Interview with Pye Jacbsson, a Swedish sex worker, on the criminalization of clients of sex workers in her country. Watch more: youtu.be/7D7nOh57-I8?is=M3Nf…

From Nightclubs to the Archives: The 'Exotic Dancer' Magazine Collection For an industry that couldn't always advertise in the phone book, Exotic Dancer left behind a remarkable paper trail. Launched in 1991 as the Exotic Dancer Directory, the publication provided the first comprehensive national directory of gentlemen’s clubs, connecting businesses across the country before search engines and social media made that information readily accessible. Over the next 21 years, the directory evolved into a trade publication, documenting an industry and culture that has often been overlooked in the historical record. Now, a nearly complete run of that print history has a permanent home in UNLV Libraries’ Special Collections & Archives, where it joins a growing collection dedicated to documenting sexual entertainment, adult industries, and sex work. “Exotic dancing is an important sector of the adult entertainment industry, and particularly significant to the history of entertainment in Las Vegas,” said Sarah Quigley, director of Special Collections & Archives. “These magazines will complement our existing collections spotlighting burlesque, striptease, and the production shows that featured dancing nudes, and offer insight for researchers on how gentlemen’s clubs have promoted themselves.” Devyn Waitt, daughter of magazine founder Don Waitt, donated the collection as part of the Sexual Entertainment and Economies collecting initiative. The donation coincides with an exhibition of the publication’s materials now on display at Las Vegas’ Erotic Heritage Museum. “I am so grateful that my father’s work has found such a wonderful home at UNLV,” said Devyn Waitt. “My dad had such a unique perspective on this industry, and now his work and the story he helped document will be preserved as part of his legacy for generations.” Read more: unlv.edu/news/article/nightc…

France considers criminalizing the purchase of remote sexual services France’s National Assembly is weighing a proposal that would make it a criminal offense to purchase sexual services performed remotely by streamers and custom-content creators, as well as to facilitate those transactions through online platforms. French law does not currently criminalize prostitution itself, but it penalizes clients of prostitutes and people who financially benefit from prostitution. The Court of Cassation, France’s highest court for civil and criminal matters, has previously determined that online services such as camming do not meet the legal definition of prostitution because they do not involve physical contact with the client. Bill 3106, a wider measure addressing sexual and gender-based violence against women and children, would expand the definition of prostitution to cover the online purchase of sexual acts. If adopted, the provision would classify platforms facilitating streaming and custom-content transactions as “pimps,” while users who tip streamers or commission custom content could be treated as “johns.” The proposed change could expose fan and webcam platforms, their users and, potentially, creators who work together to enforcement under the prostitution laws. The provision follows a similar measure enacted in Sweden last year. At the time, the European Sex Workers’ Rights Alliance and Red Umbrella Sweden stated, “Criminalising the purchase of digital sexual services will not stop exploitation. It will only push workers further into the shadows.” France Unbowed, the left-wing party that holds 71 of the National Assembly’s 577 seats, has called for the proposed ban to be removed from the legislation. “It does not protect the people it claims to help,” an amendment submitted by France Unbowed states. “On the contrary, criminalizing intermediaries will inevitably lead to the closure of established, legal platforms with traceable activities on which these individuals currently operate. This closure would not eliminate the activity, but would simply shift it to unregulated, less traceable, and far less protective channels, further exposing those involved to the very risks the article purports to combat.” Read more: thewaronporn.com/france-cons…

Collective of independent online sex workers push back against a proposed French law A recent tribune published on Mediapart gathers sex workers, activists, jurists, and feminist organizations to critique a proposed French law — the “Loi intégrale” — that would criminalize the purchase of online erotic and pornographic content. The signatories argue that Article 25 of the bill, rather than advancing protection, would produce the precarization and stigmatization of sex workers. The intervention raises several critical points: · Criminalization displaces, not eliminates. Prohibiting paid content would not eradicate the activity but relocate it to less regulated spaces, thereby increasing exposure to illicit content and digital violence. · Labor rights, not victimhood. The collective rejects the legislative assignment of sex workers to the status of victims, demanding instead the same rights and considerations afforded to all workers: access to housing, banking, loans, professional reconversion, and freedom from institutional and administrative discrimination. · Against carceral feminism. The tribune challenges a feminist framework that advances protection through criminalization, arguing that such approaches reproduce stigma rather than foster emancipation. · “Rien sur nous, sans nous.” Laws concerning sex workers must be drafted with them, not against them — a demand for meaningful participation in the legislative process. The piece ultimately calls for a feminism that supports the conditions of sex workers’ emancipation rather than their further marginalization. Read more: blogs.mediapart.fr/les-invit…