Yeah, but Bronwyn, I'd always thought movements toward equality were about giving women more choice, because ultimately, that's all that rights are - the freedom to make choices.

If indeed some women make the choice to pole dance, well I'd have thought that's their business. Wouldn't preventing them from doing so be more sexist in the end? Ultimately women are capable of making these decisions for themselves, and a number of them will always decide to take this road instead, for better or for worse.

One of the problems is that the more conservative male types (whether they themselves frequent these establishments or not), look down on the women that flaunt themselves there, and eventually end up looking down on most women. So while there are no doubt some individual women who thrive in that environment, and dont personally walk away at the end of it with any ongoing emotional hang-ups, I suggest that there are several who would face ongoing issues with self-image and self-esteem that could feed into latter relationship and child-raising problems (not that I am insinuating that relationships with children is where all women should end up!). But, as another poster has said, women have fought long and hard for the right to make individual choices, and I would hate to see that choice taken away. We do need to be mindful though of the potential for harm to the women involved and not to simply see it as empowerment.

For those bible-bashing do-gooders on here, might I remind you that Jesus spent a siginificant amount of his time hanging around prostitutes, so I doubt that he would see strippers as being that bad. In fact I would go so far as to say that the Church's problems with "wanton women" stem not so much from Christ himself, as from men's inabilities to think beyond the sexual. At the end of the day its not a great deal different to our favourite sheik's rantings on raped women asking for it by dressing immodestly (just the Church(s) have become a little cleverer at dressing up the message).

If you're serious about answering this question, I think you need to examine the relationship between sex work, childhood sexual abuse, and drug use. There are several US studies that show that around half of all sex workers (and I'm not sure if you define stripping as sex work?) were sexually abused as children. (See: David Finkelhor et al, A Sourcebook on Child Sexual Abuse, Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1986.) Drug use amongst sex workers is rife.

I think Country Gal is on the money in pointing out that there are certainly some women who find the experinece empowering and don't get screwed up, but that doesn't negate the fact that the proportion of those that have crappy lives is far greater than the proportion of women in other professions who have crappy lives.

The few sex workers of my aquaintance have all had mental health issues of some sort or another.

Bronwyn, "is different when you are a member of the group under discussion." - it seems to me that I am a member of one of the groups under discussion. I'm male and as I understand it a significant proportion of the clients of the sex industry are male. The public image of the customers of strip clubs is not all that good.

There are also male strippers but I don't have much idea how their numbers compare female strippers.

I don't feel any need to think less of myself because some other males are willing to pay money to go watch women dance with a pole. My views about the clients of strip clubs are similar to those I hold regarding strippers - some are making adult choices, others are living with some serious issues.

R0bert

The problem isn't pole dancing as such. The problem is pole dancing in front of strangers for money.

A female pole dancer dancing for her husband and/or partner privately would be fine, as would a man, if that is what you liked.

Bek, I think you have a a fairly good sample here of the various views people have of pole dancing/stripping.

It really is a difficult area on which to draw conclusions as to overall effects without a lot more research of the kind that I'm sure you have neither the time nor the resources to undertake.

I suggest however, that you could make a really great success of your project if you did as Pericles suggested and take issue with the wording of the assignment. "Empowerment"? Find an OED (Oxford English Dictionary) definition of the word and, as Pericles briefly did, question its application .

That way too, you could bring all the differing opinions expressed here into play, without worrying that you yourself are being forced into making a judgement that you may not yet feel you are "empowered" to do.