Lindi St Clair | |
---|---|
Born | Marian June Akin 11 August 1952 London, England |
Occupation(s) | Author Political campaigner (retired) |
Marian June Akin (born 11 August 1952), formerly known professionally as Lindi St Clair or Lindi St Claire, is a British author, leader of the Corrective Party, [1] and campaigner for prostitutes' rights. [2]
Originally a prostitute, but now retired and confirmed as a Christian, in 1993 St Clair accused the Inland Revenue in the High Court of England of being "Her Majesty's pimps", [3] and living off immoral earnings, after its classification of prostitution as a trade in a high-profile court case.
St Clair stood for election to Parliament 11 times, [4] and once to the European Parliament. [5]
Born in Hackney, London, Lindi St Clair's real name was Marian June Akin. She grew up in Swindon, Wiltshire, where she went to school and at 14 years of age became a beatnik, then a mod, then a rocker and a biker, running away from home to London where she associated with the rockers and Hells Angels. She found employment in a few menial jobs before becoming a prostitute on the streets and, not drinking, smoking or taking drugs, was able to save enough money to buy a large freehold Victorian end-of-terrace house in Earls Court. Here she ran a lavish brothel frequented by British and international politicians and aristocrats as a high-profile Madam and dominatrix.
For many years from the mid-1970s until her bankruptcy in 1992 (after the Inland Revenue pursued her for tax evasion), [6] [7] St Clair offered sexual services from her own large four-storey house at Eardley Crescent in Earls Court, London. A successful professional dominatrix and madam, she once owned a yellow Rolls-Royce and had her own yacht, which she kept at Bray in Berkshire. [8] In 1991 it emerged St Clair was renting Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont's basement flat in Notting Hill. [9] [10] At one time, she claimed that 252 Members of Parliament had been her clients. [11] She has appeared on television and radio on many occasions, including on The Ruby Wax Show and The James Whale Show.
Despite being taxed on her earnings, St Clair found when she attempted to register the companies "Prostitutes Ltd", "Hookers Ltd" and "Lindi St Clair (French Lessons) Ltd" that they were all rejected by the Registrar of Companies, and then "Lindi St Clair (Personal Services) Ltd" by the Attorney General. [12]
St Clair spelled her surname "St Claire" between 1974 and 1985 and has also used the names Miss Whiplash, Carla Davis and Lily Lavender. [13]
Described as the fastest growing fringe party in 1993, the Corrective Party was a radical British political party that campaigned for social justice, civil liberties, animal rights and sexual freedom. [14] [15] [16] [17]
St Clair attempted to become elected to the House of Commons, [11] in eleven by-elections, on one occasion threatening to expose the depraved lives of hundreds of MPs. [18] The Corrective Party shared its election agent with the Monster Raving Loony Party.
In June 1991 she was involved in a controversy when Norman Lamont, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, was investigated for using taxpayers' money to handle the fall-out from press stories concerning 'Miss Whiplash' (Not Lindi St Clair), who was using a flat he owned (the Treasury contributed £4,700 of the £23,000 bill which had been formally approved by the Head of the Civil Service and the Prime Minister). [19] [ better source needed ]
She accused the Inland Revenue of trying to live off immoral earnings when they asked her to pay £112,779.92 in back income tax, because they classed prostitution as a trade. She was pursued by tax inspector S. J. Pinkney, and her accountant claimed that as a result of the case she made two suicide attempts. [20] She lost the case claiming, "The tax man is a pimp and the government is a pimp as well." [21]
On 27 February 2009 it was reported that St Clair had been rescued from her car and flown to hospital after the vehicle left a Herefordshire road near Risbury and landed upside down in a stream, trapping her for up to 24 hours. [22] This experience led her to embrace Christianity. [23] On 15 November 2009, having legally reverted to her birth name, she was confirmed by the Bishop of Hereford at Stoke Lacy church in Herefordshire.
Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada's 17 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Six counties have at least one active brothel, which mainly operate in isolated, rural areas. The state's most populated counties, Clark and Washoe, are among those that do not permit prostitution. It is also illegal in Nevada's capital, Carson City, an independent city.
Fiona Margaret Mactaggart is a British politician and former primary school teacher who has been chair of the Fawcett Society since 2018. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Slough from 1997 to 2017.
Prostitution in Germany is legal, as are other aspects of the sex industry, including brothels, advertisement, and job offers through HR companies. Full-service sex work is widespread and regulated by the German government, which levies taxes on it. In 2016, the government adopted a new law, the Prostitutes Protection Act, in an effort to improve the legal situation of sex workers, while also now enacting a legal requirement for registration of prostitution activity and banning prostitution which involves no use of condoms. The social stigmatization of sex work persists and many workers continue to lead a double life. Human rights organizations consider the resulting common exploitation of women from East Germany to be the main problem associated with the profession.
Marion Mitchell, better known by her stage name Janie Jones, is a former English singer. She became renowned for holding sex parties at her home during the 1970s, and was jailed for her involvement in 'controlling prostitutes'. She first achieved notoriety in August 1964, when she attended the film premiere of London in the Raw, wearing a topless dress.
Prostitution in Hong Kong is itself legal, but organised prostitution is illegal, as there are laws against keeping a vice establishment, causing or procuring another to be a prostitute, living on the prostitution of others, or public solicitation.
In Great Britain, the act of engaging in sex as part of an exchange of various sexual services for money is legal, but a number of related activities, including soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, and pimping, are illegal. In Northern Ireland, which previously had similar laws, paying for sex became illegal from 1 June 2015.
Prostitution in Ireland is legal. However, since March 2017, it has been an offence to buy sex. All forms of third party involvement are illegal but are commonly practiced. Since the law that criminalises clients came into being, with the purpose of reducing the demand for prostitution, the number of prosecutions for the purchase of sex increased from 10 in 2018 to 92 in 2020. In a report from UCD's Sexual Exploitation Research Programme the development is called ”a promising start in interrupting the demand for prostitution.” Most prostitution in Ireland occurs indoors. Street prostitution has declined considerably in the 21st century, with the vast majority of prostitution now advertised on the internet.
Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp or a madam or a brothel keeper, is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The procurer may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing and possibly monopolizing a location where the prostitute may solicit clients. Like prostitution, the legality of certain actions of a madam or a pimp vary from one region to the next.
Sir Michael John Fox was a British barrister and judge. He was a High Court judge from 1975 to 1981 and a Lord Justice of Appeal from 1981 until 1992.
Prostitution in Singapore in itself is not illegal, but various prostitution-related activities are criminalized. This includes public solicitation, living on the earnings of a prostitute and maintaining a brothel. In practice, police unofficially tolerate and monitor a limited number of brothels. Prostitutes in such establishments are required to undergo periodic health checks and must carry a health card.
Prostitution in Norway is illegal and a criminal act when sexual acts are purchased, but not when sold. The Norwegian law prohibiting the buying of sexual acts came into effect on 1 January 2009, following the passing of new legislation by the Norwegian parliament in November 2008. Soliciting and advertising "sexual services" is also illegal under the Norwegian Criminal Code section 378 and section 202(3).
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact with the customer. The requirement of physical contact also creates the risk of transferring infections. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in the field is usually called a prostitute or sex worker, but other words, such as hooker, putana, or whore, are sometimes used pejoratively to refer to those who work as prostitutes.
Prostitution in Poland is legal, but operating brothels or other forms of pimping or coercive prostitution and prostitution of minors are prohibited.
Prostitution is illegal in Egypt. The Egyptian National Police officially combats prostitution but, like almost all other countries, prostitution exists in Egypt. UNAIDS estimate there to be 23,000 prostitutes in the country, including Egyptians, West African and Eastern Europeans.
The legality of prostitution in Europe varies by country.
Prostitution in ancient Rome was legal and licensed. Men of any social status were free to engage prostitutes of either sex without incurring moral disapproval, as long as they demonstrated self-control and moderation in the frequency and enjoyment of sex. Brothels were part of the culture of ancient Rome, as popular places of entertainment for Roman men.
Domenica Anita Niehoff, also known as Domenica, was a German prostitute and activist. She appeared in television shows in the 1990s, where she campaigned for the legalization and regulation of the profession.
Natasha Falle is a Canadian professor at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who was forcibly prostituted from the ages of 15 to 27 and now opposes prostitution in Canada. Falle grew up in a middle-class home and, when her parents divorced, her new single-parent home became unsafe, and Falle ran away from home. At the age of 15, Falle became involved in the sex industry in Calgary, Alberta.
Human trafficking in Nevada is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor as it occurs in the state of Nevada, and it is widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery. It includes "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."
Ewa Malanda, known under her stage name Schwesta Ewa, is a Polish rapper in the German music scene.