the notion that strippers are unwilling victims.

"They are closing striptease (clubs) because they think there is prostitution there," said Asgeir Davidsson, owner of Iceland's largest strip club, Goldfinger. "They think there is organized crime. They have been thinking this for 12 years. They have had the police running around, and they have not found anything."

Davidsson said he would fight the ban, which takes effect July 1.

"I have to talk to my lawyer," he said. "What do they call nude? Is it nude if they are wearing a string?"

Davidsson said his profits already had been hit by Iceland's economic crisis, which has seen unemployment soar and the krona currency plummet after the global credit crunch triggered the collapse of the country's high-flying banks. Iceland is seeking help from the International Monetary Fund to rebuild its economy.

Davidsson said that given the country's dire situation, legislators were "like Nero — playing the violin while Rome is burning."

Iceland combines liberal social values with a strong women's movement, and almost half the country's legislators are women.
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Re: New bill to ban stripping in Iceland

Postby StuartM » Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:13 am

A really encouraging article in today's Guardian by Julie Bindel:

Iceland: the world's most feminist country

Iceland has just banned all strip clubs. Perhaps it's down to the lesbian prime minister, but this may just be the most female-friendly country on the planet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... st-country

Iceland is fast becoming a world-leader in feminism. A country with a tiny population of 320,000, it is on the brink of achieving what many considered to be impossible: closing down its sex industry.

While activists in Britain battle on in an attempt to regulate lapdance clubs – the number of which has been growing at an alarming rate during the last decade – Iceland has passed a law that will result in every strip club in the country being shut down. And forget hiring a topless waitress in an attempt to get around the bar: the law, which was passed with no votes against and only two abstentions, will make it illegal for any business to profit from the nudity of its employees.

Even more impressive: the Nordic state is the first country in the world to ban stripping and lapdancing for feminist, rather than religious, reasons. Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir, the politician who first proposed the ban, firmly told the national press on Wednesday: "It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold." When I asked her if she thinks Iceland has become the greatest feminist country in the world, she replied: "It is certainly up there. Mainly as a result of the feminist groups putting pressure on parliamentarians. These women work 24 hours a day, seven days a week with their campaigns and it eventually filters down to all of society."

The news is a real boost to feminists around the world, showing us that when an entire country unites behind an idea anything can happen. And it is bound to give a shot in the arm to the feminist campaign in the UK against an industry that is both a cause and a consequence of gaping inequality between men and women.

According to Icelandic police, 100 foreign women travel to the country annually to work in strip clubs. It is unclear whether the women are trafficked, but feminists say it is telling that as the stripping industry has grown, the number of Icelandic women wishing to work in it has not. Supporters of the bill say that some of the clubs are a front for prostitution – and that many of the women work there because of drug abuse and poverty rather than free choice. I have visited a strip club in Reykjavik and observed the women. None of them looked happy in their work.

So how has Iceland managed it? To start with, it has a strong women's movement and a high number of female politicans. Almost half the parliamentarians are female and it was ranked fourth out of 130 countries on the international gender gap index (behind Norway, Finland and Sweden). All four of these Scandinavian countries have, to some degree, criminalised the purchase of sex (legislation that the UK will adopt on 1 April). "Once you break past the glass ceiling and have more than one third of female politicians," says Halldórsdóttir, "something changes. Feminist energy seems to permeate everything."

Johanna Sigurðardottir is Iceland's first female and the world's first openly lesbian head of state. Guðrún Jónsdóttir of Stígamót, an organisation based in Reykjavik that campaigns against sexual violence, says she has enjoyed the support of Sigurðardottir for their campaigns against rape and domestic violence: "Johanna is a great feminist in that she challenges the men in her party and refuses to let them oppress her."

Then there is the fact that feminists in Iceland appear to be entirely united in opposition to prostitution, unlike the UK where heated debates rage over whether prostitution and lapdancing are empowering or degrading to women. There is also public support: the ban on commercial sexual activity is not only supported by feminists but also much of the population. A 2007 poll found that 82% of women and 57% of men support the criminalisation of paying for sex – either in brothels or lapdance clubs – and fewer than 10% of Icelanders were opposed.

Jónsdóttir says the ban could mean the death of the sex industry. "Last year we passed a law against the purchase of sex, recently introduced an action plan on trafficking of women, and now we have shut down the strip clubs. The Nordic countries are leading the way on women's equality, recognising women as equal citizens rather than commodities for sale."

Strip club owners are, not surprisingly, furious about the new law. One gave an interview to a local newspaper in which he likened Iceland's approach to that of a country such as Saudi Arabia, where it is not permitted to see any part of a woman's body in public. "I have reached the age where I'm not sure whether I want to bother with this hassle any more," he said.

Janice Raymond, a director of Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, hopes that all sex industry profiteers feel the same way, and believes the new law will pave the way for governments in other countries to follow suit. "What a victory, not only for the Icelanders but for everyone worldwide who repudiates the sexual exploitation of women," she says.

Jónsdóttir is confident that the law will create a change in attitudes towards women. "I guess the men of Iceland will just have to get used to the idea that women are not for sale."
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