Strip Club Proponents Sue Over New Regulations
TEMPE, Ariz. - Proponents of a strip club here have filed suit in federal court claiming a new state law requiring exotic dancers to be at least six feet away from patrons is illegal.
Idaho Business Holdings LLC, which proposed the Elite Cabaret, claims in its suit filed in U.S. District Court of Arizona that a new distance requirement for sexually oriented businesses makes it impossible to open the club in the city, the East Valley Tribune reported.
Although adult businesses are not banned outright by the law, the club’s owners say the measure violates their rights of free speech and equal protection.
The suit claims Tempe officials purposely delayed considering the proposed club’s business license because it couldn’t stop it from moving into town. By law, adult businesses in Tempe must be at least 1,000 feet from parks, schools, churches, neighborhoods and other public places. The suit claims the club proposal had met the requirement.
But the suit contends that Tempe officials turned to Rep Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe to make it impossible for adult businesses to operate in the city. Knaperek then drafted a bill that was ultimately approved, calling for a statewide buffer of a quarter-mile or 1,320 feet to purposely block the club.
But Knaperek denied the measure targeted Elite Cabaret, saying she never discussed the bill with city officials.
U.K. Porn Consumption Hits Record High
The U.K. Independent, which recently commissioned a study through Nielsen NetRatings on Net pornography consumption in Britain, on Thursday announced its findings.
According to the Sunday edition of the Independent, more than 9 million men, almost 40 percent of the British male population, used pornographic websites last year, compared with an estimated 2 million in 2000, making Britain the fastest-growing market in the world's adult website industry. The number of women downloading Internet porn soared 30 percent to 1.4 million.
The findings were made in what is thought to be the first definitive study of Internet pornography, according to the Independent.
Forty minutes was the average amount of time on a monthly basis that both men and women viewed online adult content. One in four men aged 25-49 around 2.5 million had viewed online hardcore images in the past month alone.
According to the study, men tend to prefer picture-based websites, while women prefer erotic chat rooms, although they are more likely to view using porn as an act of betrayal.
While it appears to be killing off Britain's softcore porn magazine market, which has dropped to 500,000 sales each month since 2000, many critics believe it has opened the way for the adult movie market.
British censors last week passed a total of 28 R18 movies, compared with 25 for the whole of 2000.
More than 7,250 British subscribers were identified from their credit card details, leading to 2,000 prosecutions.
The U.K. porn industry is now worth approximately 1 billion pounds sterling ($1.8 billion USD). The business is valued at 20 billion pounds sterling ($37.5 billion USD) globally.
www.avnonline.com
Arbitrator OKs Firing of Teacher Who Showed Sex Video
An arbitrator has ruled that the Limestone County Board of Education was within its rights when it fired a school teacher accused of showing students an Internet video critical of President Bush that contained some sexual images.
Arbitrator Joe Battle wrote in his ruling that while teacher Steve White's actions were not immoral, they were insubordinate because he didn't comply with the district's policy for computer use.
The video, which referred to Bush in vulgar terms, also featured nudity and a video clip of a cartoon showing a woman on a beach in a bathing suit that revealed her body parts, Battle wrote.
He said White understood that what he was doing was wrong since a number of students reported that he admonished them not to tell their parents of the video because he would get into trouble.
Stan Davis, Limestone High's principal, began an investigation after parents complained in April that White had shown students Internet clips that included a cartoon of Bill Clinton having sex.
During the two-week-long investigation, pornographic material was found in White's computer and administrators later determined that White was showing videos instead of teaching science in his class.
www.avn.com
From Russia with love: "Web brides" gangs gets caught
Plenty of Western men looking for Russian brides on the Internet have been conned out of their money, but a gang in the Urals has found a new twist.
It posted photographs of some of the most beautiful and famous women in Russia on the Net, claiming they were "ordinary" girls looking for love.
The swindlers used photographs of models, pop divas, actresses and porn stars, who were blissfully unaware that Western men were sizing them up online as potential life partners.
The formula for defrauding foreign men looking for Russian romance is tried and tested. The prospective bride says she would love to meet, but needs money for an air ticket and a visa.
Once "she" gets her money, her e-mail address goes dead and her suitor hears nothing more.
The German was clearly no ballet fan: the picture was of Anastasia Volochkova, a glamorous ballerina with the Bolshoi in Moscow.
Volochkova, married to a Russian businessman in real life, had no idea her image was being used to snare gullible Western men.
The cheated German engineer at least had his revenge.
He reported the matter to the authorities, and came to Russia to find his fictional girlfriend. His search ended in Yoshkar-Ola, near the Ural mountains, 500 miles east of Moscow.
The town, where unemployment is rife and wages low, has become notorious as a centre for Internet scamming.
When the Interior Ministry's division, which investigates Internet crime, moved in, it discovered the engineer’s Russian sweetheart was two men and five girls operating out of a flat.
The girls all spoke good English and specialised in flirting with foreigners on the phone. A search of the flat uncovered 16 computers, large sums of money, including foreign currency, and piles of pro forma love-letters.
www.gulf-times.com
Sept. 30 is Deadline for AVN Awards Consideration
AVN is reminding all adult studios that to be considered for AVN Awards nominations this year, their productions must be released by Sept. 30. By that date, a title must be in the hands of a minimum of 10 wholesale distributors or 100 retail outlets.
The magazine also announced two new Awards categories: Best Animated Release and Best POV Sex Scene.
To be considered for a 2007 Awards Show nomination, a production must have been released between Oct. 1, 2005 and Sept. 30, 2006.
By Sept. 30, producers must provide AVN with two DVD copies of each title or scene they would like to be considered for nominations, as well as sample materials used in marketing campaigns if seeking consideration in those categories.
The nominations will be announced in November.
www.avn.com
AVN Awards Moves to Mandalay Bay
Demonstrating the growth of the annual industry event and its broadening mainstream appeal, the 24th annual AVN Awards is moving to the Mandalay Bay Events Center on January 13, 2007.
The show will move from the Venetian Hotel & Casino, where the awards were held for seven straight years. The Events Center has a capacity of 7,000.
"The show has become much bigger than an industry event and it has been crossing over into the mainstream", said Paul Fishbein, AVN president and founder. "At the Mandalay Bay Events Center, every seat is a good seat. The amphitheatre setting helps everyone have a perfect view and though the table seating is for the industry only, there are great seats to be had at lower prices than last year."
Gary Miller, executive producer of the show since its inception, said the new venue will give the awards a place to better showcase the industry’s top talents. With a capacity crowd of more than 4,200 people, the 2006 show proved the biggest AVN Awards show ever. But with a new venue, Miller expects to nearly double the attendance as well as increase fan interest thanks to a new marketing campaign targeting fans as well as an effort to increase the number of tickets made available to the public.
A new publicity campaign is scheduled to begin Oct. 1 aimed at various media, including print, broadcast, outdoor and in-hotel segments. Advance tickets will be made available to industry members beginning on Tuesday. The ticket price for industry tables is $2625 (for table of 12). Premiere seating near the stage is being sold in blocks of 12 tickets for the same price. Other ticket prices range from $107-$212.
Begun in 1984 as a way to honor the industry’s elite members, the AVN Awards was held in a modest meeting room at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas.
www.avnonline.com
