http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2007/12/18/4731060.html
Tue, December 18, 2007
Massage parlours targeted
No nudity, sex on websites
By ANDREW HANON, SUN MEDIA
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City vice cops and bylaw inspectors are quietly cracking down on massage parlours by ordering the removal of all nudity and explicit sex from their websites.
Legends, which bills itself as “Edmonton’s largest upscale massage parlor and escort service,” has until Jan. 31 to remove all nude photos of staff from its website or face losing its business license.
“It’s a bugger, but it’s worth it,” manager Ariel admitted today. She said that while it will cost a lot of money to get new professional photos of the 20 women who work at Legends, she’s chalking it up to the cost of staying in business.
“I know that what we do isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and all it takes is for one religious nut to get ahold of this. We prefer to fly under the radar and quietly do business,” she said.
John, co-owner of Jailey’s on Calgary Trail, said nude photos were removed from his parlor’s website last week after a visit from cops and bylaw officers.
“I was told that basically, we can show whatever can be seen on a public beach in Alberta,” he said.
John said while he grudgingly accepted the edict, he has a problem with “the people who stir this up” and file complaints with the city.
Cops won’t talk about the crackdown, saying only that the matter’s still under investigation.
Ryan Tleckcaitis with the city’s bylaw department said it came after a complaint from the public about the sexual content on some parlours’ websites.
Tleckcaitis said massage parlors’ business licenses, which cost $64 year, don’t allow them to use explicit sexuality in their advertising.
In order to advertise that way, he said, they’d have to pay $3,855 for an “exotic entertainment and nude workers” business licence.
But Ariel said that wouldn’t work, anyway. Massaging requires the women to touch their clients, while physical contact is strictly forbidden in “exotic entertainment” venues like strip bars, she explained.
Tleckcaitis said that while civic officials “aren’t naive,” City Hall “isn’t in the business of licensing sexual activity.”
It’s up to the police to determine if anything going on inside massage parlors is illegal, he explained.
According to the Edmonton Police Service website, the sex trade is legal in massage parlours, provided the parlour’s owners aren’t promoting it as a place whose main purpose is prostitution or earning any money directly from sex. Any discussion of money for sex must done in a private room by the masseuse and client.
John said the rules governing his business “have all kinds of contradictions, making it tough for anyone to understand.”
JoAnn McCartney, a former city vice cop who now works with prostitutes trying to get out of the business, said while everyone knows what’s going in massage parlours, the city cannot directly license the sex trade because of liability.
“They could open themselves up to civil suits if someone contracts a disease or gets mugged,” she explained.
[email protected]
Tue, December 18, 2007
Massage parlours targeted
No nudity, sex on websites
By ANDREW HANON, SUN MEDIA
Add to Facebook
City vice cops and bylaw inspectors are quietly cracking down on massage parlours by ordering the removal of all nudity and explicit sex from their websites.
Legends, which bills itself as “Edmonton’s largest upscale massage parlor and escort service,” has until Jan. 31 to remove all nude photos of staff from its website or face losing its business license.
“It’s a bugger, but it’s worth it,” manager Ariel admitted today. She said that while it will cost a lot of money to get new professional photos of the 20 women who work at Legends, she’s chalking it up to the cost of staying in business.
“I know that what we do isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and all it takes is for one religious nut to get ahold of this. We prefer to fly under the radar and quietly do business,” she said.
John, co-owner of Jailey’s on Calgary Trail, said nude photos were removed from his parlor’s website last week after a visit from cops and bylaw officers.
“I was told that basically, we can show whatever can be seen on a public beach in Alberta,” he said.
John said while he grudgingly accepted the edict, he has a problem with “the people who stir this up” and file complaints with the city.
Cops won’t talk about the crackdown, saying only that the matter’s still under investigation.
Ryan Tleckcaitis with the city’s bylaw department said it came after a complaint from the public about the sexual content on some parlours’ websites.
Tleckcaitis said massage parlors’ business licenses, which cost $64 year, don’t allow them to use explicit sexuality in their advertising.
In order to advertise that way, he said, they’d have to pay $3,855 for an “exotic entertainment and nude workers” business licence.
But Ariel said that wouldn’t work, anyway. Massaging requires the women to touch their clients, while physical contact is strictly forbidden in “exotic entertainment” venues like strip bars, she explained.
Tleckcaitis said that while civic officials “aren’t naive,” City Hall “isn’t in the business of licensing sexual activity.”
It’s up to the police to determine if anything going on inside massage parlors is illegal, he explained.
According to the Edmonton Police Service website, the sex trade is legal in massage parlours, provided the parlour’s owners aren’t promoting it as a place whose main purpose is prostitution or earning any money directly from sex. Any discussion of money for sex must done in a private room by the masseuse and client.
John said the rules governing his business “have all kinds of contradictions, making it tough for anyone to understand.”
JoAnn McCartney, a former city vice cop who now works with prostitutes trying to get out of the business, said while everyone knows what’s going in massage parlours, the city cannot directly license the sex trade because of liability.
“They could open themselves up to civil suits if someone contracts a disease or gets mugged,” she explained.
[email protected]