Forget The Swedish Model….Iceland Goes APRF Crazy And Bans Strip Clubs (The Remixed Version)

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Anthony
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[Note from Anthony: This is actually a reprint of a post that I published at the Blog of Pro-Porn Activism last week; due to some controversy over some of the comments that were posted there, I've decided to repost it here so that the full gamut of debate can be hashed out. All who had participated in the comment thread there are more than welcome to post here; this would be a more appropriate venue for debating the specifics of the Iceland ban.  In a future post, I will respond directly to some of the points that were raised by supporters of the ban that didn't make the BPPA mod queue.]

And to think that liberals and Leftists love to mock the Teabaggers for their outright looniness..we may not be able to laugh so long if this group of radfems get as much a hold of the Obama Presidency as they have apparently overtaken the ruling government of Iceland.

The story from the UK Guardian:

Iceland: the world’s most feminist country

Iceland is fast becoming a world-leader in feminism . A country with a tiny population of 320,000, it is on the brink of achieving what many considered to be impossible: closing down its sex industry.

While activists in Britain battle on in an attempt to regulate lapdance clubs – the number of which has been growing at an alarming rate during the last decade – Iceland has passed a law that will result in every strip club in the country being shut down. And forget hiring a topless waitress in an attempt to get around the bar: the law, which was passed with no votes against and only two abstentions, will make it illegal for any business to profit from the nudity of its employees.

Even more impressive: the Nordic state is the first country in the world to ban stripping and lapdancing for feminist, rather than religious, reasons. Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir, the politician who first proposed the ban, firmly told the national press on Wednesday: “It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold.” When I asked her if she thinks Iceland has become the greatest feminist country in the world, she replied: “It is certainly up there. Mainly as a result of the feminist groups putting pressure on parliamentarians. These women work 24 hours a day, seven days a week with their campaigns and it eventually filters down to all of society.”

The news is a real boost to feminists around the world, showing us that when an entire country unites behind an idea anything can happen. And it is bound to give a shot in the arm to the feminist campaign in the UK against an industry that is both a cause and a consequence of gaping inequality between men and women.

[excerpted from full article here ]

It should be noted that the author of the Guardian article that practically gushes with praise for this most wonderful “feminist” action is Julie Bindel, a long time antiporn/antiprostitution activist and a favorite within APRF circles.

Of course, my guess is that Ms. Bindel probably would get a slightly different opinion of her favored government from the women who are now unemployed or threatened with not only the loss of income, but perhaps even jail time, thanks to the enlightened leadership of such “feminism”.

Or, the women who now will face the prospect of even greater risk of sexual assault or harrassment in the streets due to the closing down of safe and formerly legal venues of adult entertainment.

Or….even those who will now hang their heads in shame that the term “feminism” has been now officially hijacked and smeared through the actions of women whose only incentive is to indict, convict, and even execute men for the evil thought crime of thinking about women as free and equal sexual beings….or simply having erections. (Would Ms. Bindel be so exercised about the supposedly boorish behavior of gay men towards each other??  Or, do they need to have gay bars and other potential places of hooking up closed down, too, just to satisfy her (and the Icelander government’s) newly created fear of male erect penii???)

Also…I’d wonder how many of the votes for this strip club ban came from right-wing fundamentalist conservatives who share Ms. Bindel’s concerns, yet from a more “religious” erspective of “immorality”:rather than the cover of “protecting women” from the evil male gaze?? Of course, no feminist worth her title would EVER ally themselves with such right-wing people to pass legislation….no, ma’am, only those evil pro-porn rapist MEN would portray them as conservatives out to use the State to regulate sexual choices!!!

Unfortunately, in the bizarro world of “left” antipornradicalfeminism, which seems to be taking over whatever’s left of “the Left” in Europe, everything old is new again. Rumors of MacDworkinism’s death appear to be badly mistaken and unfounded.

And if we’re not too careful and don’t start fighting hard, we’ll have to face this shit here within our own borders. Remember, Cass Sustein could very well be our next Supreme Court Justice….Glenn Beck’s ravings notwithstanding.

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  • makomk

    Oh, it's by Julie Bindel, no surprise there. (Unfortunately, having written some horribly transphobic stuff for the Guardian in the last few years seems to have done no harm to her career.) She'd like for similar laws here in the UK, though it looks like we'll just get licensing that decreases the number of strip clubs (and therefore competition between them – not sure how that'll work out for the workers). The similar licensing scheme for sex shops has resulted in most of them being owned and controlled by a handful of big chains, as well as something of a shortage of women-friendly sex shops. (Ann Summers technically isn't a sex shop, which is why it can actually exist.)

  • koko

    "Or, the women who now will face the prospect of even greater risk of sexual assault or harrassment in the streets due to the closing down of safe and formerly legal venues of adult entertainment."

    I honestly don't understand how can anyone defend sex work by implying that men need to have women available and willing to satisfy their sexual needs or they'll start raping them. I mean, there are good arguments that can be employed in defending sex work, but for fuck's sake, this is not one of them.

    "Or….even those who will now hang their heads in shame that the term “feminism” has been now officially hijacked and smeared through the actions of women whose only incentive is to indict, convict, and even execute men for the evil thought crime of thinking about women as free and equal sexual beings….or simply having erections."

    This is wonderful. In the previous paragraph men are animals who cannot control their impulses and will assault and harass women if there isn't a constant supply of womenfolk willing to make themselves available to satisfy their sexual needs, and in the very next paragraph men are innocent beings who see their fellow humans of the opposite sex as their free and sexual equals. You're switching between opposing arguments as if it doesn't matter what they mean, as long as both support our position. Which actually says a lot.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Anthony_K Anthony Kennerson

      Oh, Koko, are you always this dense??

      Where in the hell did I ever say that "men had to have women available and willing to satisfy their sexual needs or they'll start raping them"??

      What I did say was that strip clubs offered at the very least a safe place where men and women, if they wanted to do so, could enjoy and exercise in the erotic gaze and view women as sexually attractive human beings, and that their banishment would only force sex work into the unprotected underground, where people less forgiving would be able to exploit the illegality to much greater harm and abuse.

      Oh, and most men who rape do not need the legality of strip clubs to motivate them to abuse and rape women…see the Vatican and some fundamentalist churches for vivid examples.

      But, I guess that only women — nay, "feminist" women — have legitimate sexual needs thaat can only be satisfied through the politically correct and proper dose of "feminist sexuality" and "feminist porn". Men, of course, are just mere animals who simply need to be domesticated and spayed, like dogs.

      And, the women whose stated sexual desires don't meed your standards are either tools of the patriarchy, dupes of men, or mere dumb cumdumptster sluts, right???

      That's your opinion, Koko…not mine. Unlike you, I happen to actually respect human sexuality, and the actions and desires of the majority of men who view strip clubs or view porn are simply NOT the strawmen you and your side invents.

      The real issue here, Koko, is that I see men and women as individual people who live in a collective world, who have feelings and desires that are both beautiful and frightening, and who wish to seek out safe and consensual venues to fulfill those desires. I don't deny that some men are capable of being boorish, and even a few of them violent, in pursuit of those desires…but I don't feel the need to group all men as the embodiement of the worst in order to impose some reactionary social program on them…even one dressed up in the name of "progressive feminism".

      You, on the other hand, can only see the world through your rose-colored lens of "Men with erect penises = mass rapists" and "Radical feminism = the only true sexual liberation" , even if the overwhelming majority of men who are into strip clubs harm no one, even if the women who work the stages in strip clubs insist that they are not harmed and that they welcome, if not relish, the erotic gaze bestowed upon them; and even if those women insist on keeping the clubs legal if only to provide the fundamental basic protections for them against the few clients who may become abusive and overstep their boundaries. For you, though, all of that doesn't even register, since ideology reigns supreme over even basic fundamental experience.

      And, yet, you have the gall to say that I'm the one who's pushing an argument??

      Try again, please, when you have more to say than just the latest propaganda talking point.

      Anthony

      • koko

        Where in the hell did I ever say that "men had to have women available and willing to satisfy their sexual needs or they'll start raping them"??

        –>

        "Or, the women who now will face the prospect of even greater risk of sexual assault or harrassment in the streets due to the closing down of safe and formerly legal venues of adult entertainment."

        The rest of your comment is a series of things which I neither voiced nor do I support nor is is possible from my very short comment to discern that this is my attitude towards this issue (you are doing a serious bit of projecting here, pal), but this also says a lot about your approach to the matter. So thanks for trying to "engage" me in the discussion but I have better things to do than waste my time arguing to defend things I didn't say.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Anthony_K Anthony Kennerson

    Again, Koko, you misread what I wrote.

    My comment was not about men raping women, but about sex workers losing the protection of legality and being forced into the underground where physical abuse and exploitation is far more common.

    But, if you want to continue to paint me as a supporter of rape…well, that's your problem, not mine.

    And as for your protests that I misconstrued your response: well, since you come here to my space and basically depict me as a enabler of rapists, then why shouldn't I interpret your comments as being supportive of the classical antiporn feminist position…which is fundamentally based on the beliefs I stated that most men are brutes who use their penii to assault women, and that banning sexual commerce and sexual media will serve to control and harness them?? If you are going to accuse me of projection, then how about not doing the same?

    Either way, to each his or her own.

    Anthony

  • koko

    Yes, you are right, I obviously incorrectly interpreted what you meant to say. However, your wording of that argument is extremely similar to the argument that many make – namely, that men will start raping women if people take away the porn and the prostitutes and the stippers – an argument which I personally find insulting, hence my overreaction. I appologize. But I think my misunderstanding is understandable because of how you phrased that paragraph. Branding anyone who criticizes a part of what you wrote as a de facto radical anti-porn feminist, however, I don't think is justifiable. I know I came barging in here on your own territory, but you're being way too defensive.

    Again, I appologize for my previous harsh comment, obviously I overreacted.