Lap dance
A lap dance (or contact dance) is a type of erotic dance performance offered in many strip clubs in which the dancer typically has body contact with a seated patron. Lap dancing is different from table dancing, in which the dancer is close to a seated patron, but without body contact. Variant terms include couch dance, which is a lap dance where the customer is seated on a couch.
With full-contact lap dances, the dancer may engage in
Lap dancing usually occurs with both participants being either clothed to more or less the same degree, or naked, or the dancer being partially or fully naked, depending on the laws of the jurisdiction and the club's policies. Some jurisdictions require a prohibition on alcohol if various degrees of nudity are allowed. In other jurisdictions nudity is only allowed where skin contact does not occur between the dancer and the patron, requiring at least one of them to wear clothing. Where specific licensing exists for an establishment to allow prostitution, the dress requirements may also be dependent on that licensing. As the dancer is rarely dressed to a greater degree than the patron, lap dancing is sometimes seen as a submissive act by the dancer.
In some places, a "block session" of lap dances (usually half an hour to an hour) can be booked in a "
Controversy
There is some debate as to whether lap dancing is entertainment or a type of sex work.[1] Critics of lap dancing allege that some club owners, by installing dark private booths and charging dancers steep stage fees, are covertly condoning and encouraging the sale of sexual acts between customers and dancers. This can be a concern if, as for instance in the United Kingdom, the club has a public entertainment licence rather than a sex establishment licence, and in jurisdictions where brothels are illegal.[2][3] According to the liberal UK paper The Guardian, "Research shows that the majority of women become lap-dancers through poverty and lack of choice."[4]
History and legal issues
Lap dancing clubs are a later development of earlier
Also during the 1970s, adult film makers
Most of the strippers who were not dancing were sitting naked on customers' laps for tips. The amount of tipping rapidly increased and was then marketed as a "lap dance", and its popularity caused lines of men to regularly appear outside the theater's doors.[10] The Mitchells hired new dancers as fast as they could to keep up with demand, and had created another sex-show innovation which gained them international notoriety and generated more money than their film business.[11]
Later in 2004, a San Francisco
In some areas of the U.S. and Canada, local authorities began cracking down on lap dancing after reports that some clubs allowed customers to engage in sexual intercourse or other sexual activity with dancers during lap dance sessions.[12] Various strip clubs have wide-ranging rules on how customers should interact with strippers.[13]
Canada
In 1973, an upmarket
In a landmark ruling regarding the 1994 case of Pat Mara and Allan East (the owner and manager of Cheaters Tavern), Judge E. Gordon Hachborn legally defined lap dancing and ruled that it did not contravene Canadian public decency statutes. A number of conflicting judgements were issued in the years that followed, including decisions to close certain bars in which sex acts took place on the floor of the club and other rulings in which patrons were allowed to touch the dancers, as long as an actual sex act did not take place.[14]
In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a typical lap dance did not constitute an "obscene" act within the meaning of the Criminal Code. The Crown did not argue that lap dances constituted "prostitution", and therefore the court did not address the possible issue that the typical lap dance may contravene one or more anti-prostitution laws.[15] This led to the displacement of strip clubs and table dancing clubs in Canada by lap dancing clubs.
In 2005, two Supreme Court of Canada rulings (
On 20 December 2013, (in
Ireland
In the early 2000s, lap dancing expanded rapidly in the
Police raids took place on Irish lap-dancing clubs in 2003 in search of criminal activity as part of Operation Quest. Efforts to distance Irish lap dancing from the sex industry were hampered by the UK's decision in 2010 to classify its lap dancing clubs as sex establishments. Ireland's lap-dancing clubs became viewed as more expensive than their rivals overseas and more restricted in terms of the entertainment on offer. By 2012 there were five or six clubs operating in Dublin, one in Galway and one in Cork. Most lap-dancing clubs in Ireland operate a no-touching rule, and typically do not charge dancers a "house fee" to perform, instead taking a proportion of the dancer's earnings.[18]
United Kingdom
The first lap dancing club in the UK was opened in 1995.
In April 2008 the LDA proposed that its code of conduct should become legally enforceable by local authorities as part of their licensing function.
In 2009, the total number of clubs had reached its peak of 310 (approximately twice the number in 2003), and the number of lap-dancers was estimated at 10,000. Lap-dancing clubs had opened in big cities, small towns, and out-of-town business parks.[20] The figures plateaued during the subsequent weaker economic climate and had hardly changed by 2012. At that point, the amount of money a lap-dancer earned in an average shift was £230 (down from around £280 in 2011), and the industry was valued at around £300 million. However, some clubs, particularly in London, charged a house fee for the dancers to perform and had an increased number of dancers, which reduced an individual dancer's earnings.[34]
Between 2010 and 2015, there were approximately forty-five refusals of licences for sexual entertainment venues in England and Wales, mainly on the grounds that the locality was unsuitable.[35] The legislation provides for no right of appeal against such refusals, except on the grounds that committees have not followed correct procedure. The number of refusals, together with the costs of licence application, means that there have been few new businesses opened since 2010, with the overall number of clubs declining over time as a number of local authorities implemented a "nil limit" for new clubs.[36]
In February 2014,
Scotland
In 2005 Tom McCabe MSP set up the Adult Entertainment Working Group, an advisory body within the Scottish Government, to investigate the legislative issues involved in a proposed lap dancing ban in Scotland. At that time, lap dancing clubs in Scotland were licensed under Section 41 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, which covers general entertainment licenses, and licences in Scotland could not be refused on the basis of the nature of the entertainment in itself.[40] The working group, headed by Linda Costelloe Baker, consisted of academics, lawyers and politicians, and had a working period from April 2005 until April 2006. It commissioned the market research organisation Ipsos MORI to examine the public's attitudes towards adult entertainment,[41] completed site visits and took evidence from a variety of witnesses. Respondents to the group's consultation included the Church of Scotland.[42] The group reported to Scottish ministers on 25 April 2006.
The group concluded that lap dancing venues are a form of "commercial sexual exploitation...which encompasses
The Scottish Government accepted a number of the recommendations, but it rejected the idea that licensing boards should be able to determine whether full nudity is appropriate in given locales. It also rejected the idea of a compulsory one-metre no-touching zone between dancer and customer, suggesting that this would be unenforceable. It did, however, propose to enable licensing boards to consider nude dance venues as a separate class of venue.[43] No legislation directly followed the group's report. However, the report informed the statement of licensing policy of many licensing boards across Scotland on the introduction of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005.[47]
In 2013 the Scottish Government and carried out a consultation on the regulation of "
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland's first lap dancing club was opened by Donegal businessman Jerome Brennan, who already owned lap dancing clubs in Dundalk and Limerick in the Republic of Ireland, mainly using dancers from Russia and the Baltic states.[50] In 2002 Brennan opened the Movie Star Cafe, a lap dancing club in Belfast,[51] with dancers from Belfast and England.[52] The Belfast club was officially opened as a restaurant to circumvent Northern Ireland's licensing laws. The opening of the club was opposed by Rev. David McIlveen, a minister in the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster,[50] and the club was often picketed by protesters from the church[52] and women's groups.[53] In 2003 councillors from Belfast City Council expressed their intention to refuse the renewal of the club's licence,[52] and the club closed in November 2003 with debts of over £300,000.[51] Brennan's nightclub in Dundalk remained open.[54]
A few years later Northern Ireland businessman Lawrence John organised lap dancing at a Hooters bar, followed by a clandestine lap dancing club in Belfast in 2007. It was the subject of a report on the BBC Northern Ireland TV programme Spotlight in 2008 alleging that simulated lesbian sex shows took place on the premises.[55]
United States
Some jurisdictions in the United States outlaw lap dances and enforce a minimum distance between dancer and patron. In Seattle, one such minimum distance ordinance was overturned by public referendum in November 2006.[56]
Also in 2006, concerned about reports of sexual assault and illegal stage fees, San Francisco's Commission on the Status of Women recommended a ban on private rooms and booths at adult clubs in the city. However, a majority of dancers at the Commission's meetings and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' meetings protested against these efforts, fearing for their income and claiming that these rooms were safer than other venues.[57][58] As a result, the Commission's proposed ban was not adopted by the city.[57][58]
In February 2010, the Detroit City Council voted to ban lap dances in VIP rooms.[59] However, across from Detroit in Windsor, Ontario in Canada, lap dancing remained legal, even where alcohol was served, and sex clubs were also legal in Windsor.
In 2012, the
Labor issues and job conditions
The economic position of lap dancers, as employees of the clubs, has also changed. Over time, most strip clubs have stopped paying wages to the dancers. Stage dancing became a showcase to advertise the bodies of the dancers, whose money came from the
Given that dancers are basically paying for the privilege to be at a club, some clubs allow as many dancers as possible to appear on any given night, increasing competition among the dancers. Also, the vast majority of clubs will not waive this charge if a night happens to be slow. Consequently, the dancer either leaves her shift without any profit or builds a debt to the club.[61]
Concerns raised by lapdancers include patrons
In the U.S., most clubs treat dancers as
A UK study on lap dancing found that the overwhelming majority of those surveyed were satisfied with their work, because they got to choose their own hours, got paid instantly, got more money than in other available jobs, and had the opportunity to combine "fun and work" (e.g.,
The UK paper
Critics of lap dancing choose to describe it as a type of
In 2007, based on statistics from eighteen dancers over a period of 60 days, it was noted that female lap dancers earned the highest tips around the time of
Level of contact
Establishments that offer lap dancing, and the lap dancers themselves, are sometimes rated regarding "mileage." It refers to the amount of contact between dancer and patron during the performance. Every jurisdiction has its own laws regarding such contact, but enforcement of these laws is sporadic. Ultimately, it comes down to what the club and the dancer will allow.
Nevada, and especially Las Vegas, have established very lenient laws regarding what contact is allowed during a lap dance.[71] Patrons may legally touch the dancer anywhere she will permit, excluding the genitals. This has led to a pricing strategy in some all-nude strip clubs, in which a standard lap dance is considered to be just topless with no contact, but can be upgraded to include full nudity or touching with additional payment.
In film
- 1995: In the film Showgirls, Zack Carey (Kyle MacLachlan) gets a lap dance from Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley).
- 1999: In the film bouncerassaults them after some hand-contact with a lap dancer.
- 2001: Within director Wayne Wang's film, Center of the World starring Peter Sarsgaard and Molly Parker, a wealthy dot-com entrepreneur becomes obsessed with a lap dancer.
- 2007: In Quentin Tarantino's film Death Proof, Butterfly performs a lap dance on Stuntman Mike to The Coasters' "Down in Mexico". In the double-feature Grindhouse, the scene was abruptly "skipped" in a comical manner.
- 2010: In the film Welcome to the Rileys starring James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart, an emotionally damaged man tries to help a wayward lap dancer.
- 2014: Within the film Lap Dance starring Carmen Electra, an actress makes a pact with her fiancé to take a job as a lap dancer in order to take care of her cancer-stricken father.
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Einat Albin, "The Case of Quashie: Between the Legalisation of Sex Work and the Precariousness of Personal Service Work", Industrial Law Journal, (2013) 42 (2): 180-191. doi: 10.1093/indlaw/dwt006 - Accessed on 12 March 2014
- ^ Bindel, Julie, "Profitable Exploits: Lap Dancing in the UK", Study for the Glasgow City Council (August 2004)
- ^ a b David Steinberg (8 September 2004). "Lap Victory: How a DA's decision to drop prostitution charges against lap dancers will change the sexual culture of S.F. – and, perhaps, the country". SF Weekly.
- ^ a b c d Bell, Rachel, 'I was seen as an object, not a person', The Guardian (19 March 2008), Accessed: 23 October 2011
- ^ "Harem Theatre in NYC?". cinematreasures.org. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
- ^ Steinberg, David. "Lap Victory". SF Weekly. SF Weekly, LP. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
- ^ a b McCumber(1992), p. 78.
- ^ McCumber(1992), p. 79.
- ^ McCumber(1992), p. 79, 155.
- ^ McCumber(1992), p. 81, 155
- ^ McCumber(1992), p. 80.
- ISBN 978-0-8020-9646-3. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ^ "Lap Dance Etiquette". Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ a b "Lifestyles: Canada's Multi-Million Dollar Addiction To Lap-Dancing". 21 September 2012. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ Judgement of the Supreme Court of Canada – Decisions – R. v. Pelletier, 13 December 1999, archived from the original on 25 March 2007, retrieved 20 November 2016
- ^ "Canada Supreme Court strikes down prostitution laws". BBC. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
- ^ "Technical Paper: Bill C-36, Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act". justice.gc.ca. Government of Canada: Department of Justice. December 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
Bill C-36 criminalizes, for the first time in Canadian criminal law, the purchase of sexual services… The following activities have been found to constitute a sexual service or an act of prostitution, if provided in return for some form of consideration: lap-dancing, which involves sitting in the client's lap and simulating sexual intercourse… Bill C-36 does not prevent those who sell their own sexual services from entering into legitimate family and business relationships…
- ^ Catherine Murphy (7 October 2012). "Life as a lap dancer". Independent.ie. Ireland. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
- ^ a b c "Memorandum submitted by The Lap Dancing Association (LDA): The Real Body of Evidence". www.parliament.uk. UK Parliament. November 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ^ a b c d Cooke, Rachel (8 March 2009). "Should lap dancing be run out of town?". The Observer. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
- ^ "Who We Are". Lap Dancing Association. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010.
- ^ a b Paul Lewis (28 April 2008). "Lap dance firms call for tighter regulation". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ^ "Code of Practice". Lap Dancing Association. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010.
- ^ Turney, Ewan (21 April 2008). "New lap-dancing body launched". Morning Advertiser. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ^ a b "Lap dancers object to 'sex' label". BBC News. 4 November 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ^ "Reviews". LapDancing Association. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010.
- ^ "Would you ever take your girlfriend to watch a lapdancer?". London Evening Standard. 10 February 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
- ^ John Shammas; Stian Alexander (22 April 2016). "Lap dancing boss who invited MP John Whittingdale for strip club tour has club investigated over 'no touching rule breach'". The Mirror. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
- ^ Andrew Sparrow (25 November 2008). "Lap dancing 'not sexual act' claims head of club organisation". The Guardian.
- ^ Robert Booth (19 April 2016). "John Whittingdale visited lapdancing club as part of MPs' inquiry". The Guardian.
- ^ a b "New powers to crack down on lap-dancing clubs". BBC News. 12 February 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ^ "Leeds lap dancing clubs face new threat". Yorkshire Evening Post. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
- ^ "Lap-dancing club rules change comes into force". BBC News. 6 April 2010.
- ^ Corcoran, Kieran; Taylor, Jerome (12 April 2012). "The human cost of UK's £300m addiction to lap-dancing". The Independent. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
- ^ "SEV licensing". SEV licensing (a blog reviewing licensing news relating to Sexual Entertainment Venue license applications). Retrieved 25 September 2015.
- ^ MP for Slough) & Esther McVey (Minister of State for Employment) (11 February 2014). "Employment: Sex Establishments (written question)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 583W–584W.
- ^ Piggott, Mark (16 February 2014). "UK Government pays sex clubs to employ teenage girls". International Business Times. IBT Media.
- ^ Department for Work and Pensions (2010), "Chapter 20: Youth Contract - Wage Incentive Scheme", Work Programme provider guidance (Work Choice only): treatment of different types of employment (PDF), HM Government, pp. 4–5
- ^ a b ""Adult entertainment" / Lap Dancing". Women's Support Project. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ "Public Attitudes Towards Adult Entertainment". Ipsos MORI. 1 June 2006. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ Morag Mylne (28 September 2005). "Adult Entertainment Consultation: Official Response" (PDF). Church Of Scotland Church And Society Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ a b c Hubbard, Phil (2008). Encouraging sexual exploitation? Regulating striptease and "adult entertainment" in the UK (Report). Loughborough University. pp. 22&26. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ a b "Report seeks sex industry 'rules'". BBC News. 25 April 2006. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ Linda Costelloe Baker (25 April 2006). Adult Entertainment Working Group - Report and Recommendations: Volume 1 (Report). The Scottish Government. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ "Trade Union Members Reaction To Scotland's Adult Entertainment Working Group Report" (Press release). International Union of Sex Workers. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ Stephen McGowan (19 August 2013). "Licensed to thrill". Journal of the Law Society of Scotland. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ Martin Hannan (7 August 2015). "New air weapon licensing laws to be introduced next year". The National. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
New rules on the licensing of "sexual entertainment venues" such as lapdancing clubs are also introduced in the Act, with local authorities required to set out their individual policies.
- ^ "Sexual entertainment venues". legislation.gov.uk. Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ a b Henry McDonald (24 February 2002). "Lap dancers ready to scandalise Ulster". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ a b "Lapdance Club Boss Groomed Girl, 15, on Internet". Mirror. 25 October 2006. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ a b c Henry McDonald (18 May 2003). "Belfast war on the lap dance club". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ Valerie Robinson (20 August 2013). "Paedophile asks to serve jail term in Republic". The Irish News. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ "Assaulted two Gardai on leaving nightclub". The Argus. 6 August 2004. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ Walker, Gail (4 July 2008). "Sex Industry in Northern Ireland: Private Dancers". Belfast Telegraph.
- ^ "Lap dance ban defeated, Seattle wonders where to put strip clubs". International Herald Tribune. 13 November 2006. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007.
- ^ a b Goodyear, Charlie (5 August 2006). "Adult club private rooms debated". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ a b Estrella, Cicero A. (19 August 2006). "Exotic dancers rally at City Hall to halt private-room ban in clubs". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ "Detroit City Council votes to allow alcohol, ban lap dances in strip clubs". MLive.com. 24 February 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
- ^ "New York Court of Appeals: Lap Dancing Is Not An Art Form, Is Subject To Sales Tax". Forbes. 23 October 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
- ^ a b Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America, Lily Burana, Talk Miramax Books, 2001
- ^ a b Schwartz, Zachary (24 July 2015). "Strippers Explain Strip Club Etiquette". vice.com. Vice. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
- ^ a b Lucero, Karisha (18 January 2018). "Strippers explain the 'secret menu' found at most clubs". therooster.com. The Rooster. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
- ^ "Exotic dancer stripped of her job", David R. Ongaro, California Employment Law Letter, Vol. 16, No. 9. 14 July 2006
- ^ a b Sanders, Teela & Hardy, Kate, 'The Regulatory Dance: Sexual Consumption in the Night Time Economy' (April 2011), Accessed on 24 October 2011
- ^ Colosi(2010), p. 2.
- ^ Bell, Rachel, "'I was seen as an object, not a person'", The Guardian (18 March 2008)
- ^ Ditmore, Melissa Hope: Prostitution and Sex Work. ABC-CLIO, 2010, pp. 6-7
- ^ "UK | Lap dancers object to 'sex' label". BBC News. 4 November 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
- ^ . Retrieved 30 January 2016.
- ^ Pordum, Matt (24 January 2005). "Judge Agrees That Erotic Dance Law is Too Vague". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
Bibliography
- Colosi, Rachela (2010). Dirty Dancing?: An Ethnography of Lap Dancing. New York: Willan Publishing. ISBN 978-1843928171.
- McCumber, David (1992). X-Rated. New York: Pinnacle Books. ISBN 978-0786011131.
External links
- Media related to Lap dance at Wikimedia Commons