Controlling lap dancing

How many such clubs are there?
When New Labour came to power, there were just a handful, usually confined to inner-city fleshpots; today there are more than 300, flourishing in such unlikely provincial locations as Leamington Spa and Stourbridge. And for that, many blame the 2003 Licensing Act which, as well as introducing 24-hour drinking, made lapdancing clubs outside London as easy to open as pubs or cafes. Before that, along with sex shops and porn cinemas, they had to be licensed as Sex Encounter Establishments under the 1982 Local Government Act, which gives residents and local councils the right to oppose their opening; but under the new law the only people entitled to object to a licence for a new lap-dancing club are those living within 200m.

Where did the idea of lap-dancing clubs originate?
Unsurprisingly, in America. The first club to offer table-dancing - where strippers dance by the client's table, not just on a stage - opened in Florida in 1972. But the idea of lap-dancing really took off in the 1980s when O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco allowed dancers to sit naked in customers' laps for tips. Club-owners liked it because it brought in more punters and because it meant they had to pay less to the dancers. In the 1990s, 'VIP' rooms were introduced - private cubicles or curtained-off areas where, for a fixed fee, services on offer could include complimentary champagne and fully-nude 'intimate dancing', with 'bed dances' also available. There are now over 3,000 such clubs in America, the degree of sexual contact varying with club rules and local law enforcement - from none at all to surreptitious touching to 'full contact', and even actual prostitution.

And when did lap-dancing take root in Britain?
The first lap-dance club, For Your Eyes Only, opened in Park Royal, west London, in 1995. Soon it was making as much profit as five average-sized pubs, and imitators spread rapidly across the UK, offering dances of varying levels of nudity (typically starting at £10-20), at tables, in private booths and VIP areas. Licensing agreements established as standard practice the rule that dancers must not touch the customer with any part of the body, aside from the customer placing money in the dancer's G-string. The business makes lots of money: an estimated £300m in 2003.

Aren't they just harmless fun?
That's certainly how they're marketed - as a risque form of 'gentlemen's entertainment'. Their business mostly comes from stag parties at weekends and businessmen during the week. In the popular perception, lap-dancing clubs have acquired a degree of respectability, even glamour, while their owners argue that they bring employment to the locality, not least for the thousands of women who work in them.

So what's the problem?
Residents living near lap-dancing clubs complain that their neighbourhoods have been blighted by them. Residents' associations in Bournemouth say their town has acquired a reputation as a sleazy 'sin city' now that four clubs have opened there. Local research also suggests that the areas near clubs become no-go zones for women, and that the number of sex crimes in their vicinity tends to rise. In Camden, a report by the Lilith Project comparing the three years before and after the opening of four lap-dancing clubs found incidents of rape in the area rose by 50 per cent and sexual assault by 57 per cent. And there are many complaints that some clubs offer not just dancing, but sexual services as well.

Isn't that prohibited by law?
In theory, any form of sexual contact is outlawed, but many of the women involved say the reality is very different. Dancers usually have to pay a 'stage fee' to the club, and make their money from the dances, so many clubs like as many dancers as possible to appear on a given night. And the ensuing competition for clients leads to pressure to bend the rules. "You learn certain things are profitable, and no contact is the first rule you learn to break," as one ex-dancer puts it. A report into lap-dancing clubs in Glasgow found that they all allowed touching; one customer claimed services in the VIP room included "full sex for £200". "There's only one reason you have a cubicle," a club manager in Bristol is quoted as saying. "It's because touching is going on and all sorts." But since it's almost impossible to prosecute offences taking place in darkened cubicles, the law is impotent. A 1999 case against three London clubs was thrown out on the grounds that "if the owners were not aware prostitution was taking place" they couldn't be said to have breached the terms of their licence.

But aren't most clubs law-abiding?
The outright selling of sex is thought to be fairly rare, yet many regard even the most rule-abiding clubs as morally reprehensible. Feminists argue that they objectify women, fostering the illusion that they are sexually available for a price, putting both dancers and clients on the slippery slope towards prostitution. "The acts performed by the dancers are so intimate and explicit that they constitute a halfway house to paying for sex," writes Nick Horley, reporting on his own visit to a lap-dancing club, in the New Statesman: "This is not just striptease: it is quasi-sex, skillfully presented as legitimate, harmless and socially responsible. It had the effect of persuading me that full, paid-for sex, something I had thought my inhibitions and ethics would never permit, was a logical, acceptable next step."

So what next?
Labour MP Roberta Blackman-Woods is campaigning to have the clubs re-designated as 'sex encounter establishments'. The licensing minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, is currently asking all councils if they would support a reclassification; they have until August 15 to respond. ·