There has been a lot of discussion about the issues concerning the morality of the porn industry. The previous discussions have focused on the mentality of women inside the industry. While I feel that these issues are very important i feel that a larger issue is being missed inside these discussions. It is the issue of whom owns and has the power inside the industry. It is here that women (whom could be argued that they are owning their bodies) completly lose their power and control. There is a documentary (whose name i forget right now) that follows a group of strippers who work at a strip club on their journey to develope a union at their strip club. IT is a journey that digs into the hash reality of strip clubs but also gives a voice to the strippers and challenges the roles of power inside the industry. It is inside this documentary that we are exposed to the truth that women in the industry rarely are not given any power inside the porn industry and have to fight to recieve any control over their own bodies. While a woman may choose to become a striper of a porn star very rarely does she have the power to control how her body is represented in the industry ultimately rendering herself powerless to the male gaze or the gaze of the public. Therefore, i don't believe that we can discuss the issues of women inside the industry or prostituion (for it is often a male pimp whom controls the prostitute) until women have control over their own bodies inside of industry.
Posted by Shannon Freitag at December 4, 2005 09:07 PMThe documentary you are thinking of is called, "Live Nude Girls Unite." The Lusty Lady was a female owned peep show club. It wasn't really a strip club, as the girls were behind glass. The Lusty Lady, incidentally, actually became a union shop.
I've known many sex workers and many of them are in it by choice, and it's generally a transitory thing. At the Lusty Lady for instance, many of the workers were university students who needed the cash. They were in San Francisco from some other state, nobody they knew would see them there, so they danced nude.
For many women, stripping is actually a liberating act, a way to rebel against inculcated sexual morality and break through to a personal definition, one that is not defined by inculcated Social/Christian ethics or morality.
Posted by: GhettoCocks at June 14, 2006 04:17 AMthis is very true
Posted by: stripper poles at October 18, 2007 10:05 PMI have to say I agree with you - I find the situation similar here in Vancouver at least for few strippers that I had a chance to talk with most of whom were university students.
Posted by: Stripper Dance Poles at December 7, 2007 01:07 PM