Lap dances will continue as long as the performer is properly covered.

The Ames City Council passed the third vote on the “no touch” ordinance last night. This means that a female dancer has to cover the nipple and areola of her breast plus more of the buttocks if lap dances are going to continue to be part of business.

“This was brought into action because of problems at other clubs with prostitution and minors,” said Tommy Farrell, manager of the Krypton Club. “The Krypton Club has had no problems or complaints in our 11 years of business, and I don’t know why we were included in the ordinance. They should have just closed down clubs like Blondies to get rid of the problem.”

Blondies officials had no comment on this ordinance.

The ruling is not going to affect the Krypton Club as much as it will clubs like Blondies with juice bars where the dancers are allowed to be completely naked. The Krypton Club is a liquor-licensed establishment, which means it follows separate rules.

“By state law our ladies are partially clothed at all times,” Farrell said. That may event mean putting latex over a part of the breast and making it look like the real thing.

Many said the ordinance may be meaningless.

“This ordinance isn’t really going to change much of anything,” said Herman Quirmbach, city council member. “What I would like to see is for these businesses to just pack up and leave town.”

While a lap dance is being performed the dancer now has two restrictions. The first is proper clothing and the second is not attempting to sexually arouse the customer.

“This doesn’t make sense to me,” said Naomi, a dancer at the Krypton Club, who asked that her last name not be used. “How can anyone prove my intent to do anything without going into my mind.”

A man can be sexually aroused by just watching a woman walking down the street, Naomi said. “There is no way I can control the effects of my performance, nor should I be responsible for a customer’s actions or reactions.”

There was an objection to the ordinance expressed on the grounds of gender discrimination because the prescribed conduct entails the exposure of a female breast or a female breast with only the nipple covered. This makes it possible for a male entertainer to do what a female entertainer is prohibited from doing under the ordinance, as stated in a memo to Ames Mayor Larry Curtis and city council members.

In the testimony of Dr. J. Douglas Crowder, regarding the physiological and sexual distinctions between male and female breasts, Crowder said that the visual stimulus of a breast is different on the average between men and women. Men are much more prone to be aroused by visual stimuli as opposed to woman who are less aroused by visual stimuli.

Dr. Crowder concluded that if a woman was walking down the street wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, a male past the age of puberty would regard that as something of an invitation to engage in some sort of sexual relationship with the woman.

On the other hand, Crowder said if a man were to be wearing the same thing a woman’s reaction would be very dissimilar. It would likely be regarded as an informal manner of dress rather than a sexual statement.

“This, in my opinion, is a form of sexual discrimination,” Naomi said. “The main purpose of a female breast is to produce milk, there is nothing sexual about that, so if females have to cover there breasts, then so should male dancers.

“This law is suppose to better the community, but I’m a citizen here and it’s not helping me,” Naomi said.

“I am just a regular person. I was a student at Iowa State last semester and it really bothers me that these politicians and other people are passing judgment on an establishment that they have probably never even been to.”