20/20 cruises the titty bars

It used to be that stripping and prostitution were considered pretty much at the same level of society, i.e. just a step above bag lady or drug addict. These days, it appears to be an appropriate, er, career choice for single mothers and "students". 20/20, for want of anything better to do, has been hanging around titty bars (quality establishments only, please) and is legitimizing this by describing the career pros and cons of taking your clothes off for a paying audience.

To their astonishment, they have discovered that "their stories were echoed not just by other dancers, but by women throughout the work force." Uh-uh, I'm sure it's just exactly the same as waitressing, or working as a bank teller, or doctor in a hospital. They do manage to make it sound like any other career, sort of. The girls whine about lack of mentoring, they have to buy their own health insurance and pensions, they complain about overheads. They have to talk to the customers and persuade them to purchase the wares. And they are "customers" and "clients" not actual men as if to recognize that your talking about sexually motivated interaction between MEN and the WOMEN that they're paying to undress and writhe for them is slightly icky, getting too close to honest recognition of the mutual exploitation that is going on.

"Butterfly" said "I had to make money, good money fast" in the wake of her divorce (I guess he was already broke or something and real work beneath her), and "spends all day with her children, then leaves them with a baby sitter when she heads to work at night." "Nicole" is a real feminist dream, she used to be a marine, then became a Penthouse model and got into stripping that way - started out competing with men, ended up exploiting and and being exploited by them. She's pleased that she goes to work after she's tucked her son into bed and gets home in time to feed him breakfast. I wonder what he tells his friends when they ask him what his mom does for a living. "Rachel", "Dawn" and "Stephanie" all told 20/20 they're students. I wonder if their classmates come in for a beer and a chat over lecture notes once in a while.

20/20 themselves come across as terminally naive. "After watching dancers give lap dances it's easy to guess what the customer is thinking about." Uh, no kidding, why do you think he's there in the first place? I think they've bought into the fantasy the clubs are peddling - that the beautiful women are really just these terrific girls, home-town honeys who are working for an honest living or to put themselves through college and need their "customers" to give them just enough money to support their families or pay the college fees. In fact, the whole thing is a pretty good commercial for these clubs and a lead-in for the girls to convince the "clientele" of their pure, virginal motivations.

Who are the best marks? "Jennifer" looks for the "vulerable ones" - "You want to look at the guy who probably doesn't get that much love or affection or whatever. And then you try to fulfill that need, you know? You try to make them feel better about themselves — smarter, stronger, whatever." Aw, isn't that sweet? Of course, the girls "are compensated for that." Yes, well, the lonely ones would be the ones most likely to cough up for a little company, but that's always been true in any walk of life. But is there any context in which it is permissible for a man to size up a woman for her vulerability with an intent to take money from her? I am intrigued by the euphemism "compensated" as opposed to "paid".

20/20 wants us to go away remembering that these poor creatures "work in a world full of scorn and moral condemnation" but "have each made a choice about what is best for themselves and their families" and "They show up each night because it's their job." Wow, but how the world has changed.

Overall, 20/20 appear to have done an excellent job of sanitizing the whole affair, gently bringing into your living room just enough of the dark side of life to titilate you but not so much as to give you any discomfort. There are no seedy dives any more with raddled drug-addicts trying desperately to squeeze a few bucks out of the groping drunk in the corner, only beautiful moms and students with Penthouse spreads on their resumes and vulnerable, lonely clients who follow all the rules. Puh-lease.

Who knows, maybe drug-pushing and pimping for single dads will be next on 20/20's career specials.



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