Strippers Take to the Streets
Katherine Mangu-Ward | August 7, 2007, 5:15pm
Strippers head out to get signatures, under the banner of Dancers for Democracy:
COLUMBUS -- Strip club dancers covered Capitol Square today, gathering voter signatures to repeal a new state ban on touching patrons. The law takes effect Sept. 4....
“I’ll have to go and see my constituents,’’ [state senator Eric] Kearney joked when he learned two dancers were from the Deja Vu Showgirls strip club in Mount Carmel.Pamela Ackerman, 24, of Cincinnati and Jennifer Shafer, 22, of Boone County, Ky., were working Third and State streets, easily averaging a signature per minute.
Both dancers, who are paying their way through community college, said the new restrictions were hurt them financially.
Meanwhile, Wendy Shalit, of Return to Modesty fame, is back on the prowl. She has a new book out full of here-come-the-prostitots hysteria (chronicled with enormous and well-placed disdain by Kerry Howley). But how can she complain about politically engaged role-models like these young ladies?
miche | August 7, 2007, 10:37pm | #
Funny how I could go to a traditional dance club in Dallas and grind my ass into a man's crotch on the dance floor but as soon as the club name was changed from "Stark Club" to "The Lodge" and I accepted a twenty instead of a drink, it became illegal.
If you ladies want to make the big bucks getting naked for guys that enjoy your subjugation to the prevailing stereotype (and don't gimme that "empowerment" crap ... waaaaay too selfish to make a satisfying argument), then join an outfit where you get shuttled around to "private parties" by a jamoke with a .38 in his fanny pack to protect you from the extreme gropers, and don't expect your neighborhood "strip" joint to put you through college.
That's silly. Strippers don't get paid by the clubs; they are self-employed and pay the clubs for provided benefits. The strip joint doesn't pay for the education or whatever else the woman is working for.
Private parties can be dangerous even with a body guard. The neighborhood strip joint provides some safety, a built in advertising machine, a merchant account for credit card transactions, and some competition. There are people on board who can fight chargebacks when some guy's wife finds the bill and disputes it. If there is a vice raid, generally attorneys are on board to help. (I worked at one club that had a "Dragon Slayer" shot special when vice was in.)
Stripping is not necessarily "empowering" but to the woman who has no hang up with nudity, it is less exploitive than a cubical job. You pay the club to work, so there is no real boss and aside from following the law and club rules, you can do what you are comfortable with. The stripper decides her schedule and her income. Kiddo sick? No need to call in, beg off time and then worry about your job. Going on vacay? Find a club in the city you're visiting and work there. Write off a portion of the trip as an expense. Clothes are costumes and the purchase and care of them are a business expense.
The downside of stripping is the same as any other service industry, tending bar or waiting tables for example. The hours are goofy and some people party too much. Of course, with stripping, there is this "You are a whore!" mentality.
In the end it is a personal choice not much different than that of a pro ball player, an actor, or even a CEO. The nudity just scares people who've never seen a pretty form and some people, like my husband, who are worried about the opinions of the aforementioned.
My stripping career spanned two of my >20 year work experience and not a day of it scarred me.
frankbooth@hushmail.com | August 7, 2007, 10:58pm | #
Mad Max:
Yeah, my comment was a bit of a rant. But, I truly feel that even though we've made great strides towards sexual freedom, we've only really scratched the surface. The problem is, it takes at least a generation for a new idea to be accepted, and since there are many new ideas about sexuality that I feel will one day be accepted in a truly free society, I think we have a long way to go. This road to sexual liberty is fought against foot by foot, and inch by inch by the religious right, the extreme feminists, and by the non-religious who find sex repugnant in a way that they can't seem to express logically but still claim it "just isn't right".
You seem to find the comparisons to the Taliban to be hyperbole, and to an extent they are. But, we aren't so far away from religious extremism affecting our sex lives. Not even 40 years ago, about half of a standard american lifetime, being killed for being attracted to the same sex, for sleeping with someone of a different race, or just being born of a certain race was quite common. We like to pretend that modern americans have wholeheartedly given up these prejudices, but as someone who grew up both religious, and in a small town, I can attest to the thick ties that still bind many people to these antiquated and frightening ideals.
When I was 14, in Lincoln City, Oregon, my mainstream Baptist church handed out pro ballot measure 9 pamphlets. Measure 9 would have prevented gays and lesbians from being married and having legal protections for them written into the law. Even though I may disagree with hate crime legislation due to it inherantly treating people differently, I was a bit shocked at the propoganda our church was handing out.
The pamphlet given to me by my church (obviously political but tax exempt I might add) informed me what those horrible, dirty faggots were into. It also provided a detailed description of these acts which include: Fisting (ouch!), Water Sports (ick!), Kiddie Porn (ugh!), Leather (ehh...), Sadomasochism (huh?), and rape (oh no!), amongst others. I learned that those conniving butt-pirates were scuttling around elementary school playgrounds, leering at little boys and plotting to sodomize anything that couldn't outrun their sashaying, limp-wristed gang fuck schemes. My friends and I were horrified. We, along with many other god-fearing church goers decided to do whatever it takes to protect our little brothers from the baneful, shifty-eyed lavender menace. This included violence.
Thankfully, I actually met one of those non-human sodomites and learned that they are just people, good and bad and indifferent as anyone else. But, a lot of people I grew up with never learned any different. These people are still there, teaching their kids the same thing.
My point is, I guess, that we aren't as far away from stoning people for improper masturbatory fantasies as we seem to think.
