Feminist Ethics and Strip Clubs

[blimeyzawn1]

I'm not sure if it's appropriate to post a personal feminist ethics question here or not, so if this is outside the bounds of this community I'll delete. So here goes

Comments

[ciaraxyerra]

oh jeez louise. maybe if you take the job, you will grow up a little & learn that feeling inadequate around strippers is a pretty pathetic reason to politically condemn their livelihoods. or, to put it a different way, taking the job might enable you to achieve some degree of economic security, get important job experience in a field you want to pursue, & will held you shed your patently facile anti-strip club political stance & see the issues in the complex & multi-faceted way they deserve. sounds like you have nothing to lose but a closed mind.

[ciaraxyerra]

i was thinking the same thing. a blanket perception of dancers as victims or potential victims is unlikely to lend itself well to serving the women in any kind of informed & empowered (in terms of dancers seeking legal agency, not "empowerfulled," as it were) way. i'd be more eloquent if i had more caffeine in my system.

[blimeyzawn1]

I agree with that to a certain extent. Maybe my own experiences cloud my judgment here, but I tend to see all women as potential victims in this society. And I think it's important to listen to women themselves- whether it's women workers at wal-mart, immigrants, or strippers, whoever- in order to gauge their sense of the degree to which they are victims or potential victims. I talked to the dancers at the club not because I feel it's my job to protect or convert them or any of that bullshit. But because I figure they're probably a lot more informed about the industry, and certainly their own experience within the industry, than I am

[blimeyzawn1]

That's actually a really good point. I'm hoping to work in immigration or constitutional law and never be involved in the corporate side of things. But in the meantime, I'm well aware that there are very few (if any) jobs that aren't exploitive. Which is a testament to how fucked up the current capitalist system under which most of us live is, but I digress.

I guess the dilemma here is that the exploitation just seems more obvious or something. Maybe I'm just splitting hairs.

[zorah]

Seconded. I dropped out of law school because I came to hate the day to day reality of practicing law. I also knew that those few jobs lawyering which allow one to be a superstar radical were beyond my reach as a person who went to a local, third tier school because they offered a big fat scholarship. I still ended up with 60k+ in student loan debt and I only got 1/2 way through. If I had finished I would be drowning in debt about now.

I now have an extremely fulfilling full time job that supports my ethics, and allows me to be a radical feminist for pay - but I also have student loan debt in collections and I just qualified for foodstamps.

If compromising daily is a problem for you (it is for me), I strongly urge you to find another career. I admire people who can plow forward and negotiate with the system for the greater good, but I am not one of those people.

[crafting_change]

As another member has mentioned - there is not an industry that is not harmful to women - that doesn't fold into it oppressions based on racism, sizism, and an elevation of women who are 'more attractive' in the mainstream western sense. 'Stripping' may be a more extreme case - but offices, retail, food service - all of these industries have these problems

[blimeyzawn1]

Finally, having ethics is a great thing, and being able to pick a job based on your ethics is amazing - but in truth a financial luxury. I am not saying you are not aware of this reality - but I think it is important to voice. god, yes. This is important to voice over and over again. And I'm obviously incredibly privileged for a lot of reasons to be in a position to even be making this decision

[crafting_change]

It totally makes sense to want a job that is less harmful - and an admirable goal.

And while, when I look for work I look for jobs that have an application of feminist ideals both in the macro (industry) and micro (personal job) the priority of what I actually look for (pay, benefits, proximity to mass transit and/or bike-ability) is far removed - and is the majority of folks I know's experience.

[blimeyzawn1]

Yeah, the pay is still the guiding factor in choosing this job. I'm made hesitant even then by the fact that I have a (shitty, benefit-free) job and so if I don't take it I'm not gonna starve.

[maenads_dance]

This is basically why I decided I didn't want to be a lawyer. All I know is, if I were in your situation, I really doubt I'd take the job.

[friend_of_tofu]

I understand why you would feel very uncomfortable about the situation, but I would encourage you to take the job. This seems like a fairly progressive environment and one where you could share resources and information with other feminist lawyers, network, etc.