‘Strip clubs promote a harmful sexist culture and stand in the way of equality’

We are in the midst of an epidemic of male violence against women and girls.

Barely a day goes by when there isn’t another awful headline about another woman killed, attacked or raped by a man.

And underneath these headlines we find predictable stories of male entitlement, men’s desire to dominate women, treating us as objects to do with what they will.

Harmful sexist culture

Society is complicit in this violence – embracing the sexist culture that can, and does, lead to male violence against women and girls. The sexual objectification of women and girls has become so normalised that we allow it to dominate our screens, schools, workplaces, newspapers and magazines, and our city centres with the continued licensing of two sexual entertainment venues (SEVs), aka strip clubs.

SEVs promote and profit from sexist culture and stand in the way of equality as outlined in the new Safe & Equal Bristol report.

There are established links between sexual objectification and violence against women and girls. While not all men who hold these attitudes perpetrate sexual violence, all sexual violence against women and girls begins with these attitudes.

We cannot tackle male violence without addressing the sexist culture that underpins it.

Community-level prevention

Tackling the male attitudes and behaviours that pave the way for male violence against women and girls is at the heart of our position on a nil cap on SEVs.

Social media organisations should be doing more; they’re not. Our media should be doing more; they are not. Our police should be doing more; they’re starting to. As is the government, though there is so much more that can be done nationally.

There’s lots more work to be done locally too. Bristol City Council’s licensing committee should be doing more. Implementing a nil cap is a rare chance to do something tangible to address harmful male attitudes and behaviours.

A nil cap would send a clear message to men and boys that they do not have a right to treat women and girls as sex objects, and to women and girls that their value lies in more than their bodies and whether they sexually gratify men. The continued licensing of SEVs sends an altogether different message.

Strip clubs drive up demand

There is not an immutable male demand for strippers. SEVs on our high streets drive up demand, investing in marketing to encourage more young men to enter the world of face-to-face sex buying and marketing to young women for recruitment into the sex industry.

If there were no SEVs in Bristol, demand would decrease here; fewer men would buy sexual entertainment and fewer young women would be conditioned into sex work. The clubs create an environment where men can pay to access women’s bodies seven days a week.

The men we’ve spoken to who’ve been to strip clubs all share similar stories – finding themselves in a strip club as part of a drunken group due to peer pressure.

Had the clubs not been council-licensed venues on the high street next to the pubs and clubs, they would not have experienced face-to-face sex buying. The vast majority would not seek out underground sexual entertainment.

The move from five venues to two here in Bristol did not result in SEV activity moving underground. Having licensed strip clubs on the high street normalises and legitimises them and sends harmful messages about what it means to be a man, and what it means to be a woman.

Challenging attitudes and behaviours

Some women who work in SEVs say they’re sexually objectified anyway, they might as well make some money out of it.

But we need to challenge the culture of male entitlement, rather than accept it. Most women want to live their lives free of the sexual objectification that leads to men staring at/commenting on/grabbing their bodies uninvited.

SEVs reinforce the sexist attitudes that pave the way for this sexual harassment and harm women as a group.

Women experience the sex industry differently. We met with Bristol Sex Workers’ Collective earlier this year and have heard from women who work in Bristol’s SEVs who are understandably concerned about losing work now that the clubs have reopened after they were forced to close during the pandemic.

We would look to work with the council and partners to support women directly impacted by this.

We are absolutely committed to making Bristol a city that offers women quality employment, with decent pay, flexible working, affordable childcare and good conditions of service e.g. maternity leave and sick pay. This is not found in SEVs.

Central Chambers on St Stephen’s Street is one of Bristol’s two SEVs which could be banned if a nil-cap is implemented – photo: Martin Booth

A harmful industry

We’ve also heard from former strippers, women who felt trapped in the sex industry and victims of harassment linked to strip clubs.

While some women say they find sex work empowering because it offers flexible hours and earning potential – those women exploited, coerced or trafficked into it and many former sex workers have a very different perspective.

One Bristol sex worker said: “Should we not worry about the girls working on the street because they are choosing to work there? The girls on the street, the girls that are choosing to work on the street are the girls that are choosing to work in the strip clubs five years before. I’d love to be able to say that at least if one girl doesn’t have to walk the same path because I’ve told my story, I’m really proud to do it. I went through hell for ten years and if I can just say something to someone to just change someone’s opinion it would make a huge difference.”

And you need only look at some of the comments and reviews of strip clubs to see the sexism and misogyny that prevails (see latest Safe & Equal Bristol report).

A nil cap approach

Bristol Women’s Commission, Bristol Women’s Voice and Safe and Equal Bristol have been leading the call for a nil cap (read BWV’s position here), but are not alone in advocating for this.

Bristol’s MPs, mayor Marvin Rees and his predecessor George Ferguson, police & crime commissioner Mark Shelford and his predecessor Sue Mountstevens, gender violence experts from our local universities, other women’s charities, churches, and residents have all spoken out in favour of a nil cap approach.

The appropriate number of SEVs in any area where women and men are valued equally and where gendered violence is not tolerated is zero. A nil-cap is needed to achieve this.

Now it’s over to you. The consultation into a proposed nil cap ends on Sunday, December 19. If you’ve not yet responded, we’d urge you to do so – but please read our report, FAQs and consultation guidance first.

Bristol Women’s Commission brings together partner agencies and decision makers to identify and tackle issues affecting women and girls

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read more: One25 CEO apologises for previously supporting nil-cap on SEVs

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