Real scandal is that our city allows its young women to be treated as living sex dolls - Susan Dalgety

​Well done Cammy Day. The city’s council leader has made it clear that he wants a “nil cap” on Edinburgh’s sexual entertainment venues (SEVs), which is council-speak for a ban on strip clubs.

There are currently four sexual entertainment venues in the Capital, all facing closure under the ban

Councillors voted to close down the city’s existing four venues last year by limiting the number of establishments to zero – but a later court ruling overturned the decision. Judge Lord Richardson said the members of the Regulatory Committee, who took the original decision, had been “wrongly advised”.

Let’s hope when councillors come to consider the matter again in December, they will have all the evidence they need at their fingertips to reach the same conclusion as the committee did last March.

There is no room in our city for sexual entertainment venues, strip joints, lap-dancing clubs, call them what you will. They do not provide harmless entertainment, as some supporters argue. Sex work is not the same as any other job, as others claim. It is exploitative, abusive and demeans not just the women who provide sexual titillation for money, but all women and girls.

It is a terrible way to earn money – gyrating naked in front of crowds of drunk men. There is no dignity in it, it is not liberating, and it perpetuates violence and hatred against women. And it sends out a terrible message to young men and women. To men, it says women are simply sex objects whose bodies can be bought for the price of an expensive pint of beer, and to women, it says we are nothing more than living porn for pathetic men to drool over.

I am not naive. I know that private sex clubs exist and that banning lap dancing will not stop the sex trade, but we need to make a stand. There are some councillors who argue the legal bill for defending the original decision was not money well spent. Former Labour councillor Ross McKenzie said it was a “scandalous” waste of public money. I have got news for Councillor McKenzie. The real scandal is that our city allows its young women to be treated as living sex dolls.

Councillor Cammy Day has made the right decision. Let’s hope enough councillors follow his lead and say no to strip clubs in our city.