Edinburgh's quiet revolution

At the end of last month, a quiet revolution took place in Scotland’s capital city.

On 31^st March, the City of Edinburgh Council’s Regulatory Committee narrowly voted in favour of a zero limit on the number of so-called ‘Adult Entertainment venues’.

Edinburgh has long had the dubious reputation of ‘turning a blind eye’ to the presence of seedy premises in the city, which makes this decision all the more remarkable.

The vote has, unsurprisingly, created a great deal of controversy, incurring the anger of many (including, it must be said, the chair of the committee, who made no effort to conceal her rage at the decision).

Yet the fact remains that the Scottish Government’s own Equally Safe strategy explicitly cites lap-dancing and stripping as forms of violence against women. In any other context, the continuation of venues facilitating violence against women, as per the Government’s own definition, would be unthinkable. And as one councillor on the committee noted, this strategy has also been endorsed by the Scottish Convention of Local Authorities (COSLA). Therefore, in setting the limit at zero, the Council Committee were simply bringing Edinburgh into line with existing Scottish Government and COSLA policy.

The reality, of course, is that powerful vested interests wish the clubs to stay open, and many politicians support them following the bizarre logic of protecting worker’s rights. Whether the voice of local democracy (to which lip service is oft paid) will be permitted to have the final say in this debate remains to be seen. For now, we can celebrate the fact that a decisive step against the commercial exploitation of women has been taken in the great city of Edinburgh.