If Episode 1 of Channel 4’s Strippers is to be believed, lap dancing is a fun, sociable and empowering way to make some cash. But is it really as simple as that? The series has so far failed to challenge the facile assertions of those defending the industry, so I thought I’d have a go.
First off, what about the broader contexts in which women are entering lap dancing? Austerity policies have hit women the hardest, with unemployment rates for women rising in the past three years, but falling for men. Gender disparities in pay and existing caring responsibilities mean that many women face stark economic prospects – and this undoubtedly affects the employment decisions they make.
The series thus far has also ignored why the lap dancing industry is so gendered - women perform for men in the vast majority of clubs – and has completely failed to ask whether it has an impact upon male attitudes to women, or women’s status in society. In these dingily-lit booths - as in so many other aspects of our culture - women are valued only for their bodies, and judged on their sexual attractiveness to men. Male gratification is the sole aim: this must surely undermine efforts to achieve genuine equality between women and men.
Pretty much everyone interviewed on the show claims that it is women who hold power over the men they are dancing for. But what meaning can the ‘power’ of convincing a man to pay you to dance for him really have? The research we've done among women who have worked in the lap dancing industry consistently undermines the narrative of ‘empowerment’. Joanne, for example, told us: “I don’t think that topless dancing is empowering for women – it is empowering for men. And it’s not just sexual – these men like being in an environment where women give them lavish attention, laugh at their jokes, flirt with them and ultimately get their tits out for them. Women in the ‘normal’ world are not usually so biddable. The difficulty is that it feels empowering, because you feel that you have something the man wants.”
Another former dancer, Lucy, said: “The reality is that in the clubs, as in so much of life, the real power lies where the money is. The men have the money, and therefore the men have the power.”
Strippers gives a great deal of oxygen to the idea that the act of taking money from men is in and of itself empowering – that lap dancing is ‘easy money’, and these men are fools for parting with their cash. At the same time, there are clear indications that the industry is not as lucrative for dancers as its proponents would have us believe, something which OBJECT’s research backs up: lap dancers’ earnings normally come exclusively from private dances, in conditions where clubs deliberately book a high ratio of dancers to customers to fulfil a fantasy of women competing for their attention.
The dancers are self-employed, paying an up-front house fee to work, and mandatory costumes can be docked from their earnings. During their shift they may be subjected to fines for being late for their (unpaid) stints on the pole, and for other arbitrary transgressions. With these conditions, on some nights, dancers only break even – and can sometimes even find themselves at a loss. It’s unsurprising that there can, in some cases, be a pressure to provide sexual services. Perhaps the show should explore ‘who earns what’ within the industry: a comparison of the strippers’ earnings with those of club managers and owners would have undoubtedly been revealing.
Strippers implied that the occasions in which dancers are treated disrespectfully by punters (trying to touch the girls during dances, say, or asking, ‘Do strippers have feelings?’) are pretty rare. In fact, our research found that derogatory, dehumanising and abusive treatment towards performers by both punters and managers is horribly common; many women report frequent verbal or physical attacks during dances, and some use alcohol or drugs to cope.
Ultimately, Channel 4 talked to no-one without an interest in defending the lap dancing industry; in fact, it gave a level of publicity to the club featured which can’t be bought. During the first episode, young women were tweeting that it made them want to strip. The club’s response was "We are recruiting!! get in touch no experience required full training given".
Job done. Whatever its aspirations, ‘Strippers’ has failed to expose the reality of the industry. Worse, it’s fuelled the fantasy so essential to its ongoing exploitation of women.
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Guest post: Channel 4's 'Strippers' - the questions we should be asking
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MumsnetGuestPosts · 04/03/2014 12:12
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