Seattle has voted against a measure which would have effectively made it illegal for “patrons” to touch women at strip clubs. Twisty at I Blame the Patriarchy has dealt with this issue very thoroughly, but her post brought up an interesting exchange over at Seattlest.

Now, Seattlest firmly opposed this legislation - and has apparently bemoaned the lack of good strip/lapdancing clubs in the past. In response to one of these posts, a Seattle stripper emailed blogger James to let him know that some in the business firmly supported the proposals. And he got shot down in style.

James said:

I’m not, personally, interested in making anyone do anything to me, though I realize that many, many johns are. Biting, licking, costume ripping? Not cool. Looking at sexy women? Love it. Talking to them? Awesome.

She replied:

There are sexy women to look at and talk with everywhere you turn in this city. I don’t believe you go to strip clubs to look at sexy women or talk with sexy women, I think you go for the same reason other men go, because we’re a captive audience FORCED to smile and nod and defer to your nasty wants because you’re paying us to submit to your idea of what what interactions with sexy women should be. Like you say, men talk “to” strippers, but they don’t talk “with” them. Our responses to men’s banal banter are stock answers pulled from the strippers’ survival guide.

You make us get naked as animals, a vulnerable feeling when surrounded by fully-clothed drunk/drugged men, then make us paint our faces and dance like monkeys for your money not because you respect us and admire looking at and talking with sexy women but because the real sexy women Seattle drips with aren’t obligated to pay you any attention, smile at your stupid jokes, or pretend you don’t make us want to vomit while bumping our cunts into your stiffies til you cream your pants. Real sexy women have thoughts of their own, sexual desires of their own and the ability to say no, and that’s inconvenient for johns who assume their God-given right to access women’s bodies 24-hours a day.

Read the whole exchange here.

Posted by Jess McCabe on 16 November 2006, at 8:25 PM