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Why Would A Woman Go?
by Ruthie Alekseeva Controversial “Oh boy, she’s at it again,” Melinda calls from the living room. “Who?” Marta says. “Linda-Lee, that politician whose always in the headlines.” Marta stops folding laundry, then steps into the living room. Resting her hands on the couch, she stares at the TV. “Wow. I’ve never seen a politician act like that before,” she says. Melinda nods. “I can’t believe she’s an elected state representative. She’s more like an activist.” Melinda agrees. “Who voted for her?” Raising one eyebrow, Marta folds her arms across her chest. “Take a guess,” she says. Puzzling Last year, a politician well known for making controversial statements and involving herself in intense acts of protest was filmed in another contentious circumstance outside a strip club. The politician found herself in this situation after attending a friend’s birthday party at the strip joint. What made it more astounding is that this female politician had once belonged to a political party that claimed it stood for the improved treatment of women. So, why would a female politician, who claims she’s for women’s rights, attend a birthday party at a strip club, I wondered, and why would a female politician, who claims she’s for the protection of women, even think of remaining friends with a person who would hold a birthday party at a strip club I thought? It left me feeling puzzled because I once believed that only men indulged in strip joints, but I have since learned that it’s not an uncommon occurrence for females to wallow in them either. An Australian popstar in her autobiography describes a night out at a lap dancing club she had with her friends, some of whom were female. The popstar states that she was “fascinated by how the girls did what they did – writhing around half naked and being watched by so many different people while looking like they were having a good time.” I think that statement implies this singer knows that stripping and other forms of prostitution harm women, and I think this statement shows that she knows she would not enjoy earning her living in that way and that many women who resort to this line of work do so because they feel they have no other way, but, despite knowing that, this singer says that her friends “giggled” while watching a stripper peel off in front of their table. I don’t like the sound of that, and that’s not all. Another female celebrity states in her autobiography that she once also attended a strip club, this time in America. The American starlet states that, at that club, a female stripper had encouraged her to receive a lap dance from her. The actress states she felt tempted but at the last second had opted out. Later, she discovered a camera had filmed her nearby and that if she had succumbed, the club had intended on releasing the footage to the media, creating a scandalous publicity circus. That’s not an establishment I would enjoy hanging out at. A business that would tempt you into sinful behaviour and then release evidence of your fall to the public? A business that knowingly pays women to debase themselves when they must know they wouldn’t enjoy earning a living that way if they were in that situation also? That’s a place we should avoid, males, females, politicians, celebrities, Joe Blows - all of us. Liberating We should especially avoid them because of accounts we can find in a book known as Prostitution Narratives. This book gives ample evidence, based off the testimonies of ex-prostitutes, showing that many patrons of brothels and strip clubs don’t utilise them simply for the purpose of having sex. Instead, many brothel clients are paying for the “fun” of abusing a prostitute, swearing at them, calling them nasty names, physically assaulting them and attempting to go beyond what the sex worker has agreed on. Sometimes prostitutes are pressured into performing acts that publically humiliate them, and wouldn’t giggling while a person, who you know isn’t enjoying stripping in front of a whole table of people, something that would leave a person feeling publically humiliated, used and ashamed? That’s not sex. That’s not earning a living. That’s rape and abuse, and it must stop. Women can help stop the abuse women experience in strip clubs by not becoming part of their clientele. Males can stop prostitution by not paying for their services, but I think there’s another group of people who can help strippers and prostitutes find other ways of earning a living. Those people include rockstars, popstars, actors and actresses because a male singer states in his autobiography that, on one tour, his band paid for professional strippers to undress on stage while his band played. It’s great he provided them with employment. It’s not great that employment involved degrading themselves in public before a live audience of drunken, brawling, prurient men. The book Prostitution Narratives states strippers and prostitutes often find it hard to leave the industry because not many businesses will hire former sex workers. Who wants to drop their children off at daycare only to discover, the early childhood educator once worked at Hooters? Or who wants to discover that the physiotherapist massaging their husband’s shoulder formerly stripped at Minx Gentleman’s Club? Not many, but actors and singers could pay for strippers to dance wholesomely during their concerts and in their movies. In that way, they have a tremendous opportunity that many of us don’t have, and I hope that’s what they will start doing. Instead of paying strippers to strip and instead of giggling at lap dancers on nights out, I hope our vocalists and other performers working in the entertainment industry will start liberating women from the rape and abuse that occurs in strip joints and brothels. Let’s pray that they will. References Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade
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