I noticed for the first time that an advertisement for the Des Moines area strip club The Lumber Yard (“where real men go to get wood”) appeared in the Iowa State Daily. Apparently, The Lumber Yard has been purchasing ad space since last spring, which goes to show how often I read the campus newspaper.

Contrary to the prevailing opinion that strip clubs are harmless fun and that the dancers make good money, I want to assert strip clubs reproduce existing relationships of domination, control and violence that subordinate women.

A study by Holsopple (1999) revealed the extent of sexual violence present in the workplace of female strippers. Verbal abuse, harassment, stalking behaviors, physical abuse and sexual abuse are routinely visited upon female strippers by customers, owners, managers and club staff. It is very common for strippers to be propositioned for sex acts and recruited for prostitution.

Because clubs hire dancers as “independent contractors,” they are not paid a wage, they may have to pay for the “privilege” of dancing on stage or on a VIP couch; they do not receive health insurance, and strippers are not entitled to file discrimination claims, receive worker’s compensation or file for unemployment benefits.

I am not asserting that all or any combination of these critiques apply to The Lumber Yard. What I am asserting is that, in my opinion, the Iowa State Daily should choose not to run advertising that promotes gender isolation and sanctions sexual abuse.

I believe that strip clubs exist on the same continuum as pornography and prostitution. Are ads for an “escort service” the next logical step in the Iowa State Daily’s advertising policy (or lack thereof)?

And as for the organized road trips of ISU students (men and women) to patronize The Lumber Yard: I hope you’ll think critically about what you are supporting. The growth of female stripping and pornography in our society has detrimental effects for men and women, for strippers and for their customers.

Jeff Cullen

Graduate Student

Educational Leadership & Policy Studies