Ooh err! So, the answer is no. The idea has never really interested me, though I once had a dream that I (along with some colleagues from work) bought a strip club. What we planned to do with it, I cannot recall. That dream may have been inspired by two things. Firstly, there is a ‘gentleman’s club’ right around the corner from work, and secondly, I believe it played host to a film shoot once. Anyway, I digress…
So, the short answer is no. In my travels, I have seen the red light district of Amsterdam, and been to Amsterdam’s sex museum. I have seen a stripper (for some strange reason, they followed from a pair of comedians at a show in… I want to say Benidorm, but I can’t remember for sure), but that’s as far as live ‘entertainment’ of that nature has ever gone. To be frank, it does not interest me.
I do have to confess one thing. I’ve used this topic for a prompt before, via my podcast. I figured it was interesting enough to throw out there again, via written form.
The original podcast prompt had me thinking about where the power lies in strip clubs. The majority of ‘guests’ are men, who seek stimulation in the form of the female, err, form. There could be any number of reasons for this, but in the end, they are willing to part with their money to watch someone dance exotically for them, and the strippers (and the owners of the clubs) know this. You could argue they exploit this, but then, if the owners of the club are men, are they not exploiting the women who work for them, and their clients?
If the owners are women, are they effectively doing the same thing?
Do the strippers enjoy what they do? That’s hardly against the realm of possibility, and if it pays well enough, and doesn’t stray into legal or moral grey areas, then it might be worthwhile regardless. I’d even consider it, though I suspect most people will pay me to put my clothes on!
The sex industry is one of the oldest in the world. In a sex-positive world, where does the power lie in this industry, where should it lie, and should it even exist? As a man, how much of a voice can I have in an industry that has certainly and brutally exploited women in the past? There are differing points of view within feminism, with some arguing that any form of sex exploitation is completely wrong, and that it makes slaves of women to a man-dominated world, and others arguing that when women own and control what they do with their bodies, and get involved in sexual activities on their terms, they take all the power back. I don’t know what is right and what is wrong, and perhaps it’s more nuanced than I can understand.
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All very good issues raised.
In my youth I went to one, with attendant pornographic films. The the latter were dull things, the former, well a bit not that thrilling. The best part was the comic, who knew how to work the audience & deal with hecklers. He was the one who got the encore and the biggest rounds of applause.
Apparently the male ‘exotic’ dancers will tell you that a crowd of women on a ‘hen night’ when drinks are flowing can be a most intimidating experience for the novice dancer.
Thank you for your thoughts my friend. I will confess, I don’t tend to think of the experiences of male strippers and what they go through. I don’t really know what to make of the sex industry, full-stop.
Despite what some might have us believe I feel it is a tawdry business filled with exploitation of vulnerable workers and questionable employers
Ah! WordPress isn’t sending me comments, so I MUST stay on top of this post..
I come from the other side, my friend. The (usually) men running strip clubs are mostly dicks, but can have a soft side. They do see the strippers as a commodity, a means of making money.
True, I’ve never seen anyone (as far as I know) forced into stripping. From my perspective, the women have a LOT of control, but it varies from club to club. Where I was, if a bouncer couldn’t get to a girl fast enough and someone was hassling her, she was allowed to defend herself. The men were also, at the time, required to keep their hands off the girls entirely.
It does make the clientele look a little pathetic to the girls. Then again, the women look pathetic to the “concerned public.” Plus, obviously, not a lot of people feel comfortable talking about it, so their problems go unresolved.
If it were seen as less “taboo,” it would be much easier to keep strippers and patrons safe.