A License to Strip
How women are punished for providing a legal service
A friend of mine was having their nails done recently and overheard a conversation. A young woman was talking about the difficulties in getting her business license. Another customer butted in at this point and asked her what kind of business she was opening. The young woman replied, “I’m a dancer.”
The nosy woman, who clearly knew what kind of dancer the young woman was, asked her, “What kind of dance?”
After a brief pause, the young woman answered, “I’m a stripper.”
“Oh, you need a license to do that?!”
After the nosy woman took her perfectly manicured, catty nails out of the salon, my friend engaged in a pleasant conversation with the young woman and learned more about her, and how much she enjoys what she does. This didn’t surprise them. My friend is a sex therapist and has likely heard it all — and I don’t mean from their clients.
The only part of this little story that surprised me was the existence of all the hoops that someone has to jump through to be a stripper, or any sort of adult entertainer, particularly in my progressive city. The more I looked into it, the more I realized that liberality is no measure of acceptance of sex workers, let alone adult entertainers, who may or may not…
