U.K. job centers ban lap dancers, adult performers
TEXT OF STORY
Bob Moon: The field of available jobs just got smaller at job centers in Britain. They can no longer advertise jobs for what we’ll call “adult performers”. Until last week, government-run help wanted offices in the U.K. could offer job seekers the chance to work as strippers or lap dancers. But as the BBC’s Rebecca Singer reports, a change in the rules means that’s no longer allowed.
Rebecca Singer: For years, the British government’s been criticized for allowing the adult entertainment industry to advertise in their job centers. Chris Grayling is the work and pensions minister:
Chris Grayling: We’ve had over the years a steady flow of adverts, very often in clubs for pole-dancers and lap-dancers, but also increasingly for women who strip in front of a web cam and it’s broadcast on the internet.
At the last count, there were 350 posts for topless waitresses, nude cleaners and strippers, all advertised in government job centers. But in tough economic times, Grayling doesn’t want people to feel they have to take this type of work in order to pay the bills. But some adult performers are angry at what this new ban implies. Giselle is training to be a lawyer, but also works as a lap dancer and didn’t want to use her last name:
Giselle: To my mind, that classifies us as sex trade workers. People have these preconceived ideas about what lap dancing is, but it’s actually not that.
The ban doesn’t include jobs like working as a bouncer or a cleaner in a nightclub.
In London, I’m the BBC’s Rebecca Singer for Marketplace.
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