Is a strip club a good thing or a bad thing for a small town?

[CalebHayes]

I don't understand what all the fuss is about. I also think people should get over Jackson's boob.

Explain why or why not.

[Skittles]

1. a standup comic on TV :

Hooker in a small town: Hey, you want a date???

Man: No

Hooker: OK, say hi to Linda for me.

:D

[CanuckAmok]

2. My hometown was so small........

....the local hooker was a virgin!






hello...is this thing (tap, tap) on?!

[xultar]

3. A strip club where men strip is good where women stripp bad n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. I say bad, and here's why:

I don't think stripping for money and for show, or attending such places, is inherently wrong, at least in a perfect system. But in our less than perfect system, it does invariably mean that some of the women stripping are truly being willingly objectified to support their drug habits, and are perhaps being prostituted.

However, the problem with strip clubs is that it leads to bringing in bad influences - organized crime at worst (though I do not claim that it *always* leads to organized crime), localized organized crim at best. Strip clubs also attract the "lower" elements, bringing in drugs and the people who do them.

If I were in a small town (and here I'm thinking in terms of hundreds or lower thousands of people), and someone wanted to bring in a strip club, I'd fight it tooth and nail.

If by small town you mean something in the realm of 10,000 people or more, the detrimental effect of the strip club priobably wouldn't be any worse than any other saloon or tavern or sex toy shop, because whatever criminal/nasty element the strip club would bring in, would already be in the town.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. What about male strippers?

Do they tend to have drug habits and work as prostitutes? I really don't know.

It's funny, around here, there are TV ads for a male strip club that make the idea of women ogling men seem like good clean fun. But I've yet to see an ad for any of the female "exotic dance lounges".
What's up with that?

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. You know, good point -

I don't have any rael familiarity with the issue of male strippers, but I would tend to believe that they tend NOT to be venues for drug addicts and prostitution. Certainly the pictures I've seen, the clubs always seem really clean and decently lit, and women seem to be there in large groups.


Clubs with women strippers tend to be seedy (most of the ones I've seen and been in .... ewwwww... I hate them) though not always. They also draw men out in groups, who are just having some decent fun, but also attract men going singly and have a lot of weird looking characters about. And while proabbly many of the women strippers in smaller towns are college women making GOOD money, there are the drug addicts/prostitutes who are stripping for drugs, stripping for their owners, or otherwise just on the last leg of life and not doing so well.

But as I said, I've never been in a male stripper club, so much of this is being said without direct, first-hand knowledge.

And it also depends on the locale - there are here in NYC some real high dollar strip clubs, which won't have the seedy people - they'll have the people who own the businesses that employ the seedy people seen at lesser strip clubs; or the high-dollar legitimate businessmen; or just richer people. And I should think, though i've never been to one, that those clubs are NOT going to be icky places, and wold have only strippers who are truly artistic at their craft, and who aren't drug-addicted prostitutes on their last leg.

Sort of the difference between the times square hooker, and the mustang ranch hooker.

[DrWeird]

5. Probably bad.

But only on account of they would have a very large pool of potential employees to draw from.

[supernova]

6. Good overall

Since I live in rural NC, I can't tell you how many NY/NJ/PA transplants point to and giggle at the local all purpose message parlor/strip club, "gentlemen's club" on the edge of town.

The one that's been there since the 1950s at least. Those who want to indulge in that can, and the establishment mostly makes it's money off highway travelers. It's not a big deal here.

:shrug:

edit: There's actually several of those places around here. A couple on Hwy 70 on the way to Raleigh. One on hwy 85 on the way to Greensboro, One on intersection of Hwy 86/85 on the way to Hillsborough, our tiniest haven. That one has been here the longest, I think.

edit 2: I think people have a romanticized view of small towns, where no bad or immoral things happen. Not true.

[POed_Ex_Repub]

8. How do you know where they are all at?

:evilgrin:

Just kidding ;)

[POed_Ex_Repub]

9. Ack, it double posted on me!!

Dontcha just hate that?

[supernova]

10. LOL! They're out in plain sight

of course. One thing about small towns is nobody hides anything.... and I do mean ANYTHING.

They are neither well hidden; nor overly advertised. Just there. And you know what they are when you pass them. They aren't trying to pass themselves off as anything else.

I've been looking at that one on the way to Hillsborough since I was in 5th grade. And I'm 41 now.

[citizen snips]

13. I can't find any in the triangle area.

I am not going to one becuase I am too young and it is a waste of money. But I see advertisments of adult book stores and adult clubs in the News&Observer.

[supernova]

14. How old are you MATTMAN?

Don't tell me you haven't heard ads on the radio for "THE Doll House"

[citizen snips]

26. I am 15.

I saw ads in the News&Observer about the Doll House.

[Beaker]

7. that depends on the town.

Brooklyn, Illinois(rural, but near St. Louis) has a population of 676, and no less than 5 strip clubs...but those clubs bring in A LOT of tax money.
the world needs strippers too, and strippers need a place to work, and those places need a town to be in...

[barbaraann]

12. Here's a link with some info.

http://www.oneangrygirl.net/antiqoute1.htm

(You have to wait while it streams by on the top.)

[Beaker]

18. "oneangrygirl.net"- let me guess what their thoughts on it are...

:eyes:

[barbaraann]

28. It just facts, not thoughts.

n/t

[Beaker]

33. "facts" that are slanted to provide only one part of the picture...

I didn't notice any that pointed out how much money goes from the clubs to the tax base of the town...or how much money the students and mothers who support children make working even part-time...or what other factors in certain towns contribute to crime and alcoholism besides strip clubs?

"facts" don't always paint an accurate picture of the situation.

[MrSlayer]

31. What an annoying website.

What a stupid format. How are you going to keep anyone's interest long enough to get out the message? The only thing I got out of it before impatience set in was that Portland sounds like a fun place to visit.

[methinks2]

16. might as well be upfront about it.

At least they pay taxes when they open a club.

[displacedtexan]

17. Ya gotta wonder how many rural auto deaths...

happen because men/boys are either on their way to or from strip clubs.

Also, the same goes for people in small towns making liquor runs.

[Beaker]

19. ???

people on their way to the store for milk get in accidents too...

i wonder how many rural auto deaths happen because people are rushing to return a video before the late fees kick in(but only the porno ones of course)...

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. Yes, but milk and video runs don't involve drunk people

Strip clubs, and abrs in general, usually get their clientelle kinda loopy, if not downright drunk.

[Beaker]

23. sometimes they most definitely do.

more people drink at home than at bars. and people at home run out to do errands...

[supernova]

24. But not all drunk rural people

are coming from/going to strip clubs.

Most of us get our booze at the ABC store and drink at home. Oh, and get a porno movie at the video store on the way home.

[Beaker]

27. and if the video is due back before midnight, but you've got a buzz on...

I think that's the main reason blockbuster changed it to noon the next day.

[supernova]

29. Maybe so,

there's been a few times I've kept a tape over expressly because I didn't want to go to a strip mall at midnight when I finished watching the tape.

I'm an independent woman and all, but I'm not stupid. :crazy:

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. Did I set that up as a condition of the argument?

No, I didn't. Quite obviously I didn't.

How you could extrapolate - or in this case, perhaps more rightfully called "induct", as opposed to "deduct" - that I meant all rural drunk people are drunk only from drinking at bars and strip clubs is far, far beyond my obviously limited ability to handle data.

[supernova]

20. Gotta wonder how many city deaths

are from drive-by shootings. :eyes:

[JVS]

22. Good thing.

[MrSlayer]

25. Strip Clubs are great for any town big or small.

[ButterflyBlood]

32. good for all towns, big and small

[camero]

34. OK, I'm gonna waste post #6000 here

While I don't have anything against strip clubs and have even been in a few, a point that has not been made is how they make sex and intimacy a commodity to be bought and sold in much the same way as prostitution does. This applies to both the male and female strip clubs.

I don't wish to make them illegal or to say we can legislate morality but I feel that as a whole they are bad for the relations between men and women.

I just went to basically pump up my self esteem when I was down. But I also saw the harm in what I was doing so I pretty much stopped going.

[CanuckAmok]

35. A couple of thoughts, based on the posts I've just read:

1) Regarding DWI, as I understand it, some counties strictly forbit the consumption of alcohol if 'burlesque' entertainment is offered. I know Tacoma is one such place. A friend of ours was a dancer at a club there, and it was a dry club.

2) As far as exploiting more women goes, most smaller strip clubs are part of a touring circuit. An agency representing dancers will service, for example, ten clubs in a 200 mile radius. So, it's arguable that any women who come to dance at this new place are already dancers somewhere else, and have just added this new club to their 'rounds'.

3) It is arguable that many women who become strippers become addicted to the seamier lifestyle attached to it. It's also arguable that some of the less reputable club owners have a vested interest in hooking these women on drugs, so most of the moeny they earn is given straight to the club owner/dealer. I have seen evidence of this, and it's quite common in the clubs owned by certain motorcycle enthusiast clubs. However, it's also arguable that may women enter the stripping profession with a strictly observed objective: to make as much money as possible in a certain period, and get out. While that takes alot of will and strength, it does happen, and I have seen evidence of that, as well. My high school girlfriend, for example, began stripping part-time at 25, and was retired by 32, with a horse farm owned outright, and enough in the bank to subsidise her continuing education. It's arguable that there aren't many jobs open to young womern (or men) which can give them the option of making a considerable amount of money before they turn 25. What's not arguable, however, is that it's an individual's right to earn money with his/her body as he/she sees fit, as long as it doesn't violate the law. Basically, by opposing strip clubs, you are taking one more opportunity away from someone with limited options for earning a living.

For the record, I'm not a strip club patron, because I find them boring, loud, and expensive. I have not been shown conclusively that they are exploitive or addictive. I do, however, support their right to exist, and support a person's right to work in or visit one.

What's not arguable is that a friend of ours dances at an upscale 'gentlemen's club" in Vancouver. SHe's a VIP dancer, meaning she doesn't even get on stage--she just does private--no touching--shows in the banquettes, and she makes about $12,000 a month doing it. She's supporting her young child and attending courses at UBC, too.

And I live in BC, where anything goes! Here's a link to article about an (obstensibly) woman-owned upscale strip-club in Vancouver. It's loud and smokey, but seedy it ain't. And the clientele is nearly evenly split between men and women. Couples make it a destination, too.

http://www.vanmag.com/0204/dance_queen.html

edit: typos again.

[solinvictus]

36. Great

Because even small towns need T&A.