Towards Freedom

As the strip club business is becoming more widely accepted around the world, this industry is also proving to have harmful effects on our population. The laws set for strip clubs are too lenient. My concern regarding these establishments can be mocked by those claiming that bars offering stripteases are entertaining and that it is our choice to attend or work at them or not. However, for the sake of our future - entertainment for the human race should be beneficial, not superficial.

A man or woman who chooses to apply for a position at a club where they will be expected to dance in the nude has done exactly that - made the choice. Our decisions in life are influenced by one thing or another and in the case of which career we choose, money is usually a major influence. People have been lured into this career perhaps because of their social status in some countries, or because of their will to survive in this greed infested world. Whatever their reason is for making that decision, they do not deserve to be objectified simply for the entertainment of others.

Since the majority of strip clubs worldwide cater to straight men, most strippers are women. Women are not forced to dance in the nude for money; however, they're often forced to raise their children alone, which can leave them desperately searching for a supportive career. While women are still fighting to gain the equality of men's righton in the workforce around the world, it's clear to see why so many would choose stripping as an attempt to rise above poverty. In the U.S. for example, businesses are not required to pay women while on leave due to pregnancy. If there were more laws that protected working women, many women would not choose stripping as a means of survival. By allowing strip clubs to flourish, we are allowing women's righton to become less important.

To lure individuals to strip for a living, club owners advertise the job as being easy and high paying; requiring no education and with the only stipulation that your appearance should be pleasing to others. This sounds enticing for a man or woman who has little educational background and is in need of "easy money". The promises made by strip club owners are far from the truth. In the U.S., the majority of strip bar owners hire strippers to work as independent contractors without any benefits or federal employment protection. Strippers work only for tips and they must pay the club owners a large percentage of those tips. If the club does not bring in a large amount of high paying customers, there is no guarantee that the dancers will bring home any money. While there are some talented dancers that do bring home a generous amount of money, there are more that don't. People are attracted to this line of work by the deceitful club owners who are not required to financially protect their workers.

Adding to the demands from club owners, strippers are subjected to abuse in both upscale and lower-class nude clubs. The protection that bouncers are said to provide is minimal due to the fact that bouncers are essentially paid by the customers; so the best interest of the stripper is not always in mind. Strippers are propositioned for prostitution often and harassed when they don't do what is demanded of them. The lack of having government-paid law enforcement inside these clubs makes it easier for abusers to go unpunished. When someone commits a crime without getting caught or having consequences, they are more likely to perpetrate again. Individuals who endure physical, verbal, or sexual abuse most commonly feel worthless and used. Once a stripper has been lured into this depreciating means of making a living, many of them turn to alcohol and drugs to escape reality. The façade of the wealthy life of stripping is causing many of the world's youth to enter what in reality is a vicious trap.

There is no question as to the importance of entertainment for the human race. As far as history shows, we have never existed without some form of it. It is sadistic when we allow one's idea of entertainment to humiliate and degrade the life of another. Strippers are not just exotically dancing on poles a good distance from others – as some might say. To keep the acts fresh, club owners have invented many different ways to entice their customers. Lap dances are customary to most nude bars and depending on the bar, the dances are either monitored by a bouncer, or they aren't. Behind the walls of the V.I.P. rooms or even out in open areas, strippers are pressured to do so much more than dance. Some states in the U.S. regulate how many feet away a stripper must be to perform a lap dance, while some don't. This leaves a large window of opportunity for club owners to encourage illegal behavior in order to satisfy the paying customer. Due to the safety issues within the walls of these erotic environments, there is no justification for there existence.

While some may argue that it is our human right to be sexually enticed or to be the sexual enticer as a form of enjoyment, there is no place for these acts in the career world. The laws are too negligent, and the effects are too drastic on individuals turning to this career. People that defend the importance of strip clubs are only defending their right to sit back and watch as another human being is degraded.