Kathleen Hanna & the subjective dimensions of prude...

I disagree.

A woman should be able to do whatever she wants with her body. If she needs money and is ok with getting naked, why should anyone else have an issue with that? We should all be able to use our bodies and minds in any way we want as long as it is consensual. A person who is comfortable with their nudity is powerful. That seems more feminist to me than being afraid to use your assets.

From what I've read, the issues I have with stripping, prostitution and the porn industry are issues with exploitation and workers rights. I support any person's right to do what they want with their body and would rather focus on organizations that aim to secure legal and employment rights for women and men in these industries.

That being said, I have heard some powerful and potentially enlightening arguments against these professions. I wouldn't want to chastise someone for criticizing these industries...they may help change someone's life who is really unhappy with what they are doing. There are plenty of notable porn actresses who have quit the industry and become activists. I'm not as familiar with the stripping industry.

I remember getting a lap dance in New Orleans about 12 years ago. My biker/L7 fan/teacher girlfriend at the time was thoroughly amused with this. I remember my two friends and I talking with the dancer briefly afterwards. She was a student, she seemed pretty confident in what she was doing, and between my friends and I she made about $100 in less than 15 minutes. Think of how condescending it would be for me to say, "I'm sorry, I'm not going to give you my business because I think you are not enlightened and are disrespecting yourself." Really. How would I be right in judging her like that? She knows what she's doing, she's doing her job, and I'm enough of an adult to separate a fantasy experience with how I interact with people on a day-to-day basis.

I wouldn't get a lap dance these days. I've changed and it's not something I'm interested in. Apparently the musician mentioned in the initial post has changed as well. So be it.

I too had read that piece by Sarah Katherine Lewis quite a few years ago, and I think her account of the outcome of working in that industry is much along the same lines of my thinking.

At the end of it, she states that the sole reasoning to her working in the sex industry was money. It didn't liberate her, or give one in the eye to sexist men. She just simply made lots of money.

And I think, this is where my moral feministic standards are offended.

For me it is a question of whether you put the importance of money above the importance of keeping the gender balance equal.

I come from a poor family, I've had to work since the moment I stepped out of school (at 16, as I'm from the UK).

I've been a waitress, stacked shelves, arranged shoes, served coffee, sorted through bags of dirty underwear to find things worth selling in a charity shop.

Not once, in all my many levels of poverty, have I thought I would offer my gender-specific attributes to make me some money. Especially not a quick-buck.

It's granted that today, as I write this, I am not as sexually viable (in the opinion of society) as I was when I was younger (say between 16-21) but in spite of my good looks and very feminine physique, I've known intrinsically all my life that gaining money, attention, gifts; anything, via the base concept that I'm acquiring those things because a man would like to insert his penis in to my vagina, is wholly wrong.

My mum would never class herself as a "feminist" in fact, in a strange, British, working-class mindset she would probably go as far as to say she hates feminists and they annoy her. However, she's far from conservative, too. She was a Bowie-loving, T-rexer who hung about with drag queens and gays in the early 1970s, when people in England were still under the impression this "sort" of person didn't even exist in their precious neighbourhood.

The thing is, she has subtly made me aware since an early age that you must never, as a woman, gain favour of any type by playing-up to the role of sexual object. She taught me that, again, subtly (I can not remember a single conversation directly covering these issues) as a woman, it is important to succeed in life using my mind, not my body. My creative skills, my intelligence, my understanding of the human race, anything other than my body.

I wish I had more time to write further on this subject, but being a mother I'm stuck for time right now. And that being said (I am reluctant to use the "mum" card), having a daughter, I can not foresee any reason why in her life she would have to work in the sex industry. I will bring her up to know that she is more than a walking pair of breasts, and that she is capable of completing any task a man can do. If she has to wait tables to make some money (like her mum had to do) let it be, and let her learn that although waiting tables isn't glamorous, it's a stepping-stone of experience to show her that she has to work hard in life to get to a position she is happy with. It's not as easy as whipping your baps out for a bunch of leering, animals.

I could never tell a woman what to do with her body. Unless I'm paying by the hour (sorry...bad joke). I could never tell a man either for that matter. That being said whether you're a hooker or a professional football player I always considered jobs that rely mostly upon one's fleeting physicality a little bit of a . sticky wicket.

To me stripping for dollars is a bit like polygamy. I would never judge someone for doing it but in the long run I really don't feel like it's a good idea for any party involved. Commodifying physical intimacy or detaching it from love, in my opinion, is like taking too much acid. At the time if feels very progressive but you run the risk of causing some serious damage to you psyche that could hinder your capacity for love later in life.

With that being said I think there is such a thing as erotic dancing or burlesque that can be really awesome and empowering for some people. I think it's when you're really just banging it out for the bucks that things get tricky. But I've luckily never been in a situation where I might have been so hurting for money that I would even consider something like that. But everyone's got their price I suppose. That would be an interesting question. If not $1000 for your van how much would it take for you to take off your clothes in a room full of strangers?

i really liked that article barry posted. it usually comes back to making a buck to survive. which is the sad truth of our society .
money buys freedom to do the things you want to do. of course money is not the most important thing in life. but you need a little to survive and pay rent and eat.
it also comes down to how you feel about your own body and sexuality and your upbringing and your skills and what you think your employment options are. i cannot judge a woman for feeling like stripping is a viable way to make a buck if she is okay with it.
And what if you had a daughter and she told you that she wanted to strip for a job? even though you didn't want her to? what if she saw nothing wrong with it and said she felt empowered by it? what would you tell her?
the thing that bugs me is when people think women should have shame about choices they make. If they are not hurting anyone, why should they feel shame?

vincent mentioned up above that doesn't kathleen see the "shameful irony of that situation"
-a situation of both stripping and being a feminist? why couldn't she be both?
i think kathleen is aware of the difference between writing/talking about feminism and then dancing naked on a stage for money.
But why couldn't dancing on a stage naked be a feminist act?
What about the women-owned and operated Lusty Lady in Seattle?
I read a book about that and it seemed like it turned the industry on its head a bit - they had healthcare and really treated their staff well and women were running the whole business. interesting....

I think kathleen was pretty self-aware in that presentation and laughing it off a bit was her way of processing it. people are full of contradictions. i liked that she was so open and not ashamed about the fact she had done that because she knew that was a way she could get enough money to get herself back on the road doing what she loved.

i'm sure some people would ask me "why do you temp for a huge corporation?"
um, it's easy and i get paid well which enables me to do MORE OF THE THINGS I LOVE. i don't get paid enough at my art stuff yet to live off of it. i could see that strippers (or anyone who cares about something else more than their day job) would use the same argument.

my cousin did "go go dancing" for a while - at least that was my grandmother's polite word for stripping. and when K. told her that's what she'd been doing for money, my grandmother said "honey, you go be the best go go dancer you can be!"