Adult Web site Clublove's workers - well, some of them, anyway - would like to club Clublove, or at least have state labor authorities do it: they're accusing Clublove of forcing them to use a dildo camera.
According to TheStranger.com, Clublove talent director Mara Mehren told workers three weeks ago that, starting the following Monday, strippers would have to use a Slim Line vibrator which includes a tiny camera lens inserted into its tip. The women "were instructed to shove the dildo cam up their vaginas for the 'Bedroom' shift in the Clublove studios, which broadcasts porn over the Internet. They would each take turns using the same plastic penis."
The women were anything but thrilled with the idea, with two quitting and two being fired. A complaint with the state labor authorities was filed shortly thereafter, TheStranger.com says.
The plastic dildo cam cannot be disinfected safely, unlike silicone or steel, but that is not the only health problem the complaining ladies raised. TheStranger.com says that, according to sources, the performing rooms Clublove uses for its Web shows are unsanitary - and the state Labor and Industries department may have made that determination during a preliminary investigation of the Web site.
Clublove is owned by Internet Entertainment Group, the largest Internet adult business in Seattle, which took in an estimated $50 million in 1998. Its founder, Seth Washavasky, is notorious for having sold the infamous Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee sex video and for the pre-radio fame nude photographs of Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
Clublove's shows, touted as "live, live, live, live, live, live," are actually pre-taped most of the time, TheStranger.com says. The youthful women work grueling eight-hour shifts and earn $20 per hour without having to hustle for tips as at a live strip club.
But the still-furtive nature of the sex industry usually keeps the hired help from filing labor complaints with the state until now. Observers say the Clublove case might help shed a lot more light on the adult business outside of it.
Those Clublove workers, incumbent and former, who do complain about its conditions are said to be afraid of Warshavsky's threats to sue, and TheStranger.com says working for IEG carries conditions which include never talking to the press.
Heidi Stern, a friend of Clublove employees who also works in the Seattle sex industry, tells TheStranger.com that sharing toys is "absolutely out of bounds" at every strip club and porn website she's worked. "I know a couple of the girls [at Clublove] have herpes," she adds.
She also says many sex business workers know only too well the sexually-transmitted disease risk, TheStranger.com says, and would not have unprotected sex willingly under any conditions. Indeed, she calls Clublove "a pussy sweatshop".
Washington state labor officials say this case could have four possible results - general, serious, willful, or no violations. Maximum penalties go as high as $70,000 - but TheStranger.com say they're rarely imposed.
Warshavsky wasn't willing to comment when called by TheStranger.com, but a release from IEG's New York publicist gave a statement: "All of our activities have been and are carried out within the law, and we will always abide completely with every legal requirement."
