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Source: Close Up
A claim in a council-endorsed document that prostitutes are responsible for breaking more than 40 street poles in south Auckland has made headlines overseas.
The document , released on Monday, aims to put pressure on the Government to allow Auckland Council to outlaw sex workers from certain areas.
Hunters Corner and central Papatoetoe business districts manager Donna Lee is quoted in the book as saying the prostitutes use street sign poles to pole-dance.
"The poles are part of their soliciting equipment and they often snap them. Some of the prostitutes are big, strong people."
Britain's the Daily Mirror ran the story with the headline "Stop! They'll Give Way! Prostitutes destroying traffic signs by performing POLE DANCES to entice clients in New Zealand".
The Huffington Post took it one step further, asking American pole dancers to comment on the issue.
Wendy Traskos, founder of the US Pole Dancing Federation, told the US news website she believed New Zealand locals were being unfair to the sport of "urban pole dancing".
"What exactly do they make their signs out of anyway in New Zealand? Tissue paper?," Traskos told The Huffington Post.
"This sounds crazy and maybe the city needs to rethink what they make signs out of, if a 125-plus pound woman is going to destroy it by doing acrobatics on it."
The article even featured a photo gallery of people taking part in urban pole dancing around the globe.