comment
from October 2007

Recently I found myself looking at the back end of a bus - no, not in the bathroom mirror, an actual bus driving in front of me. On the back of it was the biggest advert I’ve ever seen, utilising the entire back end as a giant hoarding advertising 'La Salsa’ - the best fun you can have with your clothes on! Next to the caption was a young woman clad in fishnet stockings and not a lot else looking seductively at me. Now I’m no prude - a very beautiful woman in sexy underwear is a lovely sight - especially if that woman is your girlfriend. I’m concerned however at the gradual re-emergence of near naked women to advertise, titillate, seduce all in the name of money making. The lap-dancing club featured on the bus is one of many such clubs that have popped up like zits in prime town centre sites, unashamedly selling women to anyone with money in their pockets, male or female.

Once upon a time, lap-dancing (sex clubs) were hidden away down dark alleys. The men who frequented these establishments would have been horrified if recognised by anyone as they slipped quickly inside. These days, groups of men and women are encouraged to see visiting a lap dancing club as part and parcel of a great night out. Go to a few cocktail bars, get tanked up and finish the night off with a lap dance and a kebab. Bish bash bosh! Laaaarvely!

Now I’m sensing you think I’m taking a superior moral position, that I wouldn’t be seen dead sat in one of these flesh clubs with some silicon enhanced beauty gyrating on top of me while I fixate on her beautiful bod? Well you’re right, I wouldn’t! Not because I’m some old prude who’d rather not think about sex - I love it - think about nothing else sometimes. Rather, I think I have a responsibility as a woman not to objectify and turn other women into commodities. How can we ever be equal if we are reduced to body parts, bought and sold? Not to be left out of the loop, even lesbians are encouraged to visit these clubs - seduced supposedly by the fallacy that if we do all the things men are allowed to do, then surely we’re equal, right? Wrong. All we’re doing is reinforcing the idea that women shouldn’t be taken seriously - that at the end of the day, we really are just a pair of tits. Just because we’re lesbians doesn’t mean we can disassociate from these women - we are still women behaving like some men do, badly.

It concerns me that there are lesbian websites that have a section devoted to lap-dance experiences. It’s also been featured on The L Word several times, with many of the characters including Shane and Tina going for a lap dance as if it was a visit to the hairdressers. Research has shown that the vast majority of lap dancers, glamour models and escorts have been the victims of sexual abuse as children. These women as children, through the repeated stripping away of their self-respect, privacy and sexuality by some adult men, have been conditioned to seeing themselves only in terms of their bodies and how sexually attractive they are. Some women in the sex industry believe they are empowering themselves, choosing to use their sexuality as power to take money off stupid men. Given they have such a narrow view of themselves, maybe this is the only way they can feel power. I’d like to think that had they not been groomed at an early age to see sex as a commodity, they might be able to see themselves outside of this box - as talented, creative, intelligent women with so much else to give.

So come on dykes, take a stand. Stop thinking that you’re different to these women - you’re allowed to get off on them taking their clothes off for you, because you’re only doing what men have been allowed to do for ever. Wake up! That could be your daughter one day, your sister or even you….

Sarah Schuster