Edinburgh swingers club plan should be given the thumbs down for several very good reasons – Susan Dalgety

I had just unplugged myself from a Zoom call with the BBC’s Woman’s Hour, where I had welcomed the city council’s ban on lap dancing, when news dropped of plans for a swinger’s club in Sighthill.

Edinburgh doesn't need a swingers club (Picture: Dennis Lound)

Edinburgh-based firm Cornucopia is seeking permission from the council to open a members-only sex venue in the former Napier University offices in Bankhead Industrial Estate.

Call me old-fashioned – or even “a miserable dinosaur” as I was recently dubbed for my objection to strip clubs – but does our Capital really need a venue where “consenting” adults can indulge in group sex, licensed by the council?

Cornucopia insists that there will be no sex-workers involved – legal-speak for “it’s not a brothel, honest, guv” – but I can bet my dog-eared copy of the Female Eunuch there will be exploitation of women.

Of course there are some women who enjoy having sex with several strangers while their partner watches. But it doesn’t take a marriage guidance counsellor to guess that many of the female participants at orgies are only there to please their husband or boyfriend and would much rather be at home watching Strictly.

And group sex – no matter how tastefully it’s marketed – is a public health hazard. Research shows that people who take part are more likely to get sexually transmitted diseases than prostitutes.

Local councillor Ross McKenzie says he is concerned about plans for the club due to the remote location of the site.

“If someone changes their mind about being there, and chooses to leave, they’ll be walking out into an empty industrial estate,” he said last week.

I am more concerned about the prospect of a woman walking into a crowded club where she is expected to have sex with several strangers, and then changing her mind about being there.

Will she be forced to perform? Even if she does get out unscathed, she will, as the councillor points out, be stranded on the edge of the city. And how does the council check the 20 private rooms being planned are not used to sell sex?

The hospitality industry is vitally important to the city’s economy, but like sexual entertainment venues, Edinburgh does not need a swinger’s club to add to its portfolio. I hope councillors give Cornucopia's plans the thumbs down.