STRIP clubs are “sexist, racist and classist” and authorities across Britain are failing in their equality duties by licensing them, according to a major new report today.

In its “Life near Strip Clubs: Women’s Voices from UK Cities” report, women’s liberation charity Filia examined the experiences of more than 700 women across Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff around so-called “sexual entertainment” venues.

Just 8 per cent supported their existence compared to 55 per cent against, while women in Edinburgh and Manchester reported walking on the road to avoid men spilling out of the clubs, being forced to cross busy roads or take alternative routes.

One survivor of domestic abuse, whose partner’s fixation on pornography and strip clubs escalated into serious violence including strangulation, and who still lives near the Cardiff clubs said: “I can’t escape it.”

The paper, authored by Dr Laura Favaro, calls on licensing authorities to live up to equalities obligations, and demands UK and Scottish governments ensure national policy take cumulative harms it details into account, and pursue the closure of the venues “alongside sustained, well-resourced support and viable alternative pathways for women currently working in them.”

Pointing out the venues “make women feel unsafe, watched, threatened,” Filia co-founder and CEO, Lisa-Marie, said: “Sexual exploitation venues are part of the wider patriarchal apparatus.

“They are sexist, racist and classist. This is not entertainment. It is exploitation. It is male violence against women.

“It is structural, cumulative, everyday harm that extends to all women, licensed by the state and renewed year after year on a seemingly rolling basis.

“As one respondent put it, ‘It’s misogynistic, we need to do better by women’.”

The Scottish government told the Morning Star: “Ministers are clear that, as set out in the Equally Safe Strategy, commercial sexual exploitation is a form of violence against women.

“Decisions on licensing sexual entertainment venues rest with local authorities who have the power to set the number of licences granted to zero, which is an effective ban.

“Our actions to tackle violence against women and girls includes investing almost £46 million through the Delivering Equally Safe Fund over 2026-2028.”

The Home Office was contacted for comment.