DOCSLIB.ORG

Licensing Regulations for Places of Adult Entertainment

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Licensing Regulations for Places of Adult Entertainment From: Vautrin, Josie B To: Council Comment Cc: Garwood, Robin D. Subject: FW: Written Testimony and procedural questions about hearing Date: Friday, August 09, 2019 1:16:02 PM Attachments: written feedback 1.pdf Written Feedback 2.pdf Written feedback 3.pdf Written Feedback from Performers.pdf RSP Final.pdf To include in the record for the public hearing at PECE on 8/12 for the Adult Entertainment Industry Ordinance --- Dear Josie, I am attaching several documents to this email. The first is the one-pager for SWOP's need assessment study. If possible, could you share this with the council members? Second, I have attached a few different pdfs of compiled written feedback from people with lived experience as dancers. Some of the feedback is handwritten and was shared at a community engagement meeting we held back in July. Most people elected to remain anonymous, and a few attached their names. There may be other feedback coming, and if I get more I will forward it your way. In general, the feedback falls into three categories: racism and favoritism, pay structure and economic exploitation, and health and safety concerns. As you will see, multiple people wrote very lucidly about how the pay structure reinforces racism, discrimination, and poor working conditions. THE REAL STRIPPER REPORT: A NEEDS ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT WORKERS IN THE MINNEAPOLIS STRIPPING INDUSTRY A Collaboration Between SWOP-Minneapolis, Minnesota State University, & Sex Workers Outreach Project - USA BACKGROUND After learning about possible new ordinances affecting strip clubs, Andi Seymour, Jayne Swift, and Ramona Falls (SWOP-Minneapolis) partnered with Eric Sprankle, Machensey Shelgren, and Alex Twohy (Minnesota State University) and Katie Bloomquist (Vice President of Sex Workers Outreach Project - USA) to conduct a needs assessment of current workers in the local stripping industry. The goal was to ensure workers and the only local sex worker rights organization were included in the process of revising local ordinances regulating the stripping industry. THE STUDY The study was funded by Third Wave Fund, Urgent Action Fund, and Minnesota State University, and was approved by the IRB at Minnesota State University in January 2018. Survey data collection and interviews were conducted between February and May, and participants were recruited through personal networks, visits to local strip clubs to inform dancers of the project, and social media (with a focus on forums frequented by national and local sex workers). 60 dancers completed the study’s survey, and of those, 31 were interviewed. RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS This study recommends the following, as possible steps that the Minneapolis City Council could take to improve labor rights and workplace conditions in the local stripping industry: Physical Safety, Cleanliness, And Health: While 77% of the sample indicated feeling safe from violence and harassment from customers, 40% indicated they have been hurt at work from physical structures (e.g., splinters on stages). Furthermore, over half (56%) of participants reported concerns with cleanliness. Issues with the stage areas and dressing rooms were the most commonly reported workplace health concerns. • Management is responsible for maintaining safe stage, floor areas, and dressing rooms that are free from splinters, glass and other debris, and uneven carpet • Hired cleaning services that clean all areas of the workplace, including dressing rooms, on a daily basis. This includes making rubbing alcohol and wipes for stage areas readily available • Security escorts to cars Pay structure: The large majority (65%) of the sample reported being required to tip management, and 71% of the sample disagree with policies requiring splitting tips with other employees. • Eliminate tipping of managers and other salaried staff • Consistent and uniform house fees, fines, and expectations of tipping non-salaried staff clearly outlined in contract Contracts: The language and policies used in contracts were unclear for 21% of the sample. Likely due to the lack of clarity in contracts, especially surrounding termination policies, 39% of participants worried about job security most or all of the time. Many reported not receiving contracts at all. • Workers must be provided with a hard copy of a clearly written contract that outlines rights as independent contractors, anti-discrimination and sexual harassment policies, procedures and reasons for termination, and be provided of club and local government employees who deal with contract grievances Discrimination and favoritism: The majority (63%) of participants reported seeing or experiencing discrimination, and 66% reported management engaging in favoritism most or all of the time. • Information about how to report racial discrimination without fear of retribution • Management and support staff undergo training on racial bias and sensitivity and sexual harassment DISCUSSION The high sample size in our study is a strong testament to having sex workers recruit and collect data from our own communities. We believe this is the best way to collect data that is accurate, representative, and reflective of the needs of the community, as participants engage with their peers in much more holistic way (compared to the ways in which sex workers engage with outsiders and/or those who claim to be “experts”). If the city council adopts our recommendations, Minneapolis would be a rare example of how city governments can help promote labor rights for those working in the sex industry. To support our work, look for updates on social media and share it using #RealStripperReport @SWOPMinneapolis [email protected] @jamswift13 [email protected] @DrSprankle [email protected] @k_bloomquist [email protected] @lana_de1gay @anarchyandi Written Feedback from Performers/Workers Minneapolis Adult Entertainment Ordinance Anon 1 Pay/Tipping One night, after several hours in a private room, I had checked out and exchanged my “funny money” for actual money, and I was making my usual rounds of tipping the cook, the dj, and management. I felt that I had tipped them fairly for their service that evening. I had driven to work this night so I was waiting to retrieve my car from valet, and this night it seemed to be taking a particularly long time. Imagine my horror when my manager came outside with a black trash bag with all of my belongings inside and told me he “never wanted to see [my] fucking face in this club again.” I immediately broke down in tears, I was so distraught I could barely drive. Another manager took pity on me, grabbed the bag with my belongings in it, put it back inside, helped calm me down, and told me we would deal with this in the morning. After several frantic texts to all managers the next afternoon, I was told I could come in that evening to have a meeting with management. I reluctantly went in. I sat down with the manager who had yelled at me, and another manager. The manager who had yelled at me told me that he felt “insulted” and that I had “undertipped” them. He did the math from my earnings, and I had tipped them roughly 10%, which, because of how much I had made the previous night, came out to $100. He told me that the “expected and acceptable” tip was 20%, or $200. With the way credit card sales work at that club, 10% of the funny money goes back to the club, so on this $1000 night, I received $900. They expected $200 of that $900, simply for being there. They did not assist me in any other way, and, to top it off, they had also already received a tip from the guest I was in the private room with. So, this would have left me with $700 of the $1000 I earned. Additionally, tips for the cook, dj, and valet are expected, after all of that, I would’ve left with roughly $600. While this is still considered a great night by all means and possibly an entire week’s pay in other industries, I believe that I have a right to keep the money that I earn, from a workplace where I already pay a significant amount of money to work there. I hope the passing of this ordinance will protect fellow and future entertainers from this exploitation and allow us to work in a harassment-free environment. Anon 2 Pay/Tipping I think this law helps by acknowledging that dancers build the wealth! We deserve respect and safety and rights which is probably news to lots of people on management. My tip out has been higher than what my calculations on how many dances i did was… the slip of paper the club gives at the end of the night had a much higher number that I had to pay the club than I was expecting based on my calculations for the cut they should have taken on the dances I did, so I think I was overcharged. Management cares more about customers who come in and don’t spend money than they do about dancers who work at the club. I have been yelled at by management for "strong arming" and "bothering" people for tips…. Management does not tell people who sit at the tip rail but don't tip to tip, so it falls on the dancer to ask for tips if they are on stage and no one is tipping them. I…need to feel like management respected me and allowed me to work the way I want and interact with customers in a way that feels best to me. Health and Safety We need safety regulations because right now I don't feel safe telling management when I have a problem, because I've been blamed for issues in the past. I don't feel like staff have my back which causes anxiety and stress at work.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Unusual Sexual Behavior
    UNUSUAL SEXUAL BEHA VIOR UNUSUAL SEXUAL BEHAVIOR THE STANDARD DEVIATIONS By DAVID LESTER, Ph.D. R ichard Stockton State College Pomona, New Jersey CHARLES C THOMAS • PUBLISHER Springfield • Illinois • U.S.A. Published and Distributed Throughout the World by CHARLES C THOMAS. PUBLISHER Bannerstone House 301-327 East Lawrence Avenue, Springfield, I1!inois, U.S.A. This book is protected by copyright. No part of it may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. ©1975, by CHARLES C THOMAS. PUBLISHER ISBN 0-398-03343-9 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74 20784 With THOMAS BOOKS careful attention is given to all details of manufacturing and design. It is the Publisher's desire to present books that are satisfactory as to their physical qualities and artistic possibilities and appropriate for their particular use. THOMAS BOOKS will be true to those laws of quality that assure a good name and good will. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lester, David, 1942- Unusual sexual behavior. Includes index. 1. Sexual deviation. I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Sex deviation. WM610 L642ul RC577.IA5 616.8'583 74-20784 ISBN 0-398-03343-9 Printed in the United States of America A-2 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this book is to review the literature on sexual deviations. Primarily the review is concerned with the research literature and not with clinical studies. However, occasional refer­ ence is made to the conclusions of clinical studies and, in particular, to psychoanalytic hypotheses about sexual deviations. The coverage of clinical and psychoanalytic ideas is by no means intended to be exhaustive, unlike the coverage of the research literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Bare Minimum: Stripping Pay for Independent Contractors in the Share Economy
    William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice Volume 23 (2016-2017) Issue 2 William & Mary Journal of Women and Article 5 the Law January 2017 Bare Minimum: Stripping Pay for Independent Contractors in the Share Economy Michael H. LeRoy Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl Part of the Labor and Employment Law Commons Repository Citation Michael H. LeRoy, Bare Minimum: Stripping Pay for Independent Contractors in the Share Economy, 23 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 249 (2017), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/ vol23/iss2/5 Copyright c 2017 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl BARE MINIMUM: STRIPPING PAY FOR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS IN THE SHARE ECONOMY MICHAEL H. LEROY* SUMMARY My study explores a small but revealing corner of the share economy, where an individual’s private resources are bartered for limited use by others in exchange for compensation. Strip clubs create value for owners by commoditizing sexual labor. Clubs avoid employment in favor of independent contracting with dancers. They pay no wages or benefits; patrons pay dancers with fees and tips. But clubs extract entry fees from dancers who work; require them to rent dressing rooms and stage time; and compel them to share tips with DJs, emcees, house moms, bouncers, and bartenders. My research identified seventy-five federal and state court rulings on wage claims by exotic dancers. In thirty-eight cases, courts ruled that dancers were employees; only three courts ruled that dancers were independent contractors.
    [Show full text]
  • Gentlemen's Club
    CHRIS BUCK — BOOKS GENTLEMEN’S CLUB PARTNERS OF EXOTIC DANCERS (SPRING 2021) Known for his uneasy portraits of celebrities, Chris Buck was looking for a subject that continued his exploration of strength and vulnerability, and found it in the partners of exotic dancers. The result is Buck’s most surprising and compelling work: forty interviews and photo sittings across North America with people in committed relationships with strip club dancers. Author and former dancer Lily Burana has written the foreword to Gentlemen’s Club. DETAILS By turns raffish, gallant, sly and touchingly vulnerable, this is a wonderful band of gentlemen—even if some of them aren’t, strictly speaking, men—and this book is a Photographer/Author: Chris Buck reminder of basic humanity in a seemingly inhuman time. Foreword: Lily Burana — Mary Gaitskill, author of This is Pleasure Design: Alex Camlin Format: Hardcover 7.625 x 10.25 inches Chris Buck’s pictures give us strange attractors, weaknesses in human psychic energy fields, blocked 90 color photographs emotions, yearnings for radicality, the normalcy of sexual fantasies, need, the romance of desire, and 256 pages, 40 interviews efflorescent tattered love. Publisher: Norman Stuart Publishing — Jerry Saltz, Pulitzer Prize winning art critic, New York Magazine Release Date: Spring 2021 Chris Buck has taken a widely photographed subject and made it wholly his own. His interviews with dancers’ partners are incisive and powerful, but it is his accompanying photographs that reveal this world in all of its gorgeous complexity: darkness and levity, uncertainty and hope, bravado and vulnerability. — Karen Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of Eden Park GENTLEMEN’S CLUB CHRIS BUCK FOREWORD by Lily Burana The private life of a stripper is one of the enduring mysteries in the public consciousness.
    [Show full text]
  • Homelessness, Survival Sex and Human Trafficking: As Experienced by the Youth of Covenant House New York
    Homelessness, Survival Sex and Human Trafficking: As Experienced by the Youth of Covenant House New York May 2013 Jayne Bigelsen, Director Anti-Human Trafficking Initiatives, Covenant House New York*: Stefanie Vuotto, Fordham University: Tool Development and Validation Project Coordinators: Kimberly Addison, Sara Trongone and Kate Tully Research Assistants/Legal Advisors: Tiffany Anderson, Jacquelyn Bradford, Olivia Brown, Carolyn Collantes, Sharon Dhillon, Leslie Feigenbaum, Laura Ferro, Andrea Laidman, Matthew Jamison, Laura Matthews-Jolly, Gregory Meves, Lucas Morgan, Lauren Radebaugh, Kari Rotkin, Samantha Schulman, Claire Sheehan, Jenn Strashnick, Caroline Valvardi. With a special thanks to Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates for their financial support and to the Covenant House New York staff who made this report possible. And our heartfelt thanks go to the almost 200 Covenant House New York youth who shared their stories with us. *For questions on the use of the trafficking screening tool discussed in this report or anything else related to the substance of the study, please contact study author, Jayne Bigelsen at [email protected] Table of Contents: Executive Summary . 5 Introduction . 5 Key Findings . 6 Terminology . 7 Objectives/Method . 8 Results and Discussion . 10 Compelled Sex Trafficking . 10 Survival Sex . 11 Relationship between Sex Trafficking and Survival Sex . 12 Labor Trafficking . 13 Contributing Factors . 14 Average Age of Entry into Commercial Sexual Activity . 16 Transgender and Gay Youth . 16 Development and Use of the Trafficking Assessment Tool . 17 Implications for Policy and Practice . 19 Conclusion . 21 Appendix: Trafficking Screening Tool . 22 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction In recent years, the plight of human trafficking victims has received a great deal of attention among legislators, social service providers and the popular press.
    [Show full text]
  • Review of Adults Entertainment Parlour
    STAFF REPORT ACTION REQUIRED Review of Adult Entertainment Parlour Regulations - Amendments to Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 545 Date: October 12, 2012 To: Licensing and Standards Committee From: Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards Wards: All Reference Number: SUMMARY The purpose of this report is to recommend amendments to the Adult Entertainment Parlour (“AEP”) regulations under the Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 545, Licensing, Article XXXII. The recommendations proposed herein aim to respond to the issues raised by the industry, and to clarify enforcement interests through the updating of the bylaw provisions, while ensuring a continued balance of the needs and rights of the entertainers, the general public, and the industry as a whole. Staff propose to achieve this balance by amending the bylaw, where appropriate, to include, changes to the current; "no-touch" and "unobstructed -view" provisions, bylaw terminology, construction standards for private performance areas, and provisions to address working conditions of the entertainers. This report recommends new provisions, such as new definitions, licensing of security personnel, and health and safety posters. Lastly, this report includes recommendations to maintain current provisions, where appropriate, such as those regarding licensing of entertainers and other regulatory aspects. All Adult Entertainment Parlour owners and operators, the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, and all licensed burlesque entertainers, were invited to participate in the consultations.
    [Show full text]
  • Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York
    promoting access to White Rose research papers Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ This is an author produced version of a paper published in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/3349/ Published paper Kieran, M. (2002) On Obscenity: The Thrill and Repulsion of the Morally Prohibited. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, LXIV (1). pp. 31-56. ISSN 1933-1592 White Rose Research Online [email protected] On Obscenity: The Thrill and Repulsion of the Morally Prohibited Matthew Kieran, University of Leeds Abstract The paper proceeds by criticising the central accounts of obscenity proffered by Feinberg, Scruton and the suggestive remarks of Nussbaum and goes on to argue for the following formal characterization of obscenity: x is appropriately judged obscene if and only if either A/ x is appropriately classified as a member of a form or class of objects whose authorized purpose is to solicit and commend to us cognitive-affective responses which are (1) internalized as morally prohibited and (2) does so in ways found to be or which are held to warrant repulsion and (3) does so in order to a/ indulge first order desires held to be morally prohibited or b/ indulge the desire to be morally transgressive or the desire to feel repulsed or c/ afford cognitive rewards or d/ any combination thereof or B/ x successfully elicits cognitive-affective responses which conform to conditions (1)- (3). I: Introduction What is it for something to be obscene? The question is both interesting philosophically and of practical import.
    [Show full text]
  • Legalizing the Private Bobths/Roomsfculbiclesin Strip.C.Lubswill Perpetuate Viol,Ations of Dance.Remployees's Labor
    .1i' l' .. Legalizing the private bObths/roomsfculbiclesin strip.c.lubswill perpetuate viol,ations of dance.remployees's labor and civil rights and endangers the• h~aJth! •. and safety- of women workers. " '. ',' , , ': i " ' , .",. In winter 1992,, I wound up at Market, I 81. Cinema because I was down to my la:;>t$42" and.a then-current, dancer, suggested I wor~ for a month :untilll got back onll!y feet. At that time"there was only'lapdancing in'the public theater area and the m'anagement had a dress code 'of:~ one-piece outfit ,and underwear. The club rT1isclassified dancers• as independent, cqntractors.I Customers were note,ll.owed, ' t6 touch dancers' breast, let. alone' their, genital area. We didn't pay any sta~e fees or quotas to work, nor were we paid for our work; we earning were , derived through tips alone. The, handful of women who prostituted were respectful enough of the rest of the dancers to take customers off the premises to nearl;>yhotels and hot tubs. Maybe they ~ealized that they could practice'sarer se>cwithdut dancers,' disapproval" get paid'a fair ,tip for such activities, and not ,have to give management any portion Oftheir tips. ",' " .. " .. ' ' , Withfn a couple ..of months of 1993, ~hemanagement beg~m a $5 stage fee,.A handful of dancers were outraged enough to foresee that this amountjcould'easily increase aU~ewiIJ,of managel"flen1.Sure enougt), byMarch or April'1993, the stage fee became ~25.' We pleaded with other dan_cers.to take action as a collective; very ,few signed ,on b~cause' many were ,ulild~cl,lmented ir:nmigrants, single, mothers, junkies,' women supplementing rneager welfare checks', and transient workers.
    [Show full text]
  • In Love with a Stripper
    CHAPTER 10 IN LOVE WITH A STRIPPER Young Girls as Preys in a Predator Society Encouraging five- to ten-year-old children to model themselves after sex workers suggests the degree to which matters of ethics and propriety have been decoupled from the world of marketing and advertising, even when the target audience is young children. The representational politics at work … connect children’s bodies to a reductive notion of sexuality, pleasure and commodification, while depicting children’s sexuality and bodies as nothing more than objects for voyeuristic adult consumption and crude financial profit. —Henry Giroux, Youth in a Suspect Society1 In late 2009, a toy company began selling a female doll which, as main feature, twirled around a plastic stripper poll. “The doll begins dancing when the music is turned on,” a blogger described, “and she goes ‘up and down’ and ‘round and round’.” On the box cover ran the following: “Style.” “Interesting.” “Music.” “Flash.” “Up and Down.” “Go Round and Round.” The targeted demographic: kids unskilled to decipher this insidious suggestion, of the stripper lifestyle as fun and chic—the thing to be. Gone are the days when society’s young girls are encouraged to emulate educa- tors, pioneers, lawyers, doctors, social workers, architects, activists, artists, or cultural critics. Today, the energy-expunging, dignity-diminishing exercise of stripping— all to temper the carnal demands of lustful men—is the new it. But selling spiritual death to children marks nothing new. For years now, corporations, in frenzy to enlarge coffers, have found children (and more so young girls) most vulnerable and lucrative.
    [Show full text]
  • Sex Work During COVID-19: the Perspectives of Sex Workers in Berlin and New York City Published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Office, December 2020
    Sex Work During COVID-19: The Perspectives of Sex Workers in Berlin and New York City Published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Office, December 2020 Executive Director: Andreas Günther Editor: Maria Savel Address: 275 Madison Avenue, Suite 2114, New York, NY 10016 Email: [email protected] Phone: +1 (917) 409-1040 With support from the German Foreign Office. The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is an internationally operating, progressive non-profit institution for civic education. In cooperation with many organizations around the globe, it works on democratic and social participation, empowerment of disadvantaged groups, alternatives for economic and social development, and peaceful conflict resolution. The New York Office serves two major tasks: to work around issues concerning the United Nations and to engage in dialogue with North American progressives in universities, unions, social movements, and politics. Cover photo by Flickr user kiwien (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). www.rosalux.nyc Sex Work During COVID-19: The Perspective of Sex Workers in Berlin and New York City Contents The View from Berlin Fighting for Money and Dignity: Sex Work in Berlin 5 By Akynos How Germany Failed Sex Workers 9 By Liad Hussein Kantorowicz Clothed Until Further Notice: Being a Stripper During the Pandemic 12 By the Berlin Strippers Collective The View from New York City Invisible: Sex Work and Mutal Aid During COVID-19 16 By Molly Simmons Not My First Pandemic - Sex Work Through NYC’s Health Crises 19 By Jay/Jae Authors 25 3 Sex Work During COVID-19 The View from Berlin 4 Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung New York Office Fighting for Money and Dignity: Sex Work in Berlin By Akynos In Germany, and many parts of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic high- lights just how much sex workers are being held accountable for keeping this crisis under control, even when they aren’t the ones responsible for it.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dialectic of Obscenity
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge Law Faculty Scholarly Articles Law Faculty Publications Winter 2012 The Dialectic of Obscenity Brian L. Frye University of Kentucky College of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, and the Legal History Commons Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Brian L. Frye, The Dialectic of Obscenity, 35 Hamline L. Rev. 229 (2012). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Faculty Publications at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Law Faculty Scholarly Articles by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Dialectic of Obscenity Notes/Citation Information Hamline Law Review, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Winter 2012), pp. 229-278 This article is available at UKnowledge: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub/264 229 THE DIALECTIC OF OBSCENITY Brian L. Frye* I. INTRODUCTION 230 II. A BRIEF HISTORY OF OBSCENITY 231 A. WHAT IS OBSCENITY? 231 B. THE RISE & FALL OF THE PANDERING TEST 232 C. THE MILLER TEST 234 D. THE AFTERMATH OF MILLER 235 III. FLAMING CREATURES 236 A. THE MAKING OF FLAMING CREATURES 237 B. THE INTRODUCTION OF FLAMING CREATURES 238 C. THE PERSECUTION OF FLAMING CREATURES 242 IV. JACOBS V. NEW YORK 245 A. FLAMING CREATURES IN NEW YORK STATE COURT 245 B. FLAMING CREATURES IN THE SUPREME COURT 250 C.
    [Show full text]
  • Sexy Stripper Game: the Motivating Effects of Anticipated Sexual Reward
    Sexy Stripper Game: the motivating effects of anticipated sexual reward. Rodney Birjmohun Student number: 9964371 Poppy Watson Supervisor University of Amsterdam Glossary Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Method 5 Results 10 Discussion 15 References 17 1 Abstract In the current study we investigated whether anticipated sexual reward (sexual stimuli) would bias the motivation to pursue financial rewards. This general Pavlovian-to-instrumental- transfer (PIT) was assessed by using a computerized PIT-task in which participants had to press on two response keys, at certain moments in the presence of Pavlovian sexual stimuli, in order to gain financial (instrumental) rewards. The hypotheses (1) that a general PIT effect would be observed by increased overall response rates and (2) that the general PIT effect would be greater for Pavlovian stimuli that predict rewards of greater magnitude, were both confirmed. We also found an unexpected result, which states that less-appetitive anticipated sexual stimuli biases responses towards rewards of lower financial magnitude. Additionally, we examined individual differences in the strength of the PIT-effect, by relating the behavioral data to data about sexual attitudes and watching online pornography, acquired by corresponding questionnaires. A positive correlation between addictive porn watching and strength of PIT was found. The societal relevance of this study is of most importance, considering the abundance of cues in the modern environment, signaling the availability of sexually rewarding encounters such as internet pornography and dating apps such as Tinder. 2 Introduction Cues that have previously been associated with rewarding outcomes, can bias responding towards those rewards and also influence the rate of responding for other rewards (Corbit & Balleine, 2005, 2011).
    [Show full text]
  • Opinion No. 08-170
    S T A T E O F T E N N E S S E E OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL PO BOX 20207 NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 37202 November 5, 2008 Opinion No. 08-170 Application of Tennessee=s Adult-Oriented Establishment Act to Strip Clubs QUESTION Do the Sunday, legal holiday, and other closing regulations in Tennessee=s Adult-Oriented Establishment Act, contained in Tenn. Code Ann. ' 7-51-1402, apply to strip clubs? OPINION Tenn. Code Ann. ' 7-51-1405 exempts a strip club operating as an adult cabaret Athat offers only live, stage adult entertainment@ from the Sunday, legal holiday, and other closing regulations in Tenn. Code Ann. ' 7-51-1402. When an adult-oriented establishment is offering lap, couch, table, and other non-stage adult entertainment in close proximity to patrons, it is not within the scope of the exemption and must comply with the hours of operation restrictions in Tenn. Code Ann. ' 7-51- 1402. ANALYSIS Tennessee=s Adult-Oriented Establishment Act, Tenn. Code Ann. ' 7-51-1401, et seq., specifies operational restrictions regarding adult-oriented establishments. Tenn. Code Ann. ' 7-51- 1401 (4) defines Aadult-oriented establishment,@ in pertinent part, as follows: AAdult-oriented establishment@ means any commercial establishment, business or service, or portion thereof, that offers, as its principal or predominant stock or trade, sexually-oriented material, devices, or paraphernalia or specified sexual activities, or any combination or form thereof, whether printed, filmed, recorded or live and that restricts or purports to restrict admission to adults or to any class of adults. AAdult-oriented establishment@ includes, but is not limited to: .
    [Show full text]