It's a simple question: is stripping pro-feminist or does it reinforce negative and suppresive gender stereotypes? However, this question is more complicated than one may think. Sarah Katherine Lewis, a writer and adult entertainer (a.k.a stripper), argues in her article posted on AlterNet, that stripping offers good pay for many working class women. Lewis's mother is a 1970s feminist, who was strongly opposed to Sarah's occupation as a stripper, so Sarah quit. She went back to working minimum wage jobs, such as waitressing, working long hours and feeling objectified by her menial work and low pay. Sarah could barely make rent each month when she wasn't stripping. So finally she went back to it. She says that stripping in itself does not give her a feeling of empowerment, but the ability to pay her bills and the freedom that comes along with that does make her feel empowered. She believes that her stripping does not affect the way that society already views women, so while she doesn't necessarily believe that her stripping makes her a better feminist, she feels that it doesn't make her a worse feminist either.
Read Sarah's article in the link provided. What do you think about stripping? Is it pro-feminist or anti-feminist? Does stripping reinforce negative female stereotypes and set back other women in our society? If a woman can pay to provide shelter and food for herself or pay for college tuition by means of stripping, is it okay? Is it then empowering?
http://www.alternet.org/sex/51408
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Interesting topic! You might be interested to know there is a film called "Live Nude Girls Unite" about sex workers' efforts to unionize in San Francisco. They make the case that their job deserves the same protections and respect of any other industry.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a really interesting topic to think about. Like I have said before in past, the line between sexual freedom and going too far is very blurred and can be different in everyones opinion. Truthfully, I am not sure how I feel about this. The traditional side of me that I grew up with says that it is bad, it is not feminist, and could even be considered shameful, however the more feminist side of me says that a woman being able to stand her own and support herself is more important. Again, I think that this should be looked at through the idea of choice. Perhaps this is a feminist concept because women have the choice to do it and the choice to support themselves. However, in saying that many women might not even feel as though they have a choice. Perhaps there is no other way for many women, that it is this or the streets. If there was not a need for this kind of industry than these women wouldn't have to strip. Maybe the resolution would be more strip clubs with men stripping. If male strip clubs were as successful as female strip clubs, perhaps there would be much different views of the stripping industry.
ReplyDeleteI've always had problems figuring out how I feel about this. I consider myself a feminist, but I've always felt its hard to say that stripping is pro-feminist.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that bothers me is the fact that people do objectify female strippers. Do I think the women has a choice to be a stripper? Yes. It's like woman being a prostitute, or being in porn. If you really want to do this to make money, you have every right. But if you look at the media and how certain men treat these women, they are being objectified, and that is not ok! I feel like if women were portrayed differently, than stripping would be more pro-feminist.
I think that stripping is both a pro-feminist and anti-feminist act because it is liberating in the sense that a woman can do whatever she wants to provide for herself. However, stripping is anti-feminist because it is reinforcing the negative stereotypes that surround women. Not only does stripping reinforce negative female stereotypes, it also sets back other women in our society. In addition, stripping is a controversial topic that no one talks about which is why this article is interesting. If a woman can pay to provide shelter and food for herself or pay for college tuition by means of stripping, it is a personal choice.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. I think being a dancer could go either way. Stereotypically, I think it's safe to say that many people see it to be objectifying to women. But personally, I think people should have a higher respect for a women if she is doing something to support herself and her independence. Let's face it, it would take a lot for a women in that industry to do what they do, and instead of recieving any crdeit whatsoever, the women are given a bad name for what they do.
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