Ruhama: clubs are ‘face’ of the sex industry

A SUPPORT group for women involved in prostitution has ruled out organising pickets of other lap dancing clubs following the recent closure of Stringfellow’s in Dublin.

Ruhama said yesterday that it would not engage in public demonstrations outside such clubs, despite the fact that it had taken part in nightly protests outside Stringfellow’s organised by local residents.

The controversial lap dancing club was forced to cease trading in July after just over five months in business at its Parnell Street premises.

A Ruhama spokesperson said “a strategy of protest and picketing” was not part of its normal operation, despite the success of the local campaign against Stringfellow’s.

It is estimated that there are currently around seven lap dancing clubs operating on a regular basis in the Republic.

Ruhama yesterday launched details of a new charter which is designed to dissuade businesspeople from using such clubs for corporate entertainment of staff or clients.

“We became aware of increasing efforts by lap dancing clubs to attract corporate support and decided to advise the corporate sector as to what the lap dancing industry really entails,” said Ruhama spokesperson, Gerardine Rowley.

Ruhama is not aware of any companies which have used lap dancing clubs for corporate entertaining as Ms Rowley explained that they were not interested in “policing” such clubs.

However, she noted that Stringfellow’s had cited its failure to attract support from the corporate sector as a reason for its closure.

Around 40 leading companies have already signed the charter and promised their support to assist in the prevention of the commercial, sexual exploitation of women.

However, only a few were happy to allow themselves to be publicly identified with the initiative. They include McEniffe Hotels, Clonmel Enterprise, the Housing Finance Agency, B D Medical and The Irish Times.

Ms Rowley said Ruhama was very concerned at the normalisation of both the legal and illegal sex industry.

“In Ireland, the emergence of lap dancing clubs as a form of mainstream entertainment demonstrates this growing normalisation, reducing such activity to harmless fun,” said Ms Rowley.

She claimed Ruhama was taking a strong stance against lap dancing clubs because of the view that they acted as “a gateway into prostitution and trafficking”, despite attempting to give such clubs “a veneer of glamour”.

According to Ruhama, in many cases, lap dancing clubs are part of a process of “grooming” vulnerable women for prostitution. It has already assisted over 100 women who had been trafficked for sexual exploitation in the past six years.

The organisation believes that 90% of women involved in indoor prostitution in Ireland are foreign nationals.

Ms Rowley also highlighted the need for legislative changes to tackle the problem of human trafficking and the growing sophistication of the sex industry.