Sex work ads banned from Job Centres
Monday, 2 August 2010 4:38 PM
By politics.co.uk staff
The government has banned the advertising of adult entertainment jobs in Job Centres.
Jobcentre Plus will implement an immediate ban to certain jobs and ministers will push through legislation to enshrine the commitment on the statute book.
"It's absolutely wrong that the government advertises jobs that could support the exploitation of people," employment minister Chris Grayling said.
"We've taken immediate action today to stop certain adult entertainment vacancies from being advertised through Jobcentre Plus.
"We shouldn't put vulnerable people in an environment where they're exposed to these types of jobs and could feel under pressure to work in the sex industry."
Video: Chris Grayling bans JobCentre sex work ads
Jobcentre Plus will no longer advertise jobs that involve the "direct sexual stimulation of others".
The ban would cover such jobs as lap dancers, web-cam performers and strippers.
However, Jobcentre Plus will continue to accept other vacancies in the retail, manufacturing and distribution sectors of the industry. A cleaning job in a lap dancing club could still be advertised, for example.
"The DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] had an opportunity to send the message that those who work in adult entertainment deserve equal treatment and the same protection of the law as those in other industries. Instead, they have bowed to political pressure born of prudery and nanny-state feminism," an International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW) spokesperson told politics.co.uk.
"It should not be the job of the DWP to make moral judgements on career choices."
A ban on all adult entertainment industry vacancies was active before 2003 but overturned after lingerie and sex toy brand Ann Summers successfully argued in the High Court that it was unlawful.
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