Letter template:

To whom it may concern,

I’m writing regarding the licensing of Sheffield's only strip club. As a local resident of Sheffield I am in favour of the SEV license renewal: the club is unobtrusive in it’s area, and closure of the club would have negative impacts in many ways. Closing the club will take away many waged positions (door, bar, management, cleaning staff) which provides for many families across Sheffield. It will also take away jobs for many women working as dancers at the club, many of whom are also parents or have caring responsibilities. Workers within the club consistently assert that they are there of their own free will, and that they enjoy their jobs, and the tight knit community there.

While the dancers at the venue come from a variety of backgrounds and careers, for some the closure of the club will inevitably mean a move towards riskier, unregulated or higher contact forms of erotic dancing and sex work that they would not otherwise choose. It would also mean breaking up a close and supportive community of colleagues and friends, which will undoubtedly have a negative impact on many workers, their mental health and their financial wellbeing.

This club is a venue that has a place in Sheffield City Centre. It is a legitimate business that stimulates the economy like any other and the government recommends that objections based on moral grounds should not be considered when licensing Sexual Entertainment Venues: sexuality is a natural part of the human experience. Not everyone need visit or agree with such venues, but venues should not be closed on moral grounds objecting to sexual entertainment itself. Regarding alleged license breaches: the club has a record of legal and safe operation spanning over 15 years, and I believe the club should be given the chance to remedy any alleged misconduct and put in place measures to ensure such breaches are not allowed to take place.

Whilst it should be taken into consideration that the stripclub industry as a whole is not perfect, it is also important to note that dancers across the UK and in Sheffield are unionising and fighting for their workers rights. Removing a safe and regulated venue from workers who are engaged in this fight does nothing to support them and in fact detracts from this aim by dispersing dancers who are already unionising at work further afield and distracting their focus to finding alternative venues and avenues of work. It is hard to fight for workers rights when you have to fight for the right to work at all! While it is important to focus on exploitation in any industry, it is paramount to listen to the views, experiences and wishes of workers currently in the industry, as it is those people who know best the conditions that will help them.

Finally, I would like to express my condemnation of tactics used by self described feminist groups. Filming women in the nude without their consent or knowledge is not acceptable, nor is it acceptable to pay others to do so, and those concerned with women’s rights more generally must also respect the rights of the women upon whom their actions and campaigns have the most impact. I urge the council to publicly condemn and reject such activities, and for action to be taken against those commissioning such footage.

Kind Regards,

Ideas of what to include in letters of support

Send to: licensingservice@sheffield.gov.uk

• Workers at Sheffield's only licensed strip club cite the benefits of their jobs as being:

  • Flexible hours- work around health/family/academic/other career commitments

  • Good pay on average

  • Fun working environment

  • Supportive atmosphere

  • Tight knit community of colleagues, management, door and bar staff and performers

  • Increased body confidence

  • Financial means to support families, academic and creative pursuits, travel

  • Meeting people from a wide range of backgrounds

• Closure of the club will:

  • Push performers further afield to look for work- break up community, spend more on travel

  • Completely take away the incomes of waged workers at the club (door, bar, management) many of whom are the main earner/support families, have children or are carers.

  • Lead to fewer licensed clubs in the UK, creating more competitive working environments in the remaining clubs

  • Push workers into more dangerous and higher contact forms of stripping or sex work which is unregulated and will involve more risky activities.

  • Negatively economically impact Sheffield

  • Ignore the fact that workers within the industry are already unionising for better working conditions (through United Voices of the World trade union)

  • Break up a close and supportive community

  • Adversely impact the mental health of those affected

  • Take away worker’s independence and ability to support themselves and their families

• The tactics used by women’s rights organisations:

  • Objectify performers

    • by ignoring our voices- we have not been consulted on what would ‘help’ us, and the organisations have declined to speak with/work with us.

    • by describing us as being ‘bought and sold’ rather than selling our services and time like in any other industry (dancers, models, manual labourers, therapists)

    • Reducing us to stereotypes and objects ‘damaged strippers’ ‘sexual objects’

    • Violates our right to privacy, treating our naked bodies as tactics for use in political strategy

    • Reduces us from complex human beings with complex experiences to ‘symbols’ for women’s oppression

    • Excludes strippers from feminism. We aren’t the ‘right kind’ of ‘respectable’ woman and therefore our views and needs (and rights as women to choose our own career, to choose who sees us naked) don’t matter to these organisations.

    • Blames women, and punishes women (taking away our jobs, revenge porn tactics) for male sexual violence and harrassment

    • Describes dancers fighting for their right to work as 'brainwashed' by the 'pimp lobby' instead of capable of making their own choices and forming their own opinions

  • Breaches the law and our rights

    • Contravenes GDPR regulations

    • Breaches our consent over who can view our nude bodies

    • Violates our right to privacy

    • Negatively harms our mental health, perpetuates strategies of sexual violence by creating non-consensual footage of us nude

    • Due to social stigma, if distributed or shown publicly has the potential to harm our social lives, mental health and careers

    • The tactic of filming is reminiscent of revenge porn and also strategies undertaken by Peter Stringfellow to attempt to close rival clubs, disrespects the humanity, rights and wishes of the women

    • filming potentially constitutes revenge porn/ voyeurism under UK law

• For those who are concerned about the stripping industry more generally and aren’t sure about it: there is ongoing work across the country as more dancers are starting to unionise for better working conditions. We are and will be involved in this fight and will support other dancers and clubs too!

• For those concerned about house fees, commission, slow nights etc. many workers say that they choose this work with a full consideration of the pros and cons.

  • Many dancers draw comparisons with other self employed workers such as a hairdresser or beautician not working out of a salon- sometimes you get no bookings in and earn no money! They describe learning to manage money accordingly, and describe that they choose to pay the club in order to have a safe and controlled working environment with cctv, door staff, supportive colleagues and management.

  • In cases in the industry where workers dance because they have no other option, it seems better to fight for workers rights across the board in the industry rather than focus on shutting down individual clubs where such workers without other options would have to potentially take on more dangerous and higher physical contact work.

  • Dancers in Sheffield are working with and represented by United Voices of the World trade union who are fighting for improved conditions across the whole industry.

  • Where there are concerns about the specific venues, it is important to listen to workers concerns and wishes: not to close the club but to address, investigate and remedy any allegations of misconduct or exploitation. Strippers (and workers from many industries) are coming together to articulate their collective interest and voice collective concerns.

Family/ friend supporting statement

To whom it may concern,

Who you are and what your relation is to dancer friend or family member?

Why do you support your dancer friend/ family member?

Honestly, did you have any initial concerns?

Explain the positive differences in your friend/family member. Please give examples.

Please end with a positive statement of support for your dancer friend/ family member that will challenge the people objecting and trying to prevent us from getting our license.

Thank you!