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Executive Summary
In 2005, a working group on adult entertainment was set up by Scottish Ministers to review the scope and impact of adult entertainment activity. To inform its work, the working group commissioned research to explore public attitudes towards adult entertainment venues. A module of 11 questions was commissioned in MORI Scotland's Social Policy Monitor.
The questions in the module looked at:
- general opinions of adult entertainment venues
- the occurrence and frequency of visits to adult entertainment venues
- attitudes towards the licensing of adult entertainment venues
- attitudes regarding who benefits from or is exploited by adult entertainment.
The key findings of the study were as follows:
- A third of the people asked said they had been to an adult entertainment venue at some time. Men were more likely to have been than women (40% of men compared with 26% of women).
- The main circumstances around visiting an adult entertainment venue were being on a stag night or hen night (46%), being on some other organised night out (36%) and being on holiday (19%).
- Thirty percent of the whole sample said they would consider going to a venue. Of those who would not consider it (63%), the main reasons given were 'not the kind of thing I enjoy' (79%), 'object to that type of entertainment' (35%) and 'I feel it is sexual exploitation' (29%).
- One third of respondents said they were aware of an adult entertainment venue in their local authority. Almost half of the sample thought that the presence of these venues had a negative impact (49%) or no impact (43%), compared with 8% who thought they have a positive impact.
- Only 6% of respondents would be in favour of an adult entertainment venue opening in their neighbourhood. More 16-24 year olds would be in favour (16%) than the older age groups. Opposition was greater among women (63% opposed) than men (48%).
- Respondents feel that the group most exploited by adult entertainment is 'women in general'. Older people were more likely than younger people to say all groups are exploited. People who would consider attending an adult entertainment venue were more likely to say no one is exploited.
- There was strong support for specific licences for adult entertainment venues. Older age groups showed more support than younger age groups; more women showed support than men; and those who had not been to a venue were more likely to agree with specific licences than those who had been.
- Regulations that people would be most likely to support mainly involved restrictions on where and how venues operate rather than an outright ban. The options that received the most support were that venues should be restricted to specific streets or areas (41%), touching performers should not be allowed (32%) and there should be stricter rules on how close the dancers could be to the customers (24%).
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