Government urged to stop advertising sex industry ads

On Thursday March 26th OBJECT coordinated a protest outside what was branded 'Pimpcentre Plus' to campaign against government sanctioning of commercial sexual exploitation. The government currently allows Jobcentre Plus (JC+) to advertise sex industry jobs such as ‘masseuses’, ‘escorts’, lap dancers and strip webcam performers.

We stood outside Brixton Jobcentre with placards and a blown up Jobcentre Plus advert for ‘Female Adult Webcam Models’ which is currently advertised on the Jobcentre Plus website.  This particular role is described as involving ‘entertainment for a male client basis in which you will be required to be nude/semi nude and which will involve explicit sexual dialogue’.

OBJECT activists, along with women from the Feminist Coalition Against Prostitution and EAVES Housing for Women, collected 200 letters in 1.5 hours from people demanding an end to JC+ normalising and legitimising the sexual exploitation involved in prostitution and lap dancing. These letters were handed in to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) on Friday March 27th to mark the end of a government consultation into the matter. The consultation was brought about as a response to pressure from women’s groups such as Eaves raising awareness about incidents in which women as young as 17 applied for jobs as ‘masseuses’ only to find they were expected to sell sex.
 
The DWP claims it has no choice but to carry sex industry adverts following a 2003 legal ruling that Ann Summers should be allowed to advertise through JC+.

We say that it is nonsensical for the government to extend a decision applicable to retail premises to virtually the entire sex industry and that working in Ann Summers is very different from providing direct sexual services in prostitution or lap dancing. We have independent legal advice which backs this up. Sex industry jobs often involve sexual exploitation. They make sexual harassment seem normal, and they promote the idea that women are always sexually available as long as you have a bit of cash to spare.

We are campaigning on this issue becasue we do not think it is acceptable for a government agency to be promoting jobs to women which often involve violence and abuse and which send out the message that women are sexual objects to be bought and sold.

A DWP response to the consultation is due in the next 3 months. You can download OBJECT's submission here (pdf): Watch this space!