Bristol strip club ban

[Aha85]

I'm really hoping this goes ahead. The strip found aren't happy.

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/strip-club-ban-bristol-would-5079319

This argument from the strip clubs is particularly odd:

"Nil-cap is a LGBTQ+ phobic policy as it discriminates against Queer people who go to these venues."

I'm afraid I really don't care if apologists for punters, the commercial " sex industry" and the commodification of female bodies doesn't think I'm a nice person.

There has been a number of comments that implied the women who work in these clubs have been tricked into thinking that working there is empowering.

Again with the sweeping statements. I did not say ALL customers are there for the dancing. Many are there for the drinking and you're absolutely right that some of them are hoping for extras. Many different people go there for many different reasons.

I haven't denied I find the money and mugging off of numpty men satisfying and if you asked me I wouldn't deny it. But that's one tiny aspect, I adore the dancing, I love working with other women. I love watching the skill involved in spinning around 15ft in the air with just a toe.

Again how much time have you spent in a strip club Barbary or speaking to women who work in them. I can tell you that the level of dancing required at the majority of the clubs I've worked in is very high and there is definitely little walking and wiggling.

Prior to lockdown I regularly went to legitimate dance performances. I've no intention of sitting in a strip club to verify if your fellow strippers are on a par with The Royal Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Martha Graham, Rambert et al although I very much doubt it and even if they were I don't particularly want to sit beside some leering punter.

I'm also keen on contemporary circus- the skills used by many performers are stunning but they don't need to take their clothes off.

Strip clubs sell sexual titillation and sex- that's why they exist. Your attempt to compare them with legitimate art forms is risible and insulting to real dancers and aerial artists.

Ah now we're getting somewhere! See to you sex and strip clubs cannot be separated. To me pole dancing is an art form, in the same way I go to jazz cafes to enjoy jazz, i go to strip clubs to enjoy pole dancing.

I wasn't aware there are pole dancing clubs where you can go to watch women pole dance that are not called strip clubs. Glad to hear you know of some! Please share where women can work if they enjoy pole dancing that are not strip clubs and are safe and I'll be applying in a jiffy.

I'm not denying that there are unsavoury people or practices associated with strip clubs. I just think that the problem is in monitoring them and running them as opposed to there being something fundamentally wrong with women pole dancing.

Can you honestly not fathom that many "real" circus performers also work in strip clubs? I do for a start. Many of us have a history of circus and dance and that's how we came into stripping. I can say confidently that no artist friends of mine who work in all manner of different aspects of the arts find the comparison risible.

@TheImber

So you're happy to arbitrarily close down female owned businesses, that employ 90% women, during a global pandemic? Purely because you are ideologically opposed to them?

I wonder why more women don't want to be feminists? 🤔

Not 'arbitrarily close' no. Only businesses which objectify women for men's sexual titillation.

I wasn't aware there are pole dancing clubs where you can go to watch women pole dance that are not called strip clubs. Glad to hear you know of some! Please share where women can work if they enjoy pole dancing that are not strip clubs and are safe and I'll be applying in a jiffy

Not clubs but prior to lock down there were 100s, maybe 1000s of alternative circus troupes with aerial acts. Cirque du Soleil is the most well known.

These performances are beautiful. And fully clothed.

Yes Cirque du Soleil are incredible, I've been fortunate enough to have seen many of their shows and I've even had friends involved in them.

Theres quite a few online groups for people involved in circus stuff and dance and there's been so much chat recently about how amazing it is that we no longer have to hide from our "legit" circus contracts the fact that many of us supplement these contracts with working in strip clubs. It's sad for me to hear that obviously for many people it is still an issue.

I guess I want to 'evolve' strip clubs as it were as opposed to banning them. Thanks for engaging all I'm now off to write to my MP (again) enjoy your Sunday.

Hello,

Just read through this thread. I've never commented on mumsnet, only read through for hot tips when I'm struggling with my kids..

I have been a stripper for 14 years. The Bristol clubs are my favourite. I've worked in a few. I am actively engaged in fighting for women's rights and passionate about it.

My view, in a nutshell, is that I am campaigning hard for the clubs to remain open, as I see it as a much broader issue - I'm fighting for body autonomy, freedom of expression and freedom for women to do as they choose (as long as they're not hurting anyone). Saying that strip clubs, the sex industry or sex workers are linked, or cause male violence against women and girls, or even that it adds to societal attitudes that are linked or cause male violence... is unacceptable. That not only places the blame for violent men's crimes in the hands of women, it also let's those criminals off the hook a bit.

A well run strip club goes pretty much unnoticed. A badly run club is a nightmare for everyone affected. The Bristol clubs are the most regulated, impeccably run clubs I have worked in.