Feminist arguments against stripping... can you help me?

[Ewe]

Last night it was a friends birthday and he was desperate for us all - a mixed sex friendship group - to go to a really awful strip club. I said that I was unwilling to go but ended being backed into a bit of a corner, ended up sitting outside having a cigarette whilst everyone went in, the girls grabbed a quick drink and then we went to pub next door and met the boys a little later.

Now my personal objections aren't a strictly coherent argument, I know a few women who used to work in a similar place and it is grim. They don't earn very much money, are bullied into working/often exploited by the club owners and very often don't have much choice when it comes to career options. My male friends wouldn't come and watch men strip if I asked (which I wouldn't) so why should I go and watch naked ladies when I don't want to? Why should I be perceived as a silly feminist killjoy for not wanting to go?

They do understand these reasons but I am curious as to what the academic argument is for/against strip clubs. I know many would argue that these women choose this profession, they enjoy it (!), it's just dancing etc but thought you clever lot may have links to some comparative discussions? Google not throwing up much of use!

If I had friends who called me a silly feminist killjoy for not wanting to watch women stripping, I would not be friends with them any more.

There are plenty of people who don't want to go to strip clubs. You are obviously not associating with like minded people at the moment.

I don't know what the arguments are for and against strip clubs, but I do know that if I don't want to go into any establishment, for political reasons or just personal choice, no one should try to force me.

Elasticwoman is right: the main issue here is your 'friends' thinking they are entitled to bully you into doing something you don't want to do.
(And I am not opposed to stripping as I have various friends who are or have been strippers and are happy with it).

Thanks ladies. I know it's no excuse but we are all only early 20s so I just think it's something they feel is a bit cool, I just want to try and educate them a little bit as we've been friends since we were 3 so want to remain friends. In future they have said they will let me know if going there and I just won't go because equally I don't want to manipulate them into doing what I want just because I say so.

I don't actually mind places like Spearmint Rhino in C.London so much, the girls are typically well paid, looked after and to me it seems more of a 'choice'. I know a couple of girls who danced at SR to pay for dance school etc and that doesn't really bother.

This place however, is full of eastern european women, who do not earn a basic hourly rate, in fact they pay the strip club and then they go around with a pint glass and ask everyone in the club for £1. They speak little/no English, it's in the middle of a council estate near no other bars/clubs, it's very odd and to me just screams exploitation. Or at best, women with not much in the way of life chances.

Thanks for the link dittany, will dig through archives too!

Oh my god that place sounds absolutely horrible Ewe. I bet those women are trafficked - slaves basically.

Have a look at this for testimonies and stats to support your totally understandable resistance to going there and exploiting these women and girls, "for fun"

Object - Stripping the Illusion

Gawd, that place sounds horrendous! On the up side, I suppose any cash they get from the strips will go towards paying off their debt - and, just possibly, reduce the number of times they have to be raped by dickhead Brits who don't stop to think.

The 'stopping to think' is why it's always worth making your stand - as big or as small as you choose to make it. There's a whole bunch of 'man' culture, fairly unchanged since mid-victorian times. It sweeps young men along with it, but up to half of those men will think twice as a result of what you say.

Good for you

Unfortunately, it's the whole raunch culture. Lads mags and the like paint the idea that lap dancing etc is all normal and the women enjoy it and it has been normalised to such an extent your friends probably don't comprehend why it would upset you. It's really sad. I would never set foot in such a place, especially as the OP said, the girls could be trafficked or anything. I often wonder if lap dancing clubs featured naked men, I'm sure the council would never allow them but it seems to be as long as it's women it's OK. Makes you mad

I did my dissertation on this issue- why women strip? I went undercover and everything- very interesting. Basically I found a massive linnk between drugs, sexual abuse (previous) and lack of a male role model in all workers.

I think Bubbles has hit the nub of the matter - going along normalises it.

As far as I'm concerned it's not normal and the conclusions reached by MrsVidic confirm that.