Comments on: New Swiss Christianity: Let’s build brothels

By: Selim

Selim — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:58:37 +0000

It appears that the sex-scape’s visibility is more desired and less likely to offend people than religious buildings. People’s perceptions in Switzerland favor nude pictures on display to minarets – this makes me think of another double standard happening in some parts of Europe (i.e. France) where a woman exhibiting half of her posterior harboring a g-string would be ‘publicly admired’ but stigmatized if she were to wear a veil…

By: Kimie

Kimie — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Soopulando (ソープランド: soap lands), cabaree (キャバレー: cabarets), no-pan kissa (ノーパン喫茶: no-panties cafes) were some but major erotic establishments for Japanese men which I grew up hearing so much about (and also seeing) in my hometown of Tsurumi, Yokohama, Japan. There were/are many of those businesses near Tsurumi station and even on the way to my primary and junior high school. These businesses were not shy about advertising their services in public – many colorful ads were posted inside the public phone booths, and fliers (often together with a packet of tissue) were handed out on the streets, many of which ended up in the homes of unsuspecting family members, including young children (like myself). As an adolescent girl (in the 1970-80s), I often wondered what these places were all about, including the ‘love hotels’, but, in hindsight, their (rather ‘creative’) English names functioned to soften the seedy image of the sex industry….

By: Tom Van Hout

Tom Van Hout — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:32:15 +0000

Eye-opening paper, Ingrid. I grew up near the red light district in Antwerp, Belgium and am perhaps a bit jaded by (the omnipresence of) the sex industry. When I was an exchange student in the US, I learned that strip clubs were sanitized erotic establishments that marketed themselves as high-class and, above all, ‘honest’ erotic entertainment businesses. Patronage of these clubs was socially acceptable behavior, both for men and women (perhaps even a bit more so for women).

What is the situation like in the Emirates? I’m assuming that the sex industry there is invisible? How is sex advertised in say, Abu Dhabi?